Hello everyone. There is one guitar song that has made more people want to play guitar than any other and that Sairway to Heaven and more searches for Stairway to Heaven Tablature.

The initial riff from the “Stairway to Heaven” song by Led Zeppelin, released in late 1971 and since then having become one of those songs that every guitar player attempts to play at one time or another. The song, almost eight minutes long, is made up of several sections, which increase in speed and volume. I would want you to take a look at the intro riff, which resembles a lot a slow acoustic-based folk song.

The song is not only pleasing to the year, but also does teach use some theory behind it. It is written in the key of Am, and it starts with an arpeggiated chord progression played with fingers, accompanied by a chromatic descending bass line (A-G#-G-F#-F-E.). Let’s take a look at how it is constructed. The first bar opens up with an arpeggio, based on the A minor. As we already stated an arpeggio is nothing more than a consecutive play of the root, third, and tonic, so in Am you have – A, C, E and back to A an octave apart.

Stairway to Heaven Tablature


E-------5-7-----7-
B-----5-----5-----
G---5---------5---
D-7-------6-------

Take a look at the picture showing the A minor arpeggio fingering:

Followed by the 7th fret on the high E string played together with the 6th Fret on the D string.
This 6th fret on the D string or Ab is a passing tone.
The last 3 notes of the first bar create a C major 7.

Take a look at the proposed C Major 7 fingering:

This all leads intro riff to C major, which is the relative major to A minor.
(This is out of the G Form – See Ultimate Fretboard). In the 2nd bar the first 4 notes are a C major (G Form 2nd Octave)

Stairway to Heaven Tablature


E-8-----8-2-----2-
B---5-------3-----
G-----5-------2---
D-5-------4-------


This picture bellow shows the C Major fingering:

The following 4 notes in the 2nd bar create a D major Arpeggio, which is a C Form Inversion. Take a look at the D Major fingering:

The third Bar of the into riff is an Open F major7 Chord played as an arpeggio:

Stairway to Heaven Tablature


E-0---------0-----
B---1---1-----1---
G-----2---------2-
D-3---------------

Look at the shown F Major 7 fingering:

Finally, the last bar of the riff rests on one beat of G major before going into A minor.


-----------------|
-0-1-1-----------|
-0-2-2-----------|
-----------------|
-2-0-0---0--/8-7-|
-----------------|

It is interesting to note, that the last two notes lead into the second set, and are virtually identical to the first 4 bars.

Here are the 8 Bars together:

Intro:
E-------5-7-----7-|-8-----8-2-----2-|
B-----5-----5-----|---5-------3-----|
G---5---------5---|-----5-------2---|
D-7-------6-------|-5-------4-------|
A-----------------|-----------------|
E-----------------|-----------------|

E-0---------0-----|-----------------|
B---1---1-----1---|-0-1-1-----------|
G-----2---------2-|-0-2-2-----------|
D-3---------------|-----------------|
A-----------------|-2-0-0---0--/8-7-|
E-----------------|-----------------|

The Second 4 bars follow the first 4 bars, except the very first note which is an extension of the previous bar.

E---------7-----7-|-8-----8-2-----2-|
B-------5---5-----|---5-------3-----|
G-----5-------5---|-----5-------2---|
D---7-----6-------|-5-------4-------|
A-0---------------|-----------------|
E-----------------|-----------------|

E-0---------0-----|-----------------|
B---1---1-----1---|-0-1-1-----------|
G-----2---------2-|-0-2-2-----------|
D-3---------------|-----------------|
A-----------------|-2-0-0-----------|
E-----------------|-----------------|

Be sure to check the video, showing how the forms are used to create the “Stairway to Heaven” intro riff.

Admittedly this is not a perfect performance by any means. I suggest using the video and pictures to find the forms and then listening to the original to perfect your performance.

http://www.guitar5day.com/video/stair.wmv

I hope you enjoyed the lesson with pictures and Stairway to Heaven Tablature.

 He paints in his studio in the Hamptons. He also plays guitar. I am not sure if that is him playing on the documentary but it sounds very cool. I have included a play blues guitar lesson below.

And you can play blues slide guitar like that with just a quick retune of your guitar.

The background delta blues guitar music is a simple open tuning slide guitar piece.

First Open Tuning.

Instead of the strings being tuned E A D G B E.
We need to tune our guitar strings  E  B  E  G # B  E

To do this:

Use the 7th fret on the E string to tune the A string Up to B.

Now use the 5th Fret to tune the D string up to E

Now use the 4 Fret to Tune G to G#

Ok now we are set.

Strum all the strings open to see if they sound  like an E Chord.

Once your guitar is strung get a smooth surfaced Cylander or Slide.

I like using a beer bottle… preferrably empty or mostly empty. In fact the 2nd or 3rd empty works even better.

Now hold the slide or bottle very lightly across all the strings.

slide it up to the 5th fret of your electric or acoustic guitar So that at least the D , G and B strings are in contact with the slide. This is important.

Hear that slide sound. Good.

Now there are a few keey places you want to play.

All strings opn Open

3rd fret – This is the Bluesey Minor 3rd 

Slide up from the 2nd Fret.

In fact always start at least  fret below on your guitar and slide up ot the notes. 

5th Fret. This is the A chord or 4 chord.

7th Fret This is the B or 5 chord.

Now playing the guitar with the picking hand.

USE your Thumb on the Low E string.

Use your 1st finger on the G string

Use your 2nd Finger on the B string.

Play around with that. You will start seeing blues guitar riff  patterns.

I hope you enjoyed this. Please leave a comment below.

You always dreamed to play guitar, but never getting started? Here is the best reason to begin… a 22 minutes / day guitar lesson. You’ll learn how to hold your guitar and pick, the parts of the guitar, what is a scale, learn a few chords, and a few songs.

Enjoy our lesson on DVD! Music and learning guitar is complicated enough and our approach to teaching music is friendly and simple. This is mainly because I have been able, over many years, to form my own view of how music works. I hope my approach helps you to better understand how to play guitar and to more fully enjoy the music.