Kaiser Chiefs - I predict a Riot, mini lesson

Hello all – sorry its been a while since I did anything on here. Been a bit busy! Anyway, just to prove that now and again I do actually listen to music being made in this century, I thought it would be nice to do a little lesson on the Kaiser Chief's huge UK hit “I predict a riot”. For those of you not familiar with this band, they are a pop-art band from Leeds who have proved very popular on the festival circuit over the last few years and who have now made their big commercial break with their debut album “Employment” (thoroughly recommended listening). To me they are a sort of pop version of the Jam, singing songs about real life. This is a great example of their song writing, the lyrics to this tune are very much of their time and do reflect a typical night out in a UK City these days (unfortunately….!).

And this song is great practice for those power chords!!

This is an electric guitar based lesson – you just won't get the sound on acoustic.

Song Structure and Timing
It's a fast paced (for those of you with a metronome its 160 bpm) lively song, in 4/4 time. Its verse – pre-chorus chorus – verse – pre-chorus – chorus – bridge & solo – verse – pre-chorus- chorus.

And for those of you that are in the beginners category, don't panic! I promise you this really isn't that hard, I don't pick up the electric that often so I really am no great shakes at it – but I can play it and so can you.

Without further ado, let's have a look at the intro
If you have any effects at your disposal, you want to play this part with a bit of delay and reverb, but don't worry if you haven't. I played it “clean” and friends still immediately said “Kaiser Chiefs!”. The start of the intro consists of a slide up to the 9th fret (suggest you start the slide at fret 7) on the G string, then another slide to the 8th fret (start at fret 6) ending with a slide up to fret 13. However its important you get timing right here. Let's have a look at a tab for this bit
SLIDE RIFF
g|-----/9----|/8----/13---|
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

So start your slide from the 7th fret just after the second beat, so you get to fret 9 on the 3rd beat. Quickly go back down to fret 6 so that the slide up to fret 8 happens at the start of the second bar (on the count of “one” then finish off with a quick slide up to fret 13 on the count of “three”. The rest of the intro is a doddle..here's a tab for it, note the timing as this is what gives the intro the right “feel” and sound. Here you want to change to distortion if you have the hardware. Note I have only tabbed the D and A strings here as that's all you need.
MAIN INTRO
D|---------|--------|--------|--------|
A|-3-------|-6---5--|-3------|-6---5--|
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

D|-6-----6-|-5-----5-|-3-----3-|--------|
A|---------|---------|---------|-6---5--|
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4


Now how easy is that? Make 100% sure you have the timing right here, play it really slow if you have to to get this part right. This part is repeated (minus the slide part I covered earlier) before going into the verse.

The verse is just a series of single notes played with distortion, over which the lyrics are sung. Let's have a look at a tab for the first verse and you'll get the gist of it – note that all I have tabbed here is E and A strings:
VERSE
A|-3---------------|-------------------|
E|-----------------|-------------------|
Oh……………….watching people get

A|-1-------------|--------------|
E|---------------|-1------------|
Smeaton an old leodensian

So the notes are easy, and as for timing, just make sure you play on beat one of the bar (noting that in bar two you just let the A string 3rd fret note you have played in bar one ring out). So far so good? If you have got this far with no trouble, rest assured the rest of the song is a walk in the park, even the guitar solo is well within your reach, promise! As for the pronounciation of “leodensian” (someone from Leeds) its just as written leo-den-sian.

After the verse the song goes into a pre-chorus bit, where the singer does his “la – la – la” bit. Let's have a look at the tab for that (again its just on the A and E strings):
PRE CHORUS
A|-3--------3-|-2--------2-|-1--------1-|--------------|
E|------------|------------|------------|-1--------1---|
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
ah, ah ah------- la la la la la ahh

A|-------------|
E|--1-----1--1-|
1 2 3 4

Again, just concentrate on the timing as that's the key.

I suppose the only question a beginner might ask here is “what finger should I use for what string”. And I am not really the person to ask seeing as I do it all wrong and pretty much play is with one finger. If you want to play it by the book, I suppose you should play anything in fret one with your first (pointer) finger, fret two with your middle finger and fret three with your ring finger. But if it works, go with it, just see what suits you. One thing I would say, make the effort to mute the strings you are NOT playing with a finger to stop the string ringing and giving you unwanted sounds – particularly on electric guitar this is very important and a very good habit to get into.

