How to play Nirvana - In Bloom


In Bloom Intro

Nirvana's influence on music was incredible, this song, In Bloom, comes off the legendary album Nevermind. Kurt Cobain's guitar work was highly influential, but is not very difficult and is great for beginner guitar players.
Tab Video 
E|--------------------------------------|
B|--------------------------------------|
G|--3----3--3--0------------------------|
D|--3----3--3--0--5-----3--3--3-/-6--6--|
A|--1----1--1--0--5-----3--3--3-/-6--6--|
E|----------------3-----1--1--1-/-4--4--|
View In Bloom Intro Video

With the exception of the guitar solo this whole entire song is power chords. While I have seen many transcriptions of In Bloom, none of them seem to have the open strings part, 4th chord above. While I'm not going to say that I am right, it just sounds like it's there to me during the transition.

Note: The video above may look deceiving as the visual part is slightly delayed compared to the audio.




In Bloom Verse

Tab 
E|--------------------------------------------------------------|
B|--------------------------------------------------------------|
G|--3-3-3-3-3--x-x-------------x-x--8-8-8-8-8-x-x--4-4-4-2-2-2--|
D|--3-3-3-3-3--x-x--5-5-5-5-5--x-x--8-8-8-8-8-x-x--4-4-4-2-2-2--|
A|--1-1-1-1-1--x-x--5-5-5-5-5--x-x--6-6-6-6-6-x-x--2-2-2-0-0-0--|
E|-------------x-x--2-2-2-2-2--x-x------------x-x---------------|

View In Bloom Verse Video The verse part above is played just after the intro of the song and it also played without distortion just before the chorus of the song. The trick to riff above is to play it in a constant up and down motion with your pick hand.

The 'x' on the tab above is a "scratching" technique, you simply rest your playing hand on all of the strings (not pressing down) and continue to pick up and down on the strings.



Return to Guitar Riffs