Fleetwood Mac - Never Going Back Again - Guitar Tab

Rumours (Super Deluxe)

1977 2:14

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About Never Going Back Again

Lindsey Buckingham's fingerpicked part on this 1977 track is one of the most deceptively tricky things in the Classic Rock repertoire. The guitar is in Open D tuning, but the song sits in G major, meaning you are working with a capo and a retuned open string relationship that shapes every chord shape and voicing you reach for. The picking pattern itself is relentless: a steady, interlocking cascade of treble and bass notes that sounds almost like two guitars when it locks in, but falls apart the moment your thumb or index finger loses its place. Getting the right-hand pattern solid before worrying about chord changes is the smartest approach here. Use the Practice Toolbar to loop the opening four bars slowed right down, isolating exactly where each finger lands relative to the beat. Once the pattern is automatic, the chord transitions become manageable. Fleetwood Mac kept the arrangement deliberately sparse, so any hesitation in your picking is immediately audible.

• The guitar part uses Open D tuning with a capo, giving the fingerpicking a ringing, resonant quality that standard tuning cannot easily replicate.
• The right-hand fingerpicking pattern is the main technical challenge: a continuous alternating-thumb cascade that must stay steady across chord changes.
• At 120 BPM the piece feels moderate, but maintaining an even pick-hand rhythm for its full duration demands real stamina and muscle memory.