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The MTV Unplugged version of About a Girl was one of my favorite songs back in my Nirvana era, and if you’re reading this, I’m sure you agree. It is a great combination of acoustic rock, pop, and grunge, all meshed together into a single genre, which sounds great on both acoustic and electric guitars.
Our About a Girl guitar lesson will teach you how to play the entire song, from end to finish. After logging in, you'll also have access to the song's backing track, so make sure you play along with that as well.
So, on to a short review of the lesson. The cool part is that the parts to this song are all repetitive, so there are only 3 sections to learn, the verse, chorus, and solo.
The verse to About a Girl also acts as the intro and outro and is made up of 2 simple chords, which you’ll be strumming with a set strumming pattern. The chorus is somewhat more challenging since it uses power chords all across the neck of the guitar. You’ll be strumming these power chords, adding muted strums and ghost strums at times, so beginner guitarists might have some trouble with this part of the song. Listen to me playing it in the lesson a lot, and make sure your strumming arm keeps moving with the rhythm, that is very important!
The solo to About a Girl is pretty simple as well, it is a 2 bar repetitive solo which you’ll be able to learn in no time at all.
Learning to play About a Girl will be really beneficial for you since it'll develop your strumming technique, rhythm, and voice if you can sing along as well. Not compulsory though 😉 Oh, and remember to download the tabs, which will show you the exact sequence of the parts you'll need to play with this song.
Once you learn it, make sure you play along with the original, and more importantly, play it to your friends!
This is a super popular song that pretty much everyone has heard at one time or another, and you know, entertaining others, and the recognition you get afterward makes the sometimes not so easy task of learning to play guitar more than worthwhile.
About a Girl song details
About a Girl was released by Nirvana in 1989, on their very first album, Bleach. The MTV Unplugged version was also released as a single in 1994, after Kurt Cobain’s death. The live version became more popular than the original and is also included in Guitar Hero World Tour.
Kurt Cobain wrote this song about his then-girlfriend, thus the title, About a Girl. The song is actually about the troubled parts of their relationship. This is not so evident from the lyrics though, but if you read it again within this context, you’ll notice.
About a Girl (single) awards and chart rankings (1994):
- U.S. Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks: #3
- U.S. Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks: #1
- U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Airplay (U.S.): #22
- Australian Singles Chart: #4
- Denmark Singles Chart: #7
- Finland Singles Chart: #8
- Polish Airplay Chart: #3
- French Airplay Chart: #9
- Canadian RPM Singles Chart: #10
- Finland Mitä hittiä Chart: #7
- Triple J Hottest 100 (Australia): #7
If you want to refine the skills you learned in About a Girl, check out these lessons on songs by clicking these links:
Power chords / Strumming patterns
Download tabs for About a Girl
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Download backing track for About a Girl
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