Below is the lesson for “Everlong” by the Foo Fighters.

Helpful Tips

This arrangement for “Everlong” is broken into a few sections: Riff (intro/outro), Verse, Pre-Chorus, and Chorus. I mainly took inspiration from the acoustic version played by Dave Grohl, thus I would recommend giving it a listen before you begin learning this song. It features some interesting chords in the riff: Sus (suspended) chords. A Sus chord is achieved by altering a major triad’s third by either lowering it by a whole step (as used in this arrangement) or raising it by a half step. The formulas are illustrated below:

Major Triad: 1 3 5
Sus 2: 1 2 5
Sus 4: 1 4 5

What does all this mean? Sus chords create an open, unresolved type of sound… or simply said: they make for great rock riffs! If the above confuses you, I’ll be rolling out some basic theory lessons soon in our Technique & Theory 101 section to explain chords and harmony in greater detail. Getting back to the arrangement, the most difficult part is the pre-chorus. Work on the upward moving octave lick slowly, as to get used to keeping your fingers in the same shape while sliding up the neck.

Part 1 – Performance

Part 2 – For Premium Members

Tab Play Along