Can’t Stop Guitar Lesson – Red Hot Chili Peppers

Genre:

Difficulty:
Length: 13:08

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Wikipedia page
Artist website
Music video

• Barre chords
• String skipping

Can’t Stop is one of my favorite songs from RHCP. It sums up everything I love about the band, from the energetic rap-style lyrics to the grungy electric guitar, and even some reggae-style strumming to spice things up.

The song is played in 4/4 time in the key of E minor and G major and is made up of several parts. And naturally, our guitar lesson on Can’t Stop will teach you how to play all of them 🙂

We’ll start out by learning the intro, which is made up of just 2 notes. Next, we’ll learn the main riff of Can’t Stop (verse), which is probably the most famous part of the song. This section will really improve your plucking skills, as you’ll be doing lots of string skipping, as well as fretting with your thumb.

After that, we’ll learn the chorus and another verse section, where you’ll get a chance to practice some barre chords, which I’m sure you’ll be thrilled about 😉 Can’t Stop’s chords and strumming pattern isn’t overly difficult, but if you’re not used to barre chords yet, you might find this section a bit challenging.

After the chorus, you’ll learn the solo, which uses lots of whole-tone bends, so you’ll be able to practice some lead guitar techniques with this song as well.

Red Hot Chili Peppers is a favorite of many aspiring guitarists, since the guitar riffs and solos created by the band are very cool, relatively simple to learn, and loads of fun to play.

If you are up for a challenge, go ahead and learn to play Can't Stop! Work at it, be patient, and you will succeed, I guarantee it.

Can't Stop song details

Can’t Stop was released in 2002 on the Red Hot Chili Peppers album titled By The Way. It was one of the few RHCP songs where the lyrics were written after the music was thought up.

You might remember the music video, which showed John Frusciante playing an orange Toronado guitar. Later, he confirmed that he never played the guitar, he just picked it up because he was told to do so by the director of the music video because it blended better with the colors on the set.

Can't Stop chart rankings (2003)

• Billboard Modern Rock Tracks: #1
• Billboard Hot 100: #57
• UK Singles Chart: #22
• Worldwide Singles Top 40: #15

If you want to refine the skills you learned in Can’t Stop, check out these lessons on songs by clicking these links:
Barre chords / String skipping

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