Ok lets have a look at the chorus, then we're nearly done. There's two ways you could do this depending on your ability – either play the full barre chords or just power chords which is obviously a lot easier. Here's the full chord version:
CHORUS
Ab Db
e-4-----4-4-----4-|-4----4----4-4-|
b-4-----4-4-----4-|-4----6----6-6-|
g-5-----5-5-----5-|-5----6----6-6-|
d-6-----6-6-----6-|-6----6----6-6-|
a-6-----6-6-----6-|-6----4----4-4-|
e-4-----4-4-----4-|-4----x----x-x-|
I predict a riot I predict a
Ab Db
e-4-----4-4-----4-|-4----4----4-4-|
b-4-----4-4-----4-|-4----6----6-6-|
g-5-----5-5-----5-|-5----6----6-6-|
d-6-----6-6-----6-|-6----6----6-6-|
a-6-----6-6-----6-|-6----4----4-4-|
e-4-----4-4-----4-|-4----x----x-x-|
riot

and here's the power chord version:

Ab Db
e-----------------|---------------|
b-----------------|---------------|
g-----------------|------6----6-6-|
d-6-----6-6-----6-|-6----6----6-6-|
a-6-----6-6-----6-|-6----4----4-4-|
e-4-----4-4-----4-|-4----x----x-x-|
I predict a riot I predict a
Ab
e-----------------|---------------|
b-----------------|---------------|
g-----------------|---------------|
d-6-----6-6-----6-|-6----6-6---6--|
a-6-----6-6-----6-|-6----6-6---6--|
e-4-----4-4-----4-|-4----4-4---4--|
riot

this is repeated once through each time you play the chorus.

And that pretty much covers the main part of the song. Note that the last verse is a shortened version of the first verse.

Just one last thing, the bridge and guitar solo. The solo is based on a power chord on the A string, slid into position. The reason its easy is you are just holding one chord shape. With a bit of practice even a comparitive beginner should get this ok. But first the bridge:

(this comes after the last chorus, where he sings “I predict a riot..and if there's anybody left in here….)
BRIDGE
e------------------|-----------------|
b------------------|-----------------|
g-7--------------7-|--5----------5---|
d-7--------------7-|--5----------5---|
a-5--------------5-|--3----------3---|
e------------------|-----------------|
Anybody left in here that

e--------------------------|----------------|
b--------------------------|----------------|
g-3----------------------3-|----------------|
d-3----------------------3-|--6-------------|
a-1----------------------1-|--6-------------|
e--------------------------|--4-------------|
doesn't want to be out there

once you have sung “there” there is no guitar for 3 bars, just let it ring out as long as possible on the 466xxx power chord. It then goes straight into the guitar solo. Note you want a stright 8/s feel to this so its one and two and three and four and etc..:
GUITAR SOLO (adlib vocal)
C5 Eb5 D5
e------------------|-----------------|
b------------------|-----------------|
g-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5--|-8-8-8-8-7-7-7-7-|
d-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5--|-8-8-8-8-7-7-7-7-|
a-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3--|-6-6-6-6-5-5-5-5-|
e------------------|-----------------|

Ab5 G5
e-------------------------|-------------------------|
b-------------------------|-------------------------|
g-13-13-13-13-13-13-13-13-|-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-|
d-13-13-13-13-13-13-13-13-|-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-|
a-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-|-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-|
e-------------------------|-------------------------|
F5 Eb5 D5
e------------------------|-----------------|
b------------------------|-----------------|
g10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-|-8-8-8-8-7-7-7-7-|
d10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-|-8-8-8-8-7-7-7-7-|
a-8--8--8-—8—-8--8--8-—8-|-6-6-6-6-5-5-5-5-|
e------------------------|-----------------|

again this is repeated once before going into the final (abbreviated verse)

And that folks, really is it. Here's the whole song with chords, from the chords you'll be able to work out what to play and when hopefully, by referring back to the details above.
I Predict a Riot – the Kaiser Chiefs

I hope you enjoy this venture into Kaiserland. Only time will tell but I have a feeling this band will outstay a lot of the current crop of instant bands, they do seem to have a genuine talent for writing good songs so we will see!

all the best

Matt