Guitar Songs, Tabs & Lessons

Jane's Addiction

2 guitar songs · Tabs, Lessons & Tone Guide Alternative Rock

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Jane Says - Guitar Lesson

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Mountain Song - Guitar Lesson

YouTube Stats: 28K · 1K

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Band Overview

History and Guitar Legacy

Jane's Addiction formed in 1985 from the Los Angeles underground scene, emerging as a crucial bridge between Alternative Rock, metal, punk, and art rock. Fronted by theatrical Perry Farrell, guitarist Dave Navarro powered their sound with a distinctive approach that fused Hard Rock aggression with gothic atmosphere and flamenco influences. Their music defined early '90s alternative rock and remains essential listening for understanding how heavy riffing can blend with delicate, textural passages.

Playing Style and Techniques

Navarro's approach prioritizes mood, dynamics, and tone over speed and technical flash. He seamlessly transitions between crushing distorted riffs and shimmering clean arpeggios within single songs. His signature techniques include wide, expressive vibrato, deliberate vocal-like bends, open string drones, and unconventional chord voicings that create haunting orchestral qualities. His legato phrasing during leads remains fluid and tasteful, demonstrating restraint and musicality throughout his playing.

Why Guitarists Study Janes Addiction

Dave Navarro's playing teaches essential lessons in dynamics and tonal variety that transcend simple rock playing. His ability to shift between aggressive and clean tones within the same passage expands how guitarists think about expression and atmosphere. The tight, syncopated rhythmic interplay with bassist Eric Avery demonstrates how groove and pocket matter as much as technical accuracy. Learning Navarro's approach pushes players beyond power chord rock into more sophisticated, expressive territory.

Difficulty and Learning Path

Jane's Addiction songs range from intermediate to advanced difficulty. 'Jane Says' offers an approachable entry point with simple two chord acoustic strumming, perfect for beginners. 'Mountain Song' demands confident alternate picking, precise palm muting, and quick tonal shifts between aggressive and clean sounds. The rhythmic complexity and need to lock with the bass require as much attention as note accuracy. Learning their catalog systematically builds dynamic range and expressive capability.

What Makes Jane's Addiction Essential for Guitar Players

Dave Navarro's riff in "Mountain Song" is a defining example of aggressive alternate picking combined with tight palm-muting on a low-tuned power chord foundation. The attack is percussive and precise, making it an excellent exercise for tightening your right-hand technique.
Navarro frequently contrasts heavy distorted sections with clean, reverb-drenched arpeggios, sometimes within the same song. Learning to manage your gain staging and volume knob to transition smoothly between these dynamics is a core skill you'll develop playing Jane's Addiction material.
His lead work often incorporates wide, slow vibrato and expressive string bends that prioritize emotional impact over technical flash. Studying his solos teaches you that a well-placed half-step bend with controlled vibrato can say more than a 16th-note run.
"Jane Says" uses a straightforward G–A chord progression strummed acoustically, making it one of the best beginner-friendly songs that still sounds impressive. It's an ideal vehicle for practicing clean, even strumming dynamics and chord transitions.
Navarro employs open-string drones and unconventional voicings that create a wider harmonic palette than standard rock fare. He'll let open B and E strings ring against fretted notes on lower strings, producing a cascading, almost Middle Eastern quality that adds texture without complexity.

Did You Know?

Dave Navarro tracked much of 'Nothing's Shocking' using a Les Paul Custom run through a cranked Marshall, a surprisingly classic setup for a band considered so alternative and avant-garde.

The main riff of "Mountain Song" was one of the first alternative rock riffs to get heavy MTV rotation, introducing a generation of guitarists to drop-tuned aggression years before grunge made it mainstream.

"Jane Says" was originally performed with steel drums providing the melodic hook, not guitar, making it one of the rare rock classics where the guitar part is purely rhythmic accompaniment, a humbling lesson in serving the song.

Navarro is known for his meticulous approach to layering guitars in the studio, often recording multiple takes with different pickup selections and amp settings to create a wall of texture that sounds deceptively simple on first listen.

Perry Farrell once described Navarro's guitar tone as 'a cathedral on fire,' which perfectly captures the blend of reverb-soaked atmosphere and searing distortion that defines their sound.

Navarro's flamenco influences, picked up from studying classical and Spanish guitar as a teenager in Los Angeles, can be heard in his fingerpicking passages and rapid-fire arpeggiated clean sections, a technique rarely found in hard rock.

Jane's Addiction's debut live album was recorded at the Roxy in Hollywood with minimal overdubs, meaning what you hear on those tracks is essentially Navarro's raw live rig tone, a great reference point for dialing in your own setup.

Essential Albums for Guitarists

Nothing's Shocking 1988

This is the essential Jane's Addiction album for guitarists. "Mountain Song" teaches aggressive palm-muted riffing and dynamic shifts, while tracks like "Ocean Size" and "Had a Dad" showcase Navarro's ability to weave clean arpeggios into heavy arrangements. The production by Dave Jerden captures every nuance of Navarro's tone, making it a fantastic reference for studying his attack and dynamics.

