Polly Guitar Lesson – Nirvana

Genre:

Difficulty:
Length: 7:10

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Wikipedia page
Artist website
Music video

• Palm muting
• Power chords
• Strumming patterns

Polly is a relatively straightforward, simple song (if you are already proficient with power chords that is). It is basically a repetitive rhythm guitar, with just a few power chords to learn.

The point of learning this song is not really to develop your technical abilities, rather to develop your rhythm and timing. Guitarists (including myself) are notoriously known for not being able to keep rhythm, but learning to play Polly along with the original song or with a backing track will really improve your rhythm.

Our guitar lesson on Polly starts off with an introduction to the power chords you'll be using during the song. Don't worry, Polly has just 5 power chords, so you'll learn it quickly. Once you know the power chords, you'll first learn the verse chord progression, then the chorus chord progression.

At the end of the lesson, you'll also learn a bass guitar part played during the interlude, which you can play when Kurt Cobain starts singing the chorus. Or you can play the chorus chord progression, it's up to you 🙂

Again, while learning Polly, your fundamental aim is to be able to play along with the original track, which will develop your sense of rhythm and timing, so set that as your main objective. It is very important that after watching the tutorial and learning the chords, you play along with the original.

Your hands will hurt, as holding down power chords throughout an entire song is tough, but it'll really strengthen your hands and fingers, and improve your sense of rhythm.

Polly song details

Polly was released by Nirvana on the 1991 album Nevermind. It was written by Kurt Cobain. Polly is an entirely acoustic piece, which is a detour from Nirvana's normal grungy style.

The song didn't really achieve any significant chart rankings but was a regular song played at Nirvana concerts.

If you want to refine the skills you learned in Polly, check out these lessons on songs by clicking these links:
Palm muting / Power chords / Strumming patterns

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