Practice Studio

Foo Fighters - Everlong - Guitar Tab

Sections · Loop · Speed · Metronome

Not in tune?

SECTIONS

Select a Loop

Start of your loop
End of your loop

Speed Control

Speed
100%

Tools

BPM
Key D major
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.

The Colour And The Shape album cover
The Colour And The Shape
1997 4:11
Capo Advisor 0 D major · Original key

About Everlong


Drop D tuning is at the heart of "Everlong," and the open, ringing quality it gives the guitar shapes everything about how the song feels under your fingers. The main riff uses hammer-ons and pull-offs across a repeating sixteenth-note pattern that sounds deceptively simple but demands real consistency in your fretting hand to keep it clean at tempo. Foo Fighters layer that picking-hand momentum through both the quiet, arpeggiated verse and the full-strummed chorus, so you need to maintain the same rhythmic engine the whole way through. The shift from a delicate, almost fingerpicked feel in the verse to the crashing open chords of the chorus is where most players lose control, so use the Practice Toolbar to loop that transition slowed down until the dynamic jump feels natural. Getting the hammer-on pull-off figure truly even is the real challenge here, and it is worth isolating just that two-bar cell before you put the whole arrangement together.

  • The song is played in Drop D tuning, which lowers the sixth string to D and allows the open-string riffs to ring with extra weight.
  • The signature riff relies on a continuous hammer-on and pull-off pattern that must stay even across both the quiet verse and loud chorus dynamics.
  • Controlling the dramatic volume jump between the arpeggiated verse and the full-strum chorus is the main technical challenge for guitarists learning this song.

How to Play Everlong

The song moves through: Intro, Interlude, Verse, Pre-Chorus, Chorus, Bridge.

Key: D major · Tempo: 158 BPM · Difficulty: Medium

The central challenge of Everlong is maintaining clean alternate picking through the main Drop D riff at 158 bpm, where the picking hand needs to stay relaxed to avoid tensing up over a full four-minute song. Begin by locking in the intro riff at reduced speed before tackling the pre-chorus, which involves quick chord shifts that catch many players off guard. The chorus uses strummed open-voiced Drop D shapes with a sharp dynamic jump from the quieter verse, so controlling that volume swell without losing rhythmic tightness is a real sticking point. Loop the pre-chorus to chorus transition specifically, as the timing of that shift is where most intermediate players lose momentum.

Loop the hardest passage and creep the speed up from around 70 percent until it holds at 158 BPM.

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.

Solo (Backing Track)

Solo (Backing Track)