Smells Like Teen Spirit is undoubtedly Nirvana’s biggest hit of all time. The song successfully launched Nirvana’s album, Nevermind, to the top of the album charts in 1992. Some even consider this event as a turning point when the grunge genre became mainstream.
The music clip takes place on a basketball court, which seems to be a rally for a game. It starts with the cheerleaders cheering but soon turns to a massive rampage of the crowd. MTV used to play this clip a lot in fact; It even got a Guinness world record for that.
The funny thing is when Kurt first presented the song to his bandmates, he labeled it as a cliche; even so, one of the band members called it ridiculous. But after several hours of practice and iterations, they reached something they were all happy with and riff we all know today.
After Kurt’s death, the song kept on gaining popularity and was listed on numerous songs lists from different music channels and music magazines. To this day, it is considered one of the greatest songs of all time.
The main riff contains only four power chords. The only issue is getting the rhythm right which contains 16th notes and dead notes.
Tuning And Tempo
The song uses the standard tuning (E A D G B E). The tempo of the song is 117 BPM. At First, the tempo of the song seems to be high. But after you figure out the main riff, you can pretty much play the entire song.
Guitar Chords
There are versions of the song that uses Capo and open chords. But I think the original version that uses power chords is much easier to play, which I will cover here.
Almost the entire song is played with just power chords. Some sections have double stops, but they are rather easy to play.
The power chords in the song are three-string power chords. If you have trouble playing them, you can start by playing the same chords but with just the lower two strings.
The main riff (chorus) consists of the F5, A#5, G#5, and C#5 power chords.
As I mentioned before, If you have trouble playing the three-string version of those chords, you can start practicing with just two strings. Here are the same chords with just two strings.
The post-chorus section consists of the following power chords: F5, E5, F#5, A#5, G#5
Main Strumming Pattern
If you don’t know how to count the beats check out the musical notation section in my theory lesson Guitar Music Theory In-Depth Basics
The strumming pattern may seem hard at first because it has 16th notes, but it will become much easier once you break it down into simpler chunks. We can break this strumming pattern into three sections.
The first section is the three strums starting from the first downbeat to the second downbeat, including it. You should first play just the downbeats (when your foot is on the ground).
Once you are OK with that, you can move the section when you play the 16th note before the 2nd downbeat. You need to strum up in between the 1st upbeat (when your foot is off the ground) and the 2nd downbeat. Another way to look at this is as strumming up and down when your count the 2nd downbeat.
The second section is the four strums between the 2nd and 3rd upbeat. Before you start strumming, you must know how to play dead notes. If you are unfamiliar with the dead notes, all you have to do is place your fretting hand over all of the strings without pressing them; your hand must touch them.
The position where you should place your hand is determined by the chord you previously played. Then try strumming all the strings; it should sound muted. If not, move your hand so it will cover all the strings that aren’t muted.
Once you know how to play dead notes or already know, the next thing is to play the four strums. The key point here is that you need to stum four times in one beat. You can practice that with a downbeat first and then move to strum four times on an upbeat so it will match the strumming pattern.
If you can play the two sections separately, the next thing is to combine them before you move to the last one.
The last section is the easiest one. The three last strums go from the 3rd upbeat to the end. All you have to do here is play the strums on the upbeats and downbeat. When you master this section as well, combine all of them.
If you have trouble playing any of the sections, start slow and build up the speed once you play the pattern correctly. Don’t forget to use a metronome.
The Main Riff / Main Chord Progression
When you have figured out the strumming pattern, it is time to combine it with the chords. The riff starts on the F5 chord, and you change it on the 3rd upbeat to A#5, right after you finished strumming the four dead notes.
The Second section is identical; you just shift your fretting hand to the 4th fret and play the G#5 and C#5 after it.
Verse/Pre Chorus Riff
Post Chorus Riff
Smells Like Teen Spirit Tabs & Lyrics
Intro
[clean]
[x = Dead note]
e|------------------------|------------------------|
B|------------------------|------------------------|
G|-----------------3-3--0-|-----------------6-6--0-|
D|-3--3-3--x-x-x-x-3-3--0-|-6--6-6--x-x-x-x-6-6--0-| x2
A|-3--3-3--x-x-x-x-1-1--0-|-6--6-6--x-x-x-x-4-4--0-|
E|-1--1-1--x-x-x-x--------|-4--4-4--x-x-x-x--------|[with distortion effect]
[x = Dead note]
e|------------------------|------------------------|
B|------------------------|------------------------|
G|-----------------3-3--0-|-----------------6-6--0-|
