Beastie Boys - Fight for Your Right Beginner Guitar Lesson Tutorial
In this video
Long Description:
Breaking down "Fight for Your Right to Party" by Beastie Boys - essentially a reduced version of "Smoke on the Water" but in E♭ tuning (E♭-A♭-D♭-G♭-B♭-E♭). This is a great song for working on power chord changes and palm muting technique.
The main riff uses an A5 power chord at the open position (second fret on strings 3 and 4 with your index finger), then moves to third fret (C position), then fifth fret (D position). Because of the E♭ tuning, these are actually A♭, B♭, and D♭. The pattern is: open A string to third fret to fifth fret, making it a great opportunity to work on sliding along strings and speeding up power chord changes.
The verse sections use palm muted A5 power chords. I'm demonstrating on Boss Katana brown sound setting with everything at 12 o'clock to prove these sounds aren't about complex amp settings - it's about good gear and the right pickup. I'm using the bridge pickup (treble pickup) at full volume.
Palm muting technique: Place the outside of your palm where the strings meet the bridge. There's a sweet spot - too far toward the bridge and it doesn't chug properly, too far away and there's no difference from open playing. You're mostly hitting string 5 but catching string 4 as well to get that chunky sound.
For beginners struggling with power chords, you can play this riff with just one finger on the root notes (second fret, then fifth fret), sliding along the same strings. This gives you opportunity to work on the rhythm while keeping the A string ringing out as a pedal note underneath.
The chorus adds a D5 power chord, then returns to the main riff. The song ending adds 0-3-0 on the A string with an A5 power chord to finish.
More than any other beginner song, I recommend playing this one along to the original recording. The repetitive nature is actually a fantastic asset - you get to work on all these techniques while standing up with your guitar, focusing on getting the tone right, locking in with the groove, and being aware of where the stops are for the choruses. Listen to the song for structure feedback and listen to your own playing to lock in with the groove.