Play "Solsbury Hill" by Peter Gabriel on guitar!

Let's learn how to play Solsbury Hill by Peter Gabriel. This song is definitely not easy, but it's also not as difficult as you think! :) The good news is that there are only six sequences you need to practice. Focus on each one individually, and you'll get there.

🎸 Solsbury Hill by Peter Gabriel is one of my most requested songs! If you'd like a lesson on your favorite tune, you can request it here.

Before we get started, grab your guitar capo. To follow this lesson along with me and play along with the original recording, you'll need to put your capo on the second fret.

Now let's get stuck in and learn how to play Solsbury Hill by Peter Gabriel on the acoustic guitar.

Solsbury Hill by Peter Gabriel – Time Signature

Solsbury Hill is in 7/4 time, which is definitely an odd time signature. It sounds really complicated, but we’ll look at the count step-by-step!

Though we’ll look at all the details, it’s crucial you get used to the feel of the song. It makes it much easier to learn! Listen to the song and count along – but not in 7s.

Count in 3s and 4s for the intro: 1 2 3, 1 2 3 4; 1 2 3, 1 2 3 4. In the verses, do the opposite: 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3; 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3. This will help you feel the pulse when you play the fingerstyle part, which is the key to playing songs in odd times. Even though the time signature is strange, the rhythm isn’t jerky. It’s natural. That’s the mark of a beautifully written song. :)

How To Learn This Song

I recommend you learn the chord sequence first. Focus on the fretting hand, making sure you've got all the chords right and know which fingers to use.

That’s the easy part. Most of your effort will go into the fingerstyle! You must practice the picking slowly. When I transcribed the tune, I had to work it all out, write it all down, and then practice it over and over again until it happened on its own!

You need to automate this stuff – you can’t be thinking about the fingerstyle patterns as you play them. To help you get the guitar parts spot on, I suggest you get your hands on my tab for this song. :)

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Let’s get to it.

Solsbury Hill by Peter Gabriel – Section 1

Time to look at the classic intro phase. As I mentioned, the intro is in 7/4 and sounds like 3 beats then 4 beats.

Rather than using 16th notes to count, we’ll go for eighth notes. This means we’ll count 6 beats (1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 +) then 8 beats (1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 +). Thumb notes will always come on numbers, and all notes on the “+”s are with fingers 1, 2, or 3.

We start with a D/A chord (X02430). Finger 1 does a mini-barre on strings 2, 3, and 4 at fret 2, while finger 3 goes on 4:4 (string 4, fret 4), and finger 2 plays 2:3. We’ll add and remove fingers 2 and 3 twice in this section to alternate between D/A and A (X02220).

The thinnest string needs to ring out too. So find a way of putting finger 1 down while lifting up the knuckle to let string 1 ring out. We’ll also need an E/A (X02100) using fingers 1 and 2. Finger 3 will go down on 3:2 as part of the melody G# A B melody line.

🧐 Play the video or hit the TAB button above to see the fingerstyle patterns. Learn the song bar by bar, making sure you play it perfectly.

For most of the tune, the thumb plays notes on strings 6, 5, and 4; finger 1 plucks string 3; finger 2 plays string 2; and finger 3 plucks string 1. This changes a couple of times but works for most of the song. :)

Let's look at the verse phrases.

Solsbury Hill by Peter Gabriel – Section 2

In the second section, we’ll just need A and E/A. So most of the work here is in the picking hand. If you’ve learned the intro properly, this part will feel pretty simple. :) The count does change though. Remember that we count 8 then 6.

Solisbury Hill by Peter Gabriel – Section 3

This part is probably the trickiest. We start with an F#m chord (X44222). Fingers 3 and 4 play 5:4 and 4:4, while finger 1 barres strings 1, 2, and 3 at fret 2 (technically F#m/C#). Note that this is an F#m barre chord (244222) without the note on string 6.

Then we go to that E chord again (0X2100). The fingers go on the same frets, but this time we mute string 5 with the tip of finger 1. String 6 is now included as a bass note. This is a standard E chord but with string 5 muted.

There’s a lot going on in the fingerstyle pattern, particularly in the 8-beat bar. Practice it carefully with the TAB until you automate it. :)

💣 Practice Tips: I had to sit for ages and just practice this song very slowly! It didn’t feel nice under my fingers. Maybe I hadn’t practiced these patterns too often before! Here’s a nice little catchphrase: Don’t practice until you get it right – practice until you can’t get it wrong. Beyond sounding nice, it’s also very true for fingerstyle patterns. :)

Solsbury Hill by Peter Gabriel – Section 4

The chords in this section are pretty simple. We’ll need a DMaj7 (XX0222), with finger 1 barring strings 1 to 3 at fret 2, along with an E/D (XX0100). Finger 1 frets 3:1.

The fun is all in the picking! First off, the position of the picking hand changes. Thumb picks strings 4 and 3, and fingers 1 and 2 pluck strings 2 and 1. We won’t use finger 3.

Other than that, the pattern is essentially the same as the one in section 3. So it’s much easier to play if you’ve already learned that section.

Solsbury Hill by Peter Gabriel – Section 5

For this part, you’ll need F#m/C# (X44222), E (0X2100), and DMaj7 (XX0222). It’s a blend of what you’ve already learned. :) There is one really tricky part: when the chords change from E to DMaj7, the thumb has to jump from string 6 to string 3!

🚨 Practice makes permanent, not perfect: you need to practice perfectly! If you automate the wrong thing, it’ll take even more work to put it right.

Solsbury Hill – Section 6

And we come to the final section. The song moves to two bars of 4/4, which makes a nice change. :)

We need a few chords for this one: F#m/C# (X44222), E (0X2100), F#m (244222), Bm11 (X2223X), A/C# (X4222X), Esus4 (XX220X), and E (XX200X). The picking is pretty easy, though.

This is a rewarding one, but it takes some practice and effort. Effort is good! With enough practice, you’ll be able to play a song that many people don’t have the patience to learn. :)

Please heed my advice. Take it one section at a time and play really slowly! Build it up gradually until you can play the whole thing.

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