What a tune, eh? And you can learn just in time for New Year Eve! :)

The Final Countdown by Europe is great fun on the acoustic guitar - and I'm sure you'll have an amazing time playing it for your friends and loved ones! This guitar lesson will cover the chords and the strumming pattern to sound like the original recording.

💡 Following my Guitar Courses? The Final Countdown is perfect for Grade 3+ Students! :)

Now let's get stuck in and check out what's on today's menu.

How to play The Final Countdown

First thing - get your guitar capo on the second fret. You'll need relatively easy chords to play The Final Countdown on the guitar! There is a B Minor Chord there, but we'll learn a chord cheat if you're not confident with your barre chords yet. :)

We'll also check out how to incorporate the main melody into the chords - but if you're a beginner, don't worry about that yet! For example, you can play the chords and sing the melody out. It's super fun and way easier to do!

💡 Save your favorite song tutorials on your JustinGuitar.com dashboard! All you have to do is log in to your account and click on that little heart to favorite a lesson! As you advance through your guitar journey, you can always revisit songs you first learn as a beginner and embellish your version. ;)

The chords to play The Final Countdown are Em, C, Am, D for the verses. You'll repeat this section as many times as you want - check out the video tutorial to learn more about that. The next section will be two beats on the Em, then you'll need a D Chord with an F# Bass.

🚨 Can't handle Slash Chords yet? Check out this beginner lesson!

You'll also add any variation of the G Chord that you fancy doing and wrap up that section with a C chord. Then, we'll need to get into the B chord - more details on the different fingering options are available in the video lesson. We'll also learn a cool cheat to replace the Bm grip if you can't play barre chords.

The Final Countdown - Strumming Pattern

You'll notice that we were only strumming once per bar through most of this song, but at some point, you need a very specific strumming pattern. It happens right on the D - and it's super important you get that right. Check out the video tutorial to practice that along with me.

As far as the rhythm goes - this is an acoustic version, so it doesn't need to be the kind of rock gallop that you kind of hear on the original recording. Even that simple, old faithful strumming pattern should sound great! The trick here is to experiment and keep it simple - The Final Countdown is the kind of song people just sing along with - so just relax and play. :)

The Final Countdown - Keyboard Riff

If you're playing The Final Countdown on the acoustic guitar, you might need to work on your own arrangement. But, in my experience, you'll benefit from keeping it loose. :) But more advanced players can have loads of fun playing the riff on the guitar, originally a keyboard riff! So, if you're up for it, join the tutorial, and let's explore how to do that too.

Check out JustinGuitar Tabs to get chords, tabs, and lyrics to follow with this tutorial!