by The Undertones
In this lesson I look at the iconic punk-pop song Teenage Kicks. It’s quite easy to play, and a great one to learn if you’re just starting to get into barre chords and power chords. As usual, I take you through the basics before looking in a bit more detail at the finer points of the song, for those of you who want to play it just like the record. On the original, there are at least two guitars, which are essentially playing the same thing, but with minor differences in feel. I tend to play the song with a loose down-up strum in my picking hand, but it would probably work just as well with an aggressive all downstroke kind of approach. Feel free to experiment.
Below is a basic outline of the chords. To me, it sounds like all the chords are played as 6th string root barre or power chords. If you’re not familiar with these chord shapes you might like to check out a couple of basic barre chord lessons elsewhere on this site. Use the rhythm here as a guide as it varies a little bit throughout the song.
And here are the instrumental sections:
