Guitar Control presents instructor Darrin Goodman with a sweet lesson on how to play the classic KISS tune Cold Gin. Be sure to click the link for the tabs so you can easily follow along with this killer lesson.
Introduction
Hey everybody how’s it going? This is Darrin from GuitarControl.com bringing you this video lesson. Today I want to teach you how to play Cold Gin by KISS. KISS was a huge influence on me when I was a kid. If it hadn’t been for Ace Frehley I probably wouldn’t have picked up the guitar. Huge influence, so weather you love them or hate them, doesn’t matter to me, they were a huge influence and I’m a big fan. Leave me a comment down below of what your favorite KISS song is. Anyway this is a cool song and not to tough to play and fun to play. So be sure to click on the link in the description for the tabs and let’s get up close and take a look at this.
Cold Gin Main Riff
Alright, so we start off with this intro that is really kind of the main riff of the whole song. So we’ve got this A5 power chord here; I’m on the seventh fret of the D string with my first finger and the ninth fret of the G string with my fourth finger. Normally I would use my third finger, but I’m using my fourth finger and I will show you why here in a second. So we’ve got… and then a little rest and then we’re gonna move it down a whole step; so now your first finger is on the fifth fret of the D string and your fourth finger is on the seventh fret of the G string, this is G5. Then we’re going to do a D5/A and this is why I use my fourth finger and you’re going to leave your fourth finger here and then move your first finger down a half step to the fourth fret… and incase I didn’t already say it before you play the open A string with all of these chords. So we’ve got… that’s the first two measures. Now starting on the third measure it’s the same thing other than we do the first chord twice… and then the whole thing repeats. So the whole intro… and then that leads us into the verse.
Verse
So for the verse we start off with A5, but it’s a different voicing, so we’re down here at the second fret and I just barre my first finger across the second fret of the D and G strings and the A string is open and we strum two eighth notes on the first beat and rest on beats 2, 3 and 4… Then we’re going to do a G5; so basically if you put your fingers on for a G and just play the top end and play it with the same timing as the A5… Now on this song it actually has two separate guitar parts that are played together so I tried to combine the two so a single guitar can play it and it will sound complete. So you strum the G5 as eighth notes on beat one and then rest on beats 2 & 3 and then on beat four you play the third fret on the A string as a quarter note with a little bit of vibrato… and then back up to the main riff… and then that whole thing repeats three times… so that’s the first half of the first. Then we play the A5 & G5 riff again followed by the main riff twice… and then that leads us into the chorus.
Chorus
Alright, so for the chorus we’re going to start off with an E5 power chord; so my first finger is on the seventh fret of the A string and my third finger is on the ninth fret of the D string and strum it twice as eighth notes for the first beat and then on beat two four sixteenth notes muted so you get this percussive sound… and then we move up to a G5, so my first finger is on the 10th fret of the A string and third finger is on the 12th fret of the D string and then to a D5 by moving your fingers down a set of strings, so now you’re on the low E and A strings… and then follow that with the open low E string on the & of 4… so that’s the first four measures of the chorus. Then for the second half you do the same thing except at the end we do this little bending riff. So I am barring my first finger across the 12th fret of the E and B strings and placing my second finger on the 13th fret of the G string and third finger on the 14th fret of the G string and then strum all three strings and bend the third string up a whole step… and then we slide out of it. So then that leads us into the Interlude section.
Interlude
So for the Interlude section we start off here with a G5; so third fret of the low E string with my first finger and fifth fret of the A string with my third finger and you strum that as two eighth notes for beat one and then rest on beat two and then for beat three it’s C5, so you just move this shape up a set of strings so now you’re on the A and D strings and play as two eighth notes on beat three and then rest on beat four… Now we’ve got this little riff; so third fret of the A string to the second fret of the A string. So we’ve got; 3, 2, 3, 3, 2, 3 and then the first fret of the low E string… and then back the G5 & C5 again and then 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2 and 1 again… this riff has two endings and that was the first ending and then we start over again and then move the whole thing up a whole step. So we come up and do A5 and D5 and now the riff is based on the 5th and 4th frets… and then that whole thing repeats three times and then on the fourth time we go up to E5 and we have this riff that is probably the hardest part of the whole song. So I’m coming up and barre the ninth fret of the B and G strings then do a hammer-on to the 11th fret on the G string with your third finger and then the 11th fret of the B string… and then the E5 again… you repeat that three times and then the E5 and down a whole step to D5 and then down a whole step and do like what we did in the main riff where you flattened the note on the D string, but now it will be on the A string, but the same shape (A/E)… Now that is all of the parts for the song and now you can put it all together easily.
Conclusion
Alright, so I hope you enjoyed that and you got something out of it. If you like this lesson be sure to give me a thumbs up and leave a comment down below. If you have not already done so please subscribe to the channel and hit that notification bell so you don’t miss out on any of the content that we upload throughout the week. That is all I have for you today. Thanks for watching How To Play Cold Gin By KISS On Guitar and have a great day.
