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Foo Fighters - Times Like These - Acoustic Guitar Lesson

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Foo Fighters - Times Like These - Acoustic Lesson

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Key D major
Foo Fighters - Times Like These acoustic guitar lesson video
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Foo Fighters D major
Capo Advisor 0 D major · Original key

About Times Like These

Few Post-Grunge songs have a guitar intro as immediately recognizable as this one. The opening figure in D major sits in E Standard tuning and uses a repeating, slightly syncopated arpeggio pattern that sounds deceptively simple until you try to keep it clean at the full 120 BPM. The trick is right-hand consistency: the pick or fingers have to land the same way every cycle, otherwise the pattern loses its hypnotic quality. Once the song opens up into the chorus, the chords hit hard and the dynamic jump is significant, so the real challenge is managing that contrast, staying controlled in the verse and committing fully when the big strums arrive. Foo Fighters build the arrangement in layers, so learning the guitar parts in isolation first is the smarter approach. Use the Practice Toolbar to loop the intro arpeggio slowed down until your picking hand finds its groove before pushing the tempo back up.

  • The intro riff is a repeating arpeggio figure in D major that demands consistent right-hand picking technique to keep each note even and clean.
  • Playing in E Standard at 120 BPM, the song's main challenge is the dynamic shift between the delicate verse figure and the full-strum chorus.
  • Looping the verse arpeggio slowed down with the Practice Toolbar is the most effective way to lock in the pattern before adding speed.

How to Play Times Like These

Tuning: E Standard · Key: D major

Use the section loop to isolate a passage and drop the speed to build each section up to tempo.

Fender Telecaster
Guitar

Fender Telecaster

Chris Shiflett's Telecaster Deluxe with dual humbuckers provides a brighter, more cutting lead tone than Dave Grohl's darker semi-hollows, creating essential tonal separation in Foo Fighters' layered recordings.

Gibson Les Paul Standard
Guitar

Gibson Les Paul Standard

Chris Shiflett uses Les Paul Standards live for their thick humbucker output and sustain, matching the band's preference for guitars that push tube amps into natural saturation without pedal-based distortion.

Gibson Les Paul Custom
Guitar

Gibson Les Paul Custom

The Les Paul Custom's thick body and potent humbuckers deliver the compressed midrange and sustain essential to Foo Fighters' heavy, saturated crunch when paired with cranked Mesa/Boogie and Marshall amps.

Gibson ES-335
Guitar

Gibson ES-335

Dave Grohl's signature DG-335 semi-hollow body produces warm, chimey overdrive on cleaner parts and thick midrange on heavy sections, becoming the sonic foundation of Foo Fighters' studio and live sound.

Gibson Explorer
Guitar

Gibson Explorer

Grohl's white 1980s Explorer delivers aggressive humbucker tones and extended upper range, providing the raw power and cutting presence needed for the band's louder, more distorted passages.

Marshall JCM800
Amp

Marshall JCM800

The JCM800's legendary crunch and natural tube saturation perfectly complements Foo Fighters' philosophy of tone-first guitar-and-amp combinations, delivering the heavy, responsive drive heard throughout their discography.

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