How To Play Highway To Hell On Guitar By AC/DC

In this guitar lesson I’m going to show you to play the classic AC/DC classic highway to hell. In this 13-minute video I talk you through step-by-step the chords, the fingerings and the picking technique for both left and right hands for both intro/verse and the chorus…and then at the end of the video there is a backing track to play along with.

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Performance Notes For Highway To Hell

In this guitar lesson I’m going to show you to play the classic AC/DC classic highway to hell. In this 13-minute video I talk you through step-by-step the chords, the fingerings and the picking technique for both left and right hands for both intro/verse and the chorus…and then at the end of the video there is a backing track to play along with.

First of all highway to hell is in the A Major, for the classic intro/verse the chords are A5, D/F# and G5…The fingerings for each of the chords are extremely important, and if the chords aren’t fingered correctly…the chords transitions will not be as quick. So it is key to get the fingerings correctly and I emphasis the chord fingerings in the video.

For the Chorus of highway to hell the key is still in the key of A Major and the chords used are A5, D5 and G5…Take you’re time with each chord change and make sure that the chords are played cleaning.

The strumming uses a very basic simplistic strumming approach of a down-down-down.

How To Play Highway To Hell Introduction / Verse | Chords And Chord Changes

1. When you have warmed up correctly and you’re fingers are quite flexible and subtle. Start practicing the open power chord A5. Here is how you play it:

Put your 1st finger on the 2nd fret (D String) and your 2nd Finger on the 2nd fret (G String) playing just 3 strumming just 3 strings on the guitar.

2. The second is and the most difficult of the 3 chords of the introduction is D/F#…Here is you how play this chord:

Put your 1st finger on the 2nd fret (Low E String) your 2nd finger on the 2nd fret (G String) and finally your 3rd finger on the 3rd fret (B String) playing 5 string on the guitar muting the A string with your 1st finger..Explained on the video.

3. The next chord change of the intro/verse is G5, in which you just use two fingers:

Put your 2nd finger on the 3rd fret (Low E string) and you’re 3rd finger on the 3rd fret (B String) again playing 5 strings this time muting the A String with your 2nd finger… Explained on the video.

4. Leading up to the chorus is the chord E5 together with some palm muting. (This can take some time to practice if you haven’t performed this technique before.) To play the chord E5:

Put your 2nd finger on 2nd fret (A String) and your 3rd finger on the 3rd finger on the 2nd fret (D String) palming muting and strumming 16 times with a down stroke.

How To Play Highway To Hell Chorus | Chords And Chord Changes

Once you can play the intro/verse correctly, which will take a bit some time to practice. You are now ready to attempt the chorus part of the song. The chords are A5, D5 and G5.
1. Start practicing the open power chord A5. Here is how you play it:

Put your 1st finger on the 2nd fret (D String) and your 2nd Finger on the 2nd fret (G String) playing just 3 strumming just 3 strings on the guitar.

2. The next chord in the chorus of highway to hell is D5… Using the 1st and 3rd fingers…To play this chord:

Put your 1st finger on the 2nd fret (G String) and your 3rd finger on the 3rd fret (B string) playing just 3 strings on the guitar.

3. The next chord change of the intro/verse is G5, in which you played in the intro using two fingers:

Put your 2nd finger on the 3rd fret (Low E string) and you’re 3rd finger on the 3rd fret (B String) again playing 5 strings this time muting the A String with your 2nd finger… Explained on the video.

“This completes all the changes for Highway To Hell. Take each section slowly and whatever you do, do not move on until you have mastered and perfected each section of the song. Play along with each backing track at the end of the video to get a feel for the rhythm and the song.”

Can you play Highway To Hell Now? If not, why not? What problems did you have? We’d love your insights… We welcome your comments, please post below:

      The finger hand shows what left hand finger you should fret when playing chords. Match up the your fretting hand with the colour-coded-diagrams.

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