D|-3--3-3--x-x-x-x-3-3--0-|-6--6-6--x-x-x-x-6-6--0-| x4
A|-3--3-3--x-x-x-x-1-1--0-|-6--6-6--x-x-x-x-4-4--0-|
E|-1--1-1--x-x-x-x--------|-4--4-4--x-x-x-x--------|Verse
[clean]
e|-----------|----|
B|------6----|----|
G|----5------|----|
D|-----------|----| x2
A|-----------|----|
E|-----------|----|
e|-----------|----|
B|------6----|----|
G|----5------|----| x4
D|-----------|----|
A|-----------|----|
E|-----------|----|
Load up on guns, bring your friends
It's fun to lose and to pretend
She's over bored and self assured
Oh no, I know a dirty wordPre Chorus
[clean]
e|-----------------|
B|-----6-------6---|
G|-5-------5-------|
D|-----------------| x4
A|-----------------|
E|-----------------|
Hello, hello, hello, how low
Hello, hello, hello, how low
Hello, hello, hello, how low
Hello, hello, hello, how low Chorus
[with distortion effect]
[x = Dead note]
e|------------------------|------------------------|
B|------------------------|------------------------|
G|-----------------3-3--0-|-----------------6-6--0-|
D|-3--3-3--x-x-x-x-3-3--0-|-6--6-6--x-x-x-x-6-6--0-| x6
A|-3--3-3--x-x-x-x-1-1--0-|-6--6-6--x-x-x-x-4-4--0-|
E|-1--1-1--x-x-x-x--------|-4--4-4--x-x-x-x--------|
With the lights out, it's less dangerous
Here we are now, entertain us
I feel stupid and contagious
Here we are now, entertain us
A mulatto, an albino,
a mosquito, my libido yeahPost Chorus
[with distortion effect]
[br = bend and release]
e|------------------|-----------------|
B|------------------|-----------------|
G|-------------3br--|-----------------|
D|-3---2-3-4-4------|-3---2-3-8---6---| x2
A|-3---2-3-4-4------|-3---2-3-8---6---|
E|-1---0-1-2-2------|-1---0-1-6---4---|
Hey
Yay Verse
[clean]
e|-----------|----|
B|------6----|----|
G|----5------|----|
D|-----------|----| x2
A|-----------|----|
E|-----------|----|
e|-----------|----|
B|------6----|----|
G|----5------|----| x4
D|-----------|----|
A|-----------|----|
E|-----------|----|
I'm worse at what I do best
And for this gift I feel blessed
Our little group has always been
And always will until the endPre Chorus
[clean]
e|-----------------|
B|-----6-------6---|
G|-5-------5-------|
D|-----------------| x4
A|-----------------|
E|-----------------|
Hello, hello, hello, how low
Hello, hello, hello, how low
Hello, hello, hello, how low
Hello, hello, hello, how low Chorus
[with distortion effect]
[x = Dead note]
e|------------------------|------------------------|
B|------------------------|------------------------|
G|-----------------3-3--0-|-----------------6-6--0-|
D|-3--3-3--x-x-x-x-3-3--0-|-6--6-6--x-x-x-x-6-6--0-| x6
A|-3--3-3--x-x-x-x-1-1--0-|-6--6-6--x-x-x-x-4-4--0-|
E|-1--1-1--x-x-x-x--------|-4--4-4--x-x-x-x--------|
With the lights out, it's less dangerous
Here we are now, entertain us
I feel stupid and contagious
Here we are now, entertain us
A mulatto, an albino,
a mosquito, my libido yeahPost Chorus
[with distortion effect]
[br = bend and release]
e|------------------|-----------------|
B|------------------|-----------------|
G|-------------3br--|-----------------|
D|-3---2-3-4-4------|-3---2-3-8---6---| x2
A|-3---2-3-4-4------|-3---2-3-8---6---|
E|-1---0-1-2-2------|-1---0-1-6---4---|
Hey
Yay Solo
[with distortion effect]
[br = bend and release]
[\ = slide]
e|---------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|
B|---------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|
G|------8--10----|---8-8br--6-5-|---6-5--------|--------------|
D|---10--------6-|--------------|--------8--6--|---8-8br--6-5-| x2
A|---------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|
E|---------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|
e|-------------|---------------|
B|-------------|---------------|
G|-------------|---------------|
D|-6-5---6-5---|-6-5---6-5-5\3-| x4
A|-------------|---------------|
E|-------------|---------------|
Verse
[without guitar]
And I forget just why I taste
Oh yeah, I guess it makes me smile
I found it hard, was hard to find
Oh well, whatever, never mindPre Chorus
[clean]
e|-----------------|
B|-----6-------6---|
G|-5-------5-------|
D|-----------------| x4
A|-----------------|
E|-----------------|
Hello, hello, hello, how low
Hello, hello, hello, how low
Hello, hello, hello, how low
Hello, hello, hello, how low Chorus
[with distortion effect]
[x = Dead note]
e|------------------------|------------------------|
B|------------------------|------------------------|
G|-----------------3-3--0-|-----------------6-6--0-|
D|-3--3-3--x-x-x-x-3-3--0-|-6--6-6--x-x-x-x-6-6--0-| x6
A|-3--3-3--x-x-x-x-1-1--0-|-6--6-6--x-x-x-x-4-4--0-|
E|-1--1-1--x-x-x-x--------|-4--4-4--x-x-x-x--------|
With the lights out, it's less dangerous
Here we are now, entertain us
I feel stupid and contagious
Here we are now, entertain us
A mulatto, an albino,
a mosquito, my libido yeahOutro
[with distortion effect]
[x = Dead note]
e|------------------------|------------------------|
B|------------------------|------------------------|
G|-----------------3-3--0-|-----------------6-6--0-|
D|-3--3-3--x-x-x-x-3-3--0-|-6--6-6--x-x-x-x-6-6--0-| x4
A|-3--3-3--x-x-x-x-1-1--0-|-6--6-6--x-x-x-x-4-4--0-|
E|-1--1-1--x-x-x-x--------|-4--4-4--x-x-x-x--------|
e|------|----|
B|------|----|
G|------|----|
D|-3----|----|
A|-3----|----|
E|-1----|----|
a denial, a denial,
a denial, a denial,
a denial, a denial,
a denial, a denial,
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