Let's learn this Red Hot Chili Peppers guitar classic.

In this guitar lesson we'll learn how to play I Could Have Lied by Red Hot Chili Peppers. John Frusciante is a true genius - in my book, he's one of the greatest guitar players of the 20th and 21st centuries.

In this song, Frusciante plays acoustic guitar in regular tuning. We'll focus on the original guitar parts here - but I've noticed he varies them in live versions, so we'll take a look at the differences between the two.

This tune is just amazing - in so many ways! The riff is cool, and Frusciante uses his quirky “barre chord substitute” grips. They’re great fun to learn! So if you're up for some barre chords, a cool riff, and some rhythmic challenges, grab your guitar and let's get going with this Red Hot Chili Peppers classic.

I Could Have Lied by Red Hot Chili Peppers - Playing Tips for Main Guitar Riff

In the video, we'll spend some time working on the rhythm for the intro and verse riff. There's quite a lot going on, and it'll take some practice to get it right. It's a syncopated rhythm, so it's tricky to play and even harder to sing over.

🚨 Music Is All About Rhythm: Those of you following my Rhythm Maestro Course will understand how important rhythm is. We also cover 16th-note rhythms, like the one from I Could Have Lied, in depth in Grade 5 of my guitar-learning system!

I always say that it's best to learn rhythm by listening, but it’s good to dig deeper into tricky rhythms like this and know how to count them. We look at the exact count in the video. If you want to nail it, your main goal should be to listen to where the notes fall in relation to the beat.

Playing Guitar & Singing?

The riff in I Could Have Lied is the perfect example of a syncopated pattern (a rhythm that contains silent beats). Frusciante repeats the same notes in a cycle but starts on different subdivisions of the beat, making the riff feel strange but cool. One thing about syncopation is that it can make it really tricky to sing as you play.

As always, I'll remind you that you can only do one thing at a time. So if you want to sing as you play guitar, one of the two skills has to be automatic.

🎶 Sing and Play Like a Pro: If you need a hand singing while playing guitar, make sure you check out my 10-step method for playing and singing at the same time - it's a game-changer. ;)

If you're still taking your first steps toward singing and playing, I Could Have Lied by Red Hot Chili Peppers will be tricky for you! I'm very familiar with this song and it's solid in my musical imagination, but I still had to give it quite a few goes. The trick was to practice the riff until it was fairly automatic, but even then my attention still had to flick between the guitar and the vocal.

I Could Have Lied by Red Hot Chili Peppers - Bridge

The bridge starts with a bar of B Major, which we play as an A-shape barre chord. We then slide this shape up three frets to D Major.

After that, we switch to A Major played as an E-shape chord, but with the two thinnest strings open. The trick here is to lift up finger 1 so that it plays the note on string 6 while letting the two thinnest strings ring out. This chord is technically called an Aadd9 - and it’s lovely!

💡 Mimic The Red Hot Chili Peppers Original: The acoustic guitar is heavily compressed in this section and sounds more like an electric guitar. If you have a compressor pedal, try squashing the sound to give more weight to the acoustic guitar.

We slide the A Major grip down two frets to G, making sure the two thinnest strings are still able to ring out. This is technically a G6 chord. :)

So the progression in the bridge is B, D, Aadd9, G6. The rhythm is also a little tricky, so check out the video for the exact count.

I Could Have Lied by Red Hot Chili Peppers - Chorus

Before we check out the chorus, I’ll mention that Frusciante plays I Could Have Lied differently in live versions - he uses regular barre chords rooted on string 5, and the thinnest string doesn’t ring out. But on the record, I can hear that string sounding. What's going on?

It could be an overdub, but it might well be down to Frusciante’s cool barre-chord grips. ;) Let’s take a look at them. Know that you can play regular chord grips if you like - we use these alternative grips to make sure we hear the notes on string 1.

In live versions he plays the progression, which is Em, G, C, and D, using ordinary root-5 barre chords. He plays similar grips on the record - but with a twist. These grips look like Em7, G7, C7, and D7 - but string 3 is muted! This means the chords are still Majors and minors, and crucially the high note rings out.

🤔 High Note with Standard Grips? You can still play the regular Major and minor shapes, adjusting your fingers to make sure the high note rings out, but I find it tricky.

So how exactly do we play these chords? For Em7, grab the A-shape minor 7 grip, but lift up the barre slightly to avoid fretting string 3, and make sure the note on string 1 is loud and clear. Same goes for G7, C7, and D7, except we grab the A-shape Dominant 7 grip.

The rhythm here is also a bit sticky and changes from chorus to chorus, so we cover it in detail in the video. You don’t have to be super exact with it. As long as you keep your hand moving, stay in time, and get the accents right, it’ll sound great. Listen to the original to cop the groove and try to mimic it. :)

Exploring The Guitar Solo!

The solo chords should be easy if you’ve nailed the other parts. The progression is Bm, Bm, Aadd9, G6, using the same grips as before. Over the Bm, we occasionally lift off finger 2 and hammer it on again to get a sus2 embellishment.

As for the lead part, the original solo is quite understated and melodic. That changes in live versions though - he totally tears it up!

If you're a big Red Hot Chili Peppers fan, try to learn the I Could Have Lied solo on your own. Working out solos by yourself is one of the best ways to develop your musical skills!

🚨 The Truth About Transcribing: If you want to develop your transcribing skills, it's crucial you hear this. Here's the deal - transcribing is horrible to begin with. It seems impossible, and you'll likely only get 20% of the song right! But that's the learning curve, and it gets much easier after this initial hump. :)

Give it a go, taking it one note at a time. Even if after a few years you realize it was all wrong, you'll be proud you tried! That's how I learned to play songs, and eventually I was able to transcribe accurately and confidently.

Have tons of fun with the superb I Could Have Lied by Red Hot Chili Peppers, and I'll see you for more real soon. :)

💙 Want verified tabs, guitar chords, and lyrics for my song lessons? Head to JustinGuitarTabs.