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Motley Crue - Kickstart My Heart - Guitar Tab

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Key F# minor
Motley Crue - Kickstart My Heart guitar tab video
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Classic Rock

Gain6
Bass6
Mid7
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Master7
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Roll back the gain slightly and pick near the neck for a warmer, more open crunch.
Dr. Feelgood album cover
Dr. Feelgood
1989 4:43
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Motley Crue Hard Rock 1989 F# minor
Capo Advisor 0 F# minor · Original key

About Kickstart My Heart

Few hard rock openers hit as hard as the cold, unaccompanied bass intro that sets up "Kickstart My Heart," and when the guitars finally crash in, the demand is immediate: tight, aggressive picking and enough pick attack to cut through a wall of drums. At 124 BPM in E Standard tuning, the main riff sits in F# minor and moves fast enough that sloppy fretting will expose itself quickly. Mick Mars built the track around a driving, repetitive down-picked figure that sounds deceptively simple until you try to keep it locked and clean for the full length of the song. Stamina and right-hand consistency are the real tests here. The pre-chorus gallop and the chorus power chords demand precise muting so the rhythm stays punchy rather than muddy. Use the Practice Toolbar to loop and slow down the verse riff until your pick-hand rhythm is absolutely solid before bringing it back up to speed. Motley Crue kept the arrangement lean, which means every slip in the guitar part is audible, so patience in the slow practice phase pays off in a big way. If you enjoy this style, the Hard Rock genre page has plenty of similarly driven material to work through.

  • The main riff relies heavily on consistent down-picking at 124 BPM, so building right-hand stamina is essential before attempting it at full speed.
  • Palm muting precision is critical throughout: too much mute and the riff loses punch, too little and the power chords turn into a wash of noise.
  • The song is in E Standard tuning, so no retuning is needed, but the F# minor key means the riff centers around the second-fret area on the low strings.

How to Play Kickstart My Heart

The song moves through: Intro, Verse, Chorus, Bridge, Solo, Outro.

Tuning: E Standard · Key: F# minor · Tempo: 124 BPM · Difficulty: Medium

The central challenge is Mick Mars's main riff, which demands tight, consistent palm muting combined with precise right-hand picking rhythm at 124 bpm. Many players let the muting get sloppy during fast transitions between the muted chugs and the open, ringing hits, so isolate that contrast using the section loop on the intro until the dynamic difference is clear. The solo requires confident bending and vibrato in F# minor, and rushing into it before the rhythm parts are solid is the most common mistake. Lock down the verse and chorus riffing first, then approach the solo as a separate project.

Use the section loop to isolate a passage, drop the speed below 100%, and set the metronome to 124 BPM to build it up to tempo.

Fender Stratocaster
Guitar

Fender Stratocaster

Mick Mars used custom Fender Stratocasters with humbucker pickups for specific recordings, providing tonal variety beyond his signature Les Paul thickness. The Strat's brighter character offered alternative textures while maintaining the aggressive humbucker-driven attack essential to Motley Crue's sound.

Gibson Les Paul Standard
Guitar

Gibson Les Paul Standard

Mars' primary weapon throughout Motley Crue's career, the Les Paul Standard delivered the thick, sustained rhythm tones and warm PAF-style humbucker attack that define the band's heavy metal foundation. Its stock Gibson electronics and natural resonance let the cranked Marshall amp create the signature crunch without additional processing.

Gibson Les Paul Custom
Guitar

Gibson Les Paul Custom

Mars' most iconic guitar choice, the black and white Les Paul Customs from the late 70s and 80s provided the dense, aggressive tones that powered Motley Crue's biggest hits. The custom model's weight and construction contributed to the sustained, sludgy rhythm guitar sound that became the band's sonic trademark.

Marshall JCM800
Amp

Marshall JCM800

The core of Mick Mars' legendary tone, his heavily modified JCM800 heads with scooped mids and cranked preamp gain created Motley Crue's characteristic thick, saturated crunch. Driven hard with a Les Paul's humbuckers, this combination produced the warm yet aggressive distortion that defined 80s hair metal.

Soldano SLO-100
Amp

Soldano SLO-100

Mars adopted the Soldano SLO-100 in later years for its smoother, more refined high-gain character compared to the Marshall's rawer saturation. The Soldano's tighter response and cleaner articulation suited Motley Crue's evolution while maintaining the band's heavy, sustain-driven aesthetic.

Dunlop Cry Baby Wah
Pedal

Dunlop Cry Baby Wah

Featured prominently on 'Kickstart My Heart' intro and various solos, Mars' Dunlop Cry Baby wah pedal added dynamic expression to his otherwise amp-driven tone. The wah's sweeping character became an iconic texture in Motley Crue's arsenal of lead guitar effects.

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