Learn to play "London Calling" by The Clash on guitar!

This lesson will teach you how to play London Calling by The Clash on the electric guitar. Yep, you can also play this Punk classic on your acoustic!. :)

The original Clash recording is pretty complicated to play because there are a lot of guitar layers going on. It’s a really fun thing to explore if you’re a big Clash fan, are into multi-track recordingl or want to play it in a band with two guitarists. However, I know most of you will probably play this one on your own! So today, we'll learn a one-guitar version of London Calling!

💡 Are you a Clash fan? Don't miss out on my Should I Stay or Should I Go guitar lesson! :)

Now let’s get stuck in and learn how to play London Calling on the guitar.

London Calling by The Clash: Intro Chords and Strumming

We start with an E Minor barre chord: X7998X. The most common version of this chord also uses 1:7 (fret 1, string 7), but having the G at 2:8 as the highest note means we mimic the three parts on the original. Let’s call this Em*.

Play four downstrums to the bar, relaxing the fretting hand slightly after each strum to mute the strings. Make sure the chords are nice and short. Use this rhythm for the whole intro. :)

After one bar on Em, we switch to an F/E barre chord. This is a standard A-shaped barre chord but with finger 1 back one fret (X 7 10 10 10 X). It plays the note E (2:7) instead of F (2:8). F/E has a pretty dissonant sound, mimicking the original song.

In bar 3, we switch back to Em, this time fretting the top note (1:7) too. The intro is eight bars long and goes Em*, F/E, Em, F/E.

💡 Struggling with barre chords? Check out my Ultimate Guide to Barre Chords. For the complete tab, and lyrics with chords, grab your JustinGuitarTABS subscription. :)

It's also essential that you notice I'm pumping the chords to get the notes nice and short; the tutorial shows you exactly how to do that!

London Calling by The Clash: Verse Chords and Strumming

The rhythm is interesting here. For the muted strums, mute the strings with your fretting hand and strum lightly. And make sure to relax the fretting hand after each of the ringing strums to get the right feel. The rhythm is:

1  +  2  +  3  +  4  +
M  M  D  U  M  M  D  U

The chord progression is Em (X79987), F (X 8 10 10 10 X), G (X 10 9 7 8 7), then G/B (X X 9 7 8 10). This G chord is a C-shape barre chord; finger 1 barres strings 3 to 1 at fret 7, while the remaining fingers form a C open chord shape. Mute the thickest string with little finger too.

For the G/B, finger 1 relaxes such that you don’t play 5:7. Make sure the lowest note that sounds is 4:9, and that 1:10 rings clearly.

London Calling by The Clash: Chorus Chords and Strumming

In the chorus, the chords switch to Em and G (X 10 12 12 12 X). Over Em, hit the bass note on beat 1 then strum the full chord on “2 +” and 4. On G, repeat the same strumming for the first two bars, then go X X X 12 12 X to X X X 11 10 X on “+ 4”. Switch to a D chord (X5777X) for the final two chords.

GO FURTHER!

London Calling by The Clash is a super fun song to play on the electric guitar. If you'd like to go for the full experience, you can try to understand the different guitar layers. If not, just have a great time playing this one guitar version. Happy trails!

Up for more? 600+ free song tutorials are waiting for you.