AC/DC - Thunderstruck Pt.1 - Intro - Guitar Lesson

Iron Man 2

1990 4:54

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About Thunderstruck Pt.1 - Intro

Few guitar intros are as immediately recognisable as the one on "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC. The whole thing is built on a single-string tapped and hammered figure in E major that runs almost continuously for well over a minute before the band even kicks in. What makes it tricky is not the individual notes but the stamina and consistency it demands: your fretting hand hammers-on repeatedly across the same pattern at speed, and any hesitation or uneven pressure shows up immediately. Keep your fretting fingers close to the fretboard and focus on getting an even volume on every note, because fluffed hammer-ons stand out badly on a clean or lightly overdriven tone. Use the Practice Toolbar to loop the intro slowed down, building up the repeating sequence in small chunks before adding tempo. Once you can play through it cleanly at reduced speed, gradually raise the tempo until it sits right.

• The intro relies almost entirely on a hammer-on sequence played on a single string, making clean fretting-hand technique and finger stamina the main challenges.
• A light to moderate overdrive tone works best here, as heavy gain will mask sloppy hammer-ons and prevent you from hearing where your technique needs work.
• The figure repeats with very little variation for an extended stretch, so building endurance in your fretting hand is just as important as learning the pattern itself.