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Ritual de lo Habitual 1990

The band's most ambitious album features longer compositions with extended instrumental passages that demand stamina and dynamic control. "Stop!" is a killer riff-driven workout in alternate picking and rhythmic precision, while "Three Days" is a sprawling epic that moves through clean arpeggios, layered overdubs, and explosive distorted climaxes, a complete guitar education in one eleven-minute track.

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Jane's Addiction (Live) 1987

This raw live debut captures Navarro's unprocessed rig tone and real-time performance decisions. "Jane Says" appears here in its most stripped-down form, perfect for understanding how the song works at its core. The live setting reveals how Navarro manages feedback, volume swells, and transitions without studio polish, invaluable listening for any guitarist working on their stage sound.

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Tone & Gear

Guitar

Dave Navarro is most associated with his signature PRS Dave Navarro model, a single-cutaway with a figured maple top, 24 frets, and a tremolo bridge. During the classic Jane's Addiction era, he primarily used a Gibson Les Paul Custom (black) and various Fender Stratocasters for cleaner passages. He's also been known to use Parker Fly guitars for their lightweight playability and piezo pickup options. His PRS signature features a wider nut width and bird inlays, optimized for his blend of rock riffing and fingerstyle passages.

Amp

Navarro has long relied on Marshall amplifiers, particularly the JCM800 for its raw, aggressive overdrive and the plexi-style heads for classic crunch. During the 'Nothing's Shocking' sessions, he ran Marshalls cranked for natural tube saturation with minimal master volume. In later years, he incorporated Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifiers for their tighter low-end response and modern high-gain voicing. He typically runs a wet/dry setup live, with a clean amp handling reverb and delay returns alongside his dirty Marshall channel.

Pickups

On his Les Paul Custom, Navarro used stock PAF-style humbuckers that deliver a warm, thick midrange ideal for his heavily saturated rhythm tones while retaining enough clarity for clean arpeggios. His PRS signature model features Seymour Duncan humbuckers with moderate output, hot enough to push his Marshalls into singing sustain on leads, but not so overwound that clean dynamics are lost. The humbucker-only configuration is key to his noise-free transitions between gain levels.

Effects & Chain

Navarro's pedalboard leans heavily on modulation and ambience: a Boss CE-5 Chorus Ensemble for shimmering cleans, a Boss DD-3 Digital Delay for slapback and rhythmic repeats, and a Dunlop Cry Baby Wah for expressive lead work. He uses a Boss TU-2 tuner and often employs an MXR Phase 90 for swirling textures on atmospheric passages. A key element is his use of generous hall reverb, either from a pedal or a rack unit, to create the spacious, cathedral-like quality that defines the Jane's Addiction clean sound. His distortion comes primarily from the amp, not from pedals.

Recommended Gear

Guitar

Fender Stratocaster

Dave Navarro used Stratocasters for cleaner passages in Jane's Addiction, leveraging their bright, articulate tone to contrast with his heavier Les Paul work. The guitar's natural clarity lets his fingerstyle technique and atmospheric effects shine without muddying the spacious reverb textures.

Guitar

Gibson Les Paul Standard

While less documented than his Custom, the Les Paul Standard provided Navarro with the warm, thick midrange and humbucker power essential for Jane's Addiction's saturated rhythm tones. Its PAF-style pickups deliver the fat, singing sustain that pushes Marshall amps into the band's signature overdrive.

Guitar

Gibson Les Paul Custom

Navarro's primary rhythm guitar during the classic Jane's Addiction era, the black Les Paul Custom's PAF humbuckers produced warm, thick tones ideal for heavily saturated riffs while retaining clarity for clean arpeggios. This guitar defined the band's dense, layered guitar sound on 'Nothing's Shocking'.

Amp

Marshall JCM800

The JCM800's raw, aggressive tube overdrive was central to Navarro's tone on Jane's Addiction albums, delivering natural saturation when cranked with minimal master volume. This amp head created the band's iconic crunch and singing sustain that defined their '80s alternative rock sound.

Amp

Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier

Navarro adopted the Dual Rectifier in later years for its tighter low-end response and modern high-gain voicing, complementing his Marshall setup in a wet/dry live rig. The amp's responsive dynamics allow him to maintain clarity and control across the band's dynamic range.

Pedal

Dunlop Cry Baby Wah

Navarro uses the Cry Baby Wah for expressive lead work and atmospheric textures throughout Jane's Addiction's catalog, adding emotional sweep to solos. The pedal's responsive sweep range pairs perfectly with his effect-heavy approach to create the band's signature spacious, cathedral-like guitar tones.

How to Practice Jane's Addiction on GuitarZone

Every Jane's Addiction song page on GuitarZone includes a built-in Practice Toolbar. No app to download, no account needed. Open any song, then use the toolbar to slow the video to 0.5× speed, set an A/B loop around the exact riff you're working on, and jump between song sections instantly.

The toolbar appears automatically on every guitar tab, lesson, and cover page. Pick a song below, hit play, and start practicing at your own pace.

Practice Jane Says - Guitar Lesson Practice Mountain Song - Guitar Lesson