John Williams - Indiana Jones Theme - Guitar Tab

Indiana Jones Theme

2020 5:10

Listen on Spotify

About Indiana Jones Theme

Few orchestral themes translate as satisfyingly to guitar as the Raiders March, and the main brass melody sitting in Bb major gives you a good workout in a key that guitar players do not always feel at home in. The signature fanfare motif, that bold ascending leap followed by the syncopated rhythmic figure, is deceptively tricky to phrase well: the notes themselves are not hard to fret, but landing each accent with confidence at 120 BPM while keeping your right hand relaxed is where most players slip up. In E Standard tuning the melody sits in a practical range, but you will want to make sure your barre shapes around Bb and Eb are clean before you attempt a full run-through. Use the Practice Toolbar to loop the opening fanfare slowed down so you can lock in the rhythmic feel before bringing it back up to tempo. John Williams wrote the piece to feel heroic and forward-moving, so any hesitation in the delivery gives the game away. The Soundtrack genre rewards guitarists who treat phrasing and dynamics with as much care as they give to accuracy.

• The main fanfare motif centres on a bold ascending interval followed by a syncopated rhythmic figure, so practise that two-bar cell in isolation before chaining the full melody.
• Bb major is not a guitar-friendly key, so clean barre chord shapes around Bb and Eb are essential for a convincing arrangement.
• At 120 BPM the march feel is brisk enough that right-hand articulation and accent placement deserve as much practice time as the fretting hand.