1979

1979 is a very complete song, with a clever use of drones, patterns and unique chord shapes, making it a perfect song to learn if you’re looking for a challenge.

The main riff

To play this song, we’re going to need to tune our guitar a semitone down, so the strings are now Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, Bb and Eb. We’ll keep on talking about the notes we’re playing as if we were in standard tuning to make it easier!

Before we look at the main riff, let’s look at how to play the different octave shapes that we’re going to need.

In this specific song, we want to let the open E string ring even when we’re playing the different shapes. That will allow us to have a drone ringing throughout our chords and transitions. Also, make sure you’re not building each shape from scratch. Since the three shapes we’re playing are similar, try and slide the octave shape to where you want to play it.

In terms of rhythm, we’re going to play these three shapes for two bars, with a lot of downstrokes. We’re playing Eb for seven 8th notes, before jumping a fret higher to our E on the “and” of beat 4 on this first bar. After that, we’ll play B for a bar, but we’re not going to strum it on beat number 1. So the two bars would look like this:

Notice you can also add the quick “down up” at the end of the second bar as shown above!

On the second part of this riff, we’re going to play a beautiful melody on the D string. From here on, try to mute the low E string with your thumb, and try to let the A string ring underneath this melody. We’re playing over the E major scale, but just on one string!

In terms of rhythm, the idea is to play as many downstrokes as we can over the two bars of that melody, except when we’re playing the bend on fret 6.

Another tricky concept here is to play the A string on the beats, and the melody on the “and”, so we’re playing the A string on every other downstroke. The best way to do this is to relax the left hand every other strum, so we only hear the A string open, and not the notes we’re playing on the D string.

At the end of this part of the riff, we’re going to play the note on the D string four times on “and 3 and 4”

The verse’s outro

At the end of this riff, which is also the verse of the song, we’re going to need some new chord shapes. We’re going to need F#min11 and Badd11. Keep in mind that even though the names of these two chords can be a bit scary, the shapes aren’t that difficult to play!

In terms of rhythm, we’re going to play each chord for a bar, strumming downstrokes, but with a push on the Badd11!

The third verse of 1979 has a variation where we’re going to play F#11 and Aadd9. The two shapes are actually the same, just played in a different hand position!

The pattern is the same as the first two verses, with the same push on the “and” of beat 4!

Something to notice on this song is how Billy Corgan uses open strings as drones. On this verse’s outro for example, the open B and high E strings are constantly ringing, which allows us to get that specific sound where the transitions between chords aren’t too “dry”.

The chorus

The chorus of 1979 is very similar to the main riff we’ve seen before, but we have a different chord shape and a slightly different rhythm to play! We’re going to start with an E5 powerchord instead of the octave we’ve seen. We’re then going to use the same octave shape we’ve seen to play Eb and B.

We’re going to start with E5 for a bar, then drop to Eb and then B in the second bar. Something to be careful with here is that we have a push from E5 to the first octave shape (Eb) on the “and” of beat 4, and another push from the first octave shape to the second one (B) on the “and” of beat 2.

Good news, the second half of the chorus is exactly the same as the second half of the verse, with the same melody on the D string that we’ve seen before! At the end of the chorus, we also have a little outro, the same outro we’ve seen on the verse with F#min11 and Badd11.

The bridge

To play the bridge, we’re only going to need one new chord, C#min9. We’re also going to need Badd11, Aadd9 and F#min11, which we’ve seen before.

The structure is pretty simple: we’re going to play Badd11 for two bars, C#min9 for a bar, and Aadd9 for a bar. We’ll repeat that three times. After that, we’ve got a little outro again, which is the same outro we’ve seen on the verse and the chorus, played with F#min11 and Badd11.

Something to be mindful of here is how to transition from Badd11 to C#min9. All you have to do is barre with your index finger (so we’re now fretting the A string on fret 7) and move your ring finger up to the low E string on fret 9!

In terms of rhythm, we’re playing downstrokes again, but we have a push on the “and” of beat 4 on the third bar.

In conclusion

1979 is a perfect song to learn if you’re looking to improve your rhythm! I really invite you to watch some live performances and see how Billy Corgan switches between 8th notes and 16th notes patterns throughout the song. Feel free to stick to the main riff for as long as you need!