Snow (Hey Oh) Guitar Lesson - Red Hot Chili Peppers

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In this Snow (Hey Oh) guitar lesson video, I will show you note-for-note how to play all of John Frusciante's great guitar parts to this massive hit by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Frusciante's main riff to "Snow (Hey Oh)" is quite challenging and is a great string crossing exercise. Even more impressive, Frusciante does a lot of harmony vocal work live while playing this riff.

Like I suggest in the video lesson, it will probably be better to just practice with one chord shape for the main riff until you have the pattern up to speed. Then you can begin applying that same pattern to all of the chords in the riff.

The pre-chorus consists of diads played on the A and B strings. The main difficulty will be in muting all the unwanted strings. I will demonstrate how I do that in the video lesson. I will also show you a couple of different ways to play this riff, one that he does live and one closer to the original studio version.

The chorus uses 3 chords in which John Frusciante plays the bass note on the low E string with his thumb. This is reasonably comfortable for two of the chords, but the second chord can be pretty challenging unless you have a very long thumb. You can simply play that chord like a normal bar chord as well, which is what you will see me do in the video lesson.

Later in the song there is a little arpeggio sequence overdubbed on the chorus. I will show you how to play that just in case you have a second guitarist that can play that part while one of you continues with the normal chorus chords.

At the end of the lesson I will show you how to play Frusciante's guitar solo albeit without all the harmonized parts. We will just be looking at the main unison bends he plays on the record and live.

Enjoy! #snowheyohguitarlesson #redhotchilipeppers #guitarcovers

Carl...

[riri__]

Many guitarist died(gave up playing) because of the war named "Snow Hey oh". Some lost their fingers. We should pay full respect to those guitar martyrs.
N. B. : There're a lot of wars. Another famous one was "Every breath you take".

[khangngo]

I can already feel a six pack developing in my fingers trying to learn this

[baileighb]

My uncle always use to listen to this song on deployment and I want to learn it so I can play it for him when he feels down from his ptsd. I really appreciate this tutorial, thank you!

[Bonzeeemer]

Carl this is why we guitar players never give up when we try to learn a difficult song. We play for the love of the rush when we finally get "there" and think I did it. I learned and can now play the song.

[mattdoesstuff]

I've always wanted to learn how to play the guitar, but the begining is so slow and frustrating.

[tukiluka]

72 notes in 9 seconds. Ladies and gentlemen: Snow

[jmilillomusic]

Frusciante is insane. I just love his playing style. He’s a genius musician and he knows so much theory and technical stuff. Even his solo stuff is amazing

[blaine]

I’ve been playing (on and off) for about 5 months and I try playing this everyday for about an hour and I can finally play it a few times before I mess up. If I could do it you can too, just don’t stop trying.

[bcancun]

Not only a great riff but a perfect picking excersize

[gutierrezcurtmathewe.]

This is the work of "John frustrating"

[s.o]

This is the hardest song I’ve personally tried to learn but thanks to your help I smashed it today although I now don’t have any fingers left cheers 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[sitage]

For anyone who is struggling with this and reads comments like i learnt this in an hour or half an hour dont be dis heartened ive been playing for a year and practice this everyday trying so hard to get it down its not easy and takes work!!

[arnolaurie]

This song is so f***ing hard to play.
Edit : yeah it’s not that hard actually, it’s just fast and you just need to practice everyday

[Itza-Me]

Everyone saying he managed to do this in 30 minutes, after playing the guitar for 1 month is just lying. Or, they are the best guitar players in the world, but why would they be sitting here watching youtube.... I play guitar for 5 years now (not intensively) but it took me like 2 weeks to play this perfectly. I know, im not talented or anything, but dont get put off by those guys :)

[KTMrider]

I’ve been able to play all my favorite songs that got me into guitar in the first place thanks to you ! I don’t search for any other tutorial if it’s not Carl ! You rock !

[c_sparks_]

My pinky has a stroke whenever I try to play this

[leodowneyjr]

Your the best teacher around. I've been playing a long time. Your taste is ultimate as is your playing.

[AMerrickProductions]

YES YES Thank you. Great song choice. Song means a ton to me.

[LifeofSharp]

Been playing this song for a week now everyday. I can finally say i get the feeling a little bit and it sounds nice to come closer to the actual sound. I keep going to master this one! Thanks for the lesson again Paul! I think you are the greatest to teach me songs on this platform!

[notreal]

I've been playing for 8years+ I can't do this up to speed for more than a minute.

Lil tip if you have an acoustic try and learn it on that, it will feel much easier when you pick up your electric.