Hells Bells

Intro riff

For this song we're in the key of A, aka the 'key of rock', but the riffs really traverse the neck, so it's best to learn them as specific entities, rather than base them around any boxes. The first riff is the hooky, arpeggio based idea that runs through an A5, D5 and C5 chord, but as it's a riff the inversions are very specific, and we have the open A drone ringing out underneath the whole thing. Here are the chord shapes we're using:

Get those shapes under your fingers then start arpeggiating! The rhythm is also very important so make sure you listen to the song or the demo in the video to really nail the note lengths. Allow the notes to ring out as much as possible to really get the riff sounding right.

For the second time round we have a cool diad rundown idea that goes from C5 to G/B before returning to the A. I'm calling it a G/B here but it's not the more common G/B open chord shape, it's more of a 'stretched' powerchord shape. Technically however we are playing a G and a B which are the core notes in a G major diad but we have the B as the lowest note, hence G/B! Here are the shapes:

Interlude riff

This section is very similar to the intro riff, with the addition of an open G5 and D5 chord before the 'stretched' powerchord rundown from the intro riff. You'll see those open powerchord shapes come up time and again in many AC/DC songs, so if you're a fan you need those in your locker! Here are those open shapes for you to learn:

Verse riff intro

This is a variation on the intro riff that moves away from arpeggios and into picked power chords. We're still playing the same notes as before but now upping the energy with chords that feel much more like stabs.

Verse riff

Now we're into the main verse riff that follows the same idea as the 'verse riff intro' but brings it down the neck and allows it to sit under the vocals nicely. This is a brilliant bit of guitar part writing and is something to think about in any genre of music where there might be a vocal part that you don't want to steamroll with a high guitar riff! Here are the shapes we're using for this part:

Prechorus riff

We now take the same motif from the verse riff and move it up from an A5 to a D5. This nicely lifts the tune and introduces a tiny bit of tension that we hope to resolve with the chorus! After that we play a C5 in the standard powerchord shape, followed by an open G5. Here are the shapes we're looking at for this part:

Next we move that motif up again, this time to an E major which we play up around the 7th fret with an A shape barre chord, followed by a D5 and an A5. The rhythm is the same as the previous section, we've just moved everything up a tone Just before the chorus we play a G5 open shape.

Chorus

Good news! The chorus riff is the same as the intro riff! Scroll up to recap that part and you'll be all set!

The solo

We kick off the solo with 4 bars of A, over which Angus plays double stop, Chuck Berry-esque ideas using A minor pentatonic box 1. Then we build into a riff that's introduced for the solo. That riff plays an A5, then C5 then D5 but the important takeaway here is that it's an A minor based section, so you can still play your A minor pentatonic.

After that we shift to the prechorus section, which moves our tonal center to a D, so here you can use D minor pentatonic, and finally as the section moves up to that E we can use E minor pentatonic! Use the scales tool in the toolbox to get started!

Final thoughts

There's a lot to work with in this song. If you want to focus on the riffs and rhythm playing there's a lot to sink your teeth into. If you want to focus on lead we have the opportunity to follow some key changes with the pentatonic scale. You should always trust your ear with this kind of thing too.