Where Did You Sleep Last Night Guitar Lesson - Nirvana

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In this acoustic guitar lesson, I am going to show you how to play all the chords to Nirvana's cover of Lead Belly's classic "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" as played on their MTV Unplugged performance.

Kurt Cobain keeps the guitar chords very simple throughout the entire song in order to let the powerful vocal performance and lyrics take center stage. This has become one of their most popular tracks off their MTV Unplugged album.

You will need to tune your guitar down one half-step to Eb Ab Db Gb Bb Eb in order to follow along with this lesson and the original recording.

The intro introduces the 4 chord progression used for 95% of the song with the addition of a quick little guitar lick thrown in there to make it a bit more interesting when there are no vocals.

This short little lick can be challenging to the entry level player since it requires you to go from slow strumming to fast single notes very quickly. I suggest isolating that chord change with the 3 fast notes in between them in order to help master it quicker.

After the vocals come in, it is pretty smooth sailing for the rest of the song with no really challenging parts. In fact, Kurt Cobain simply repeats the same 4 chords, albeit some times quietly and some times very aggressively for the rest of the song with one exception.

The only time those 4 chords are stopped is when the music stops towards the end of the song. When the music comes back in Kurt Cobain strums an Esus4 chord for 4 bars before going back to the familiar 4 chord progression. This chord is very easy to play so it shouldn't throw any real challenges your way unless you are a total beginner. :)

Have fun!

Carl...

[shekharchandra]

my girl really slept last night with someone....i gonna practise this song and heal my pain...thank you kurt

[turquoisetangerinebusiness]

Convenient time stamp for where did you sleep last nite🎸
1:05 main riff
4:40 riff variation
6:09 full band transition/change of esus chords

[sagnikdas]

5:03 into the video, he tells the guitar is tuned down :') .

[SupernovaA-djdh]

I didn't sleep last night:I was up watching guitar videos all night.

[lespaulcustom]

Carl you crack m up.. almost done with the lesson oh forgot to mention tune down 1/2 step

[ryansell]

Great video love all the camera angles. you are very descriptive and Thanks for the lesson🎸

[blendi]

I like your lessons. Can you please teach us the "Oh me" and "Platueau" from the same, Unpluged New York Nirvana?

[nikotaguchi]

I never tried two fingers it hurts but it works. Thanks so much Carl!!!!

[Flaming_donkeys]

Dude it'd be pretty cool to see a video of you just jamming. Been watching your vids for a while an your helping learn some of my favorites with ease.Thanks & keep up the great work man.

[esoteric]

You are amazing man just great but can you do Have a cigar by Pink Floyd

[sebastienfayemendie]

Cobain used to play the E minor with one finger ( like the A is played in this video ) this chord is used in Teen Spirit and Dumb for example, E, A, D and G strings at the same time...with one finger ! 😉

[BLLVANILYBOY]

This is an acoustic guitar right? Sorry if wrong, I'm just trying to decide if I should buy an acoustic or a classical guitar. And finally start playing some awesome songs!!!

[TherpThad]

Thnx for telling us its tuned a half step down early on in the video

[hunter_gatherer]

Carl, I have to say that you have the best channel on YouTube :) Good job and please more floyd :)))

[nightmareofthedecomposed]

thanks for that wonderful lesson! I got it in 10 Mins :)

[spookate]

this video really helped me and i'm a C Major type of guitar player..

[lPaynel]

been wanting to learn this for so long thanks!!!

[agrguitarshowcase]

Really helpful and amazing lesson thank you!!

[elcirilos]

excelente! todos los tutoriales de este canal son excelentes! gracias

[huddowb]

i love you carl brown, thanks for the mad dog guitar lessons