Are You Gonna Go My Way guitar lesson – Lenny Kravitz

Genre:

Difficulty:
Length: 13:18

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Wikipedia page
Artist website
Music video

• Barre chords
• Funk guitar rhythm
• Ghost strum
• Lead guitar techniques
• Muted strumming
• Palm muting

Only great songs can truly stand the test of time, and Are You Gonna Go My Way by Lenny Kravitz is one of them. Would you have thought it was released decades ago? It is energetic and feels every bit as modern as any contemporary rock song.

In this guitar tutorial, you'll learn how to play Are You Gonna Go My Way. The entire song! It is made up of a few parts that fall into place nicely when you play along with the original track. Once you get them perfected, you'll be all set.

First, we'll learn to play the iconic main riff of Are You Gonna Go My Way. It is one of the best riffs of all time I think, and best of all, it'll get you practicing a number of lead guitar techniques.

The 2nd guitarist plays a variation of the riff higher up the neck, which you'll learn as well.

We'll move on to learn the verse riff, which starts out almost the same as the main riff.

Next, we'll learn to play the chorus of the song. This just might be the easiest part of the lesson... if you know how to play barre chords. We'll use A-shaped barre chords and move them around a bit, it sounds great!

We'll also learn to play the interlude. This is definitely the most challenging bit, not because it involves playing huge chords, but because you need to strum chords and mute several strings at the same time. This is a very important skill that you should work on, it will come in handy in lots of other songs.

Are You Gonna Go My Way song details

The song was released in 1993 on Lenny Kravitz's breakthrough album of the same name. The song was released as the lead single of the album.

Are You Gonna Go My Way was Lenny's first truly big international hit. It launched his career into the stratosphere.

Not many people know, that all of the instruments heard in Are You Gonna Go My Way were played by Lenny Kravitz himself. He plays a number of instruments.

Are You Gonna Go My Way charts and rankings

The song topped the charts in several countries and made the Top 20 in many countries around the world.

• US Billboard Album Rock Tracks 1
• US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks 2
• UK Singles (Official Charts Company) 4
• Australia (ARIA) 1
• Canada Top Singles (RPM) 5

The music video won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Male Artist in 1993

If you want to refine the skills you learned in Are You Gonna Go My Way, check out these lessons on songs by clicking these links:
Barre chords / Funk guitar rhythm / Ghost strum / Lead guitar techniques / Muted strumming / Palm muting

Please log in and revisit this page to download this song's tabs and backing track (along with hundreds more on the site).