Creator Area
Sign in Creator Area

Practice Studio

The Police - Message In A Bottle - Guitar Lesson

Sections · Loop · Speed · Metronome

Not in tune?

Select a Loop

Start of your loop
End of your loop

Speed Control

Speed
100%

Tools

BPM
Key C# minor
The Police - Message In A Bottle guitar lesson video
Guitar 365
Guitar 365 Top Contributor
YouTube: 1.6Msubs 651Kviews
Creator Page →
PLAY WITH BACKING TRACK
·
–50¢ 0 +50¢
· Tap to start

Your browser will ask for microphone permission.

Amp Settings

Classic Rock

Gain6
Bass6
Mid7
Treble6
Presence5
Master7
AI tone preset

AI-selected preset based on genre and era — adjust the knobs to taste.

Roll back the gain slightly and pick near the neck for a warmer, more open crunch.
Listen on Spotify
The Police Punk Rock C# minor
Capo Advisor 0 C# minor · Original key

About Message In A Bottle

Few songs teach you as much about arpeggiated chord work as "Message In A Bottle." The whole track is built on a repeating four-chord arpeggio pattern in C# minor, played in E Standard tuning, and getting it to ring cleanly at tempo is harder than it looks. Each note in the pattern needs to sustain without the others choking it out, which means your fretting hand has to hold full chord shapes while your picking hand works through them precisely. At 76 BPM the groove feels relaxed, but that moderate pace actually gives you nowhere to hide if your articulation is sloppy. Use the Practice Toolbar to loop the intro arpeggio slowed down until each note speaks evenly, then gradually bring it back up to tempo. The Police kept the arrangement sparse, so the guitar carries almost all the melodic weight throughout, making this a genuinely rewarding piece to get right. Fans of Punk Rock will recognize the tight, driven energy underneath that clean arpeggio surface.

  • The signature part is a four-chord arpeggio figure in C# minor that repeats throughout, demanding clean sustain and a steady picking-hand technique.
  • Played in E Standard tuning at 76 BPM, the moderate tempo exposes any unevenness in your fretting, so precise finger placement across all four chords is essential.
  • Looping the arpeggio intro slowed down with the Practice Toolbar is the most effective way to build the hand independence this pattern requires.

How to Play Message In A Bottle

Tuning: E Standard · Key: C# minor · Tempo: 76 BPM

Loop each section and focus on clean, even timing rather than speed, with the metronome at 76 BPM.

Fender Stratocaster
Guitar

Fender Stratocaster

Andy Summers used the Strat on select Police tracks for its smooth, singing sustain and contoured body comfort during intricate fingerpicking passages. Its versatile pickup switching complemented his hybrid Tele's spiky attack, offering warmer mid-range tones for atmospheric arrangements.

Fender Telecaster
Guitar

Fender Telecaster

Summers' modified 1961 Tele Custom with Gibson humbucker in the neck and Fender single-coil bridge became his signature weapon, delivering both cutting reggae arpeggios and warm, sustained chords that defined The Police's distinctive sonic character.

Gibson ES-335
Guitar

Gibson ES-335

The ES-335's warm, woody tone and semi-hollow body resonance gave Summers jazzier options in the studio, adding sophisticated harmonic depth to Police tracks that required softer, more organic textures beyond the Tele's angular attack.

Marshall JCM800
Amp

Marshall JCM800

Summers pushed the JCM800 just past breakup for crunch rather than full distortion, pairing it in stereo with his clean Roland to create The Police's signature wide, layered guitar image with grit and clarity coexisting.

MXR Phase 90
Pedal

MXR Phase 90

This swirling phaser added jet-like, psychedelic textures to Summers' clean tones, occasionally used to enhance the shimmering, otherworldly quality of Police arrangements without overwhelming their reggae-influenced rhythmic precision.

MXR Carbon Copy Analog Delay
Pedal

MXR Carbon Copy Analog Delay

The MXR Carbon Copy's warm analog delay provided rhythmic slapback and lush atmospheric repeats essential to Summers' compositional approach, where effects functioned as fundamental song elements rather than decorative flourishes.

Recommended for You

Play with Backing Track

Play with Backing Track

Solo (Backing Track)

Solo (Backing Track)