Smells Like Teen Spirit – Nirvana

I first saw this song on Jools Holland a few years ago and thought, I want to learn that!

The song is generally quite simple with 4 chords in the main riff and the rest is pretty easy.

A D C and a chord i’m not quite sure of, an altered D chord shape on the fifth fret.

Most of this can be pieced together by listening to the song.

Main Riff

A -0–0–0–0–0—-0–0–0–0–0—-3–3–3–3–3—-8–8–8–8–8———

E -0–0–0–0–0—-2–2–2–2–2—-0–0–0–0–0—-5–5–5–5–5———

C -1–1–1–1–1—-2–2–2–2–2—-0–0–0–0–0—-5–5–5–5–5———

G -2–2–2–2–2—-2–2–2–2–2—-0–0–0–0–0—-5–5–5–5–5———

A                                D                                   C                        Barre Chord

Chorus

A ——0—-0—-0——— And repeat… Towards the end of the chorus it speeds up.

E –0—-0—-0———–

C ————————

G ————————

Alternate Chorus (Is Played occasionally)

A —————–0–0–0–0——————————–

E –0–0–0–0——————————————–

C ——————————————————–

G ——————————0–0–0–0–5–5–5–5——–

Pre-Chorus (Played on 2nd chorus)

A ————————3–3————————5—-3———

E ————————3–3————————5—-3———

C –1–1–1–1–1–1—–4–4—-1–1–1–1–1–1—-6—-4———

G –2–2–2–2–2–2—–5–5—-2–2–2–2–2–2—-7—-5———

This won’t seem to line up but the 3345 is an A shape Barre chord on the 3rd (Lay 1st finder flat on the 3rd fret and make an A shape with your 2nd and third fingers.)and 5567 a barre on the 5th etc.