beginners guide to Radiohead, Street Spirit (fade out)

Hello again to everyone!!

A change from my usual sort of post on here! Usually I post the more strummy sort of songs for beginners, but think its high time we moved the goalposts a bit and did a bit of fingerpicking. However, I have chosen a song that I think might appeal to a few of you, Radiohead's “Street Spirit (Fade Out)” from the album “The Bends”.

The good news, is that the picking pattern is pretty much the same all the way through. Or at least, it is in “my” version !! I think there are minor variations on the album version, but I am just trying to give you a version of the song that is 1. easily recognisable 2. Not too hard to learn.

Ok there are 2 things to learn. First lets look at the finger pattern for the Am section and how to play it –
Am section
e|---------0--------------0-------------0----------------------|
B|---------------3--------------1---------------0--------------|
G|------------2------2------2-------2-------2-------2--------2-|
D|-----2------------------------------------------------2------|
A|-0-----------------------------------------------------------|
E|-------------------------------------------------------------|
Pinky on pinky off 1st finger off

Some of you might recall the term “pedal point” being used by David Hodge in some of his lessons, well I guess you can see here that the G string is your pedal point here. MOST IMPORTANT thing to realise is the chord shape. Finger a “normal” Am chord. Now put your pinky on the B string 3rd fret. That's your starting position. Now, don't pick anything, just look at your fretting hand. See how the B string 3rd fret goes to B string 1st fret just by removing your pinky? And if you now remove your first finger from the B string, it is now totally open? Look at the tab, that's exactly what you do. Start with pinky on, and first finger on, the B string. Remove pinky, then remove first finger. Simple enough! All other fingers remain in place. Try, whatever you do, to get that descening ting – ting – ting on the B string, this is very important.

Take as long as it takes to totally master this Am section before you go any further, this is really important. Get the pick down so you can do it totally from memory and get it rolling along. Listen to the record – see how it really rolls along. Note that I am not going to tell you which fingers to use to pick which string – that's up to you. I am sure everyone will have their own way of doing it.

The last important thing to “feel” is that your pinky and first finger are really nailing that B string each time. If you can feel a real firmness when you fret the string it will help a lot when you come to the next section.

Are you ready….right here goes. When changing to this next section (the Em Section) I STRONGLY suggest you get your pinky and first finger down FIRST – you are playing the open low E string as your first note, so there is no need to panic. Nail your pinky and first finger down then immediately take your middle and ring fingers and get them down into an Em shape. Like this –
Em section
e|---------0--------------0-------------0----------------------|
B|---------------3--------------1---------------0--------------|
G|------------0------0------0-------0-------0-------0------0---|
D|-----2------------------------------------------------2------|
A|-------------------------------------------------------------|
E|-0-----------------------------------------------------------|

Note how your pinky and first finger do EXACTLY the same as before. Both on B string, pinky off, first finger off. All that has changed is the other fingers have effectively moved up (ie towards low E string) by a string. Easy eh? And note that the only other change is the first bit of the pick, you are picking low E string then the fretted D string.

Right so we have sorted out the “Am section” and the “Em section”. Only one more to go…the C section. Its worth noting first of all that the C section ALWAYS follows an Am section, so practice moving from the Am to C. And here it is….again, I strongly suggest that you get your pinky and first finger down but you have also to move your other fingers into a C shape quite quickly – note the first note struck is the A string 3rd fret. Remember, you will be coming to this from the Am, not Em, shape..
“C section” C
e|---------0--------------0-------------0----------------------|
B|---------------3--------------1---------------0--------------|
G|------------0------0------0-------0-------0-------0------0---|
D|------------------------------------------------------2------|
A|----3--------------------------------------------------------|
E|-------------------------------------------------------------|

OK, got all three shapes and the picking sorted? If not, before you even try and play the song through, go back and master it. If you don't you'll end up very frustrated when you try and play the whole thing.

OK so here's the song. I have included an outro that I have been using, which sounds great if you nail it.

I will refer throughout to the sections above, Am, Em and C.

One last thing. The first note - the bass - SHOULD ring out throughout the measure, so don't be afraid to really give it a pluck!

Am section play 4 times...
Am Am
Rows of houses all bearing down on me
Am Am
I can feel their blue hands touching me
Em
All these things in all positions
Em Am Am
All these things will one day take control
C Em Am Am
And fade ....out ....again
C Em Am
and fade... out....

Am section	 				
e|---------0--------------0-------------0----------------------|
B|---------------3--------------1---------------0--------------|
G|------------------2------2-------2-------2-------2--------2-|
D|-----2------------------------------------------------2------|
A|-0-------------0--------------0---------------0------------------|
E|-------------------------------------------------------------|
              Pinky on     pinky off       1st finger off