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The White Stripes - Seven Nation Army - Guitar Tab

Sections · Loop · Speed · Metronome

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SECTIONS

Select a Loop

Start of your loop
End of your loop

Speed Control

Speed
100%

Tools

BPM
Key E minor
The White Stripes - Seven Nation Army guitar tab video
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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.
Listen on Spotify
The White Stripes Alternative Rock E minor
Capo Advisor 0 E minor · Original key

About Seven Nation Army

Few riffs in modern rock are as immediately recognizable as the descending bass-note figure that opens this track, and the good news is that it sits perfectly under one finger in Drop D tuning. The White Stripes recorded it in E minor at 104 BPM, and the riff is played on the low E string, making Drop D the natural home for it on guitar. The challenge is not the notes themselves but the feel: the phrase needs to land with weight and space, so resist the urge to rush the gaps between notes. Keeping strict time while letting each note breathe is harder than it sounds. Use the Practice Toolbar to loop the riff slowed down until the timing feels locked in before you bring it back up to tempo. The song sits in Alternative Rock, but the riff owes as much to blues as anything else, so a slightly behind-the-beat placement makes it groove rather than clatter.

  • The main riff runs entirely on the low E string in Drop D tuning, making it very approachable for beginners learning single-string fretting.
  • At 104 BPM the riff is moderate in speed, but nailing the space between each note is the real technical challenge.
  • Jack White used a DigiTech Whammy pedal live to shift the riff down an octave, giving it that deep bass-like tone on a single guitar.

How to Play Seven Nation Army

Tuning: Drop D · Key: E minor · Tempo: 104 BPM

The drop D tuning lets you fret the low power chords with a single finger, which is central to the heavier riffing here.

Use the section loop to isolate a passage, drop the speed below 100%, and set the metronome to 104 BPM to build it up to tempo.

Fender Twin Reverb
Amp

Fender Twin Reverb

Jack White pairs this clean, headroom-rich amp with his gritty Silvertone to balance The White Stripes' raw tone with shimmering reverb and dynamics. Running both amps simultaneously lets him dial between crunchy overdrive and pristine cleans without sacrificing the band's signature stripped-down character.

Dunlop Cry Baby Wah
Pedal

Dunlop Cry Baby Wah

White uses this wah as a dramatic solo tool to add expressive filter sweeps and vocal-like qualities to his riffs, keeping it minimal rather than constant. It's the perfect complement to his dynamic, attack-driven playing style on guitars like the Airline and Kay Hollowbody.

Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi
Pedal

Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi

This fuzz pedal provides The White Stripes with thick, saturated tones when pushed through already-cranked tube amps, adding explosive coloration without relying on the amp for all distortion. It's used sparingly for dramatic effect rather than as a constant tone modifier.

DigiTech Whammy
Pedal

DigiTech Whammy

The Whammy's iconic octave-down effect on 'Seven Nation Army' defined The White Stripes' sound, with Jack White using it for pitch-shifting, octave harmonies, and wild solo textures. It's his most important pedal because it transforms simple riffs into massive, arena-sized moments while maintaining dynamic control.

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