Below is the lesson for “Black Hole Sun” by Soundgarden.

Helpful Tips

Learn Soundgarden’s signature song, which blends grunge and alternative rock in a dreamy landscape. From a fingerstyle perspective, this piece is best suited for advanced players. The biggest challenge here is that most of the measures are syncopated.

Syncopation means that we are accenting the weak beats (the &’s). This can be tricky because accenting weak beats doesn’t come as naturally as accenting strong beats (1, 2, 3, 4). Therefore, I’d recommend tackling the syncopated bars by ear, but also by counting the rhythms.

Playing by ear simply means to memorize the beats. In other words, if you can sing it, you can play it. Whereas counting rhythms requires an understanding of rhythmic notation.

If you really want to gain a thorough understanding of rhythmic notation, there is no better way than by learning to read standard notation.