“The first things I do”: The one song Dave Grohl always plays when he picks up a guitar
Dave Grohl never really envisioned himself being a guitarist first. He could certainly play a decent tune whenever he had one in his hands, but his home would always be behind a drumkit and performing the best grooves that the alternative world had ever seen with Nirvana. Whenever he does feel the urge to go back to the guitar, he still relies on listening to The Beatles and picking away to his heart’s content.
If you were to look through the Beatles’ discography, though, it’s a treasure trove of great guitar hero moments. Although Please Please Me was more in line with the group’s bar band roots, hearing them grow throughout their career from A Hard Day’s Night right through to Abbey Road features tunes that are more fun to play than anything else.
Even if you don’t fancy yourself a lead player, all the basics of being a great rhythm guitarist are displayed every time John Lennon plays. The perfect example is Beatles for Sale. While it’s far away from being the group’s all-time best album or anything, it’s the textbook example of what every kid wishing to be a great musician should study first, with most of the songs featuring the open chords to strum along with.
Looking at how Grohl plays guitar, he appears to have taken that kind of rhythm playing to heart as well. There is Nothing Left to Lose and the Foo Fighters’ debut were dominated by him playing all the guitar parts, but considering he now has two guitar players beside him, he’s much more comfortable in playing the rhythm straight up the middle and letting Chris Shiflett or Pat Smear fly off the handle.
When Grohl is itching to play, though, his heart gravitates towards Paul McCartney before he gets to Lennon or Harrison. Compared to the strum-along tunes, Grohl always had a special affinity for ‘Blackbird’, if only for the gentle pulse and the strumming pattern that every guitarist tries to get down once they have pieces like ‘Stairway to Heaven’ under their belts.
Grohl may have still been a punk in every fibre of his being, but he couldn’t deny that ‘Blackbird’ was a must every time he picked up an acoustic guitar, saying, “If I’m ever sitting down with an acoustic guitar, it’s one of the first things I do. I really consider Paul McCartney to be one of the most important people in the world.”
But Grohl’s love of the song might say a lot more about how he operates as a musician. Since the whole thing is based around a delicate finger-picking pattern, everyone who plays the tune is inadvertently playing the drums on guitar, given that each finger is playing a different rhythm while skipping different strings.
It’s a bit tricky to get each note to sound perfect, but outside of the challenge, ‘Blackbird’ has earned the distinction alongside ‘Here Comes the Sun’ for being one of the quintessential acoustic tunes in rock history. It may be overplayed by fans worldwide, but this is one of the few instances where the massive exposure is totally warranted.
