Want to Learn "Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes on Guitar?

Let’s check out Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes on electric guitar. What an awesome guitar riff!

Jack White played the original in Open A tuning, using a mixture of fretted notes and slide guitar. That version is a bit beyond beginner level, so we’ll mostly look at an easy version. We’ll also cover some trickier techniques for those further along the path. :)

💡 Beginner Version: If you’re just starting out on guitar, you should also check out my beginner lesson for the Seven Nation Army riff.

You might notice that my guitar sounds different my demo for Seven Nation Army. That’s because I’m using an octave effect, which makes the notes sound an octave lower than normal, so the guitar sounds a bit like a bass. :) If you have this effect on your equipment, turn the setting to 100% so that you can’t hear the original notes.

Enough talking! Let’s check out the riff.

Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes - Main Guitar Riff: Single Notes

The main Seven Nation Army riff is simple and only uses notes on string 5. I suggest you try to figure it out by ear, using finger 1 only and staying on string 5.

You could play it in the first five frets of the guitar over strings 4 and 5, but I think it sounds best with one finger and notes on string 5. When you play it, add some palm mute to make it sound real authentic. :)

This single-note line repeats throughout the verses, then we change to a new part when we hit the pre-chorus.

Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes - Pre-chorus Chord Section

It's time to change to power chords here and distort the sound. Jump on your distortion pedal if you have one! You just need one bar of G5 then a bar of A5. Easy! You can go to an open A5 chord or the standard power-chord shape. Your choice. :)

Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes - Main Riff with Power Chords

Later in the song, the guitar plays the main riff with Major chords instead of single notes. The sound is much fuller, and we can replicate the sound using power chords. This is suitable for Intermediate players. :)

🔥 Master your root 5 and root 6 power chords with my Ultimate Guide to Power Chords for Beginners.

You’ll need E5, G5, D5, C5 and B5, all rooted on string 5. Finger 1 plays the same notes as before, and fingers 3 and 4 stay in the same place relative to finger 1. You might find it tricky to play the slide from C5 to D5 on the second repetition, but otherwise it should be pretty easy. :)

You might find this tricky if you’re a beginner. If that’s the case, do the best with what you know, and revisit Seven Nation Army as you progress to fill in the blanks.

Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes - Main Guitar Riff with Barre Chords

If you want to play this part authentically without re-tuning your guitar, you can use Major barre chords instead of power chords. Since Jack was in open A, he was able to play all these chords as Major chords using one finger!

We can mimic the White Stripes original by playing E, G, D, C, and B as A-shape Major barre chords. Finger 1 is in the same position as for the power chords, but this time we play a mini-barre with finger 3.

Practice Tips

Once you’ve learned these parts, I suggest you jam with the original track. This really helps you keep solid time. We haven’t discussed the count for the Seven Nation Army riff because it’s best to listen, jam along, and try to feel the groove instead of counting. :)

Have loads of fun with this legendary White Stripes track! Laters. :)

💙 Ready for more? Check out the Songs section for 700+ song lessons.