How to play Angry by The Rolling Stones
Released in October 2023, Angry is the lead single from Hackney Diamonds, the Stones first new originals album since 2005. The sound and style of the chord-riff intro are immediately familiar and hark back to the band’s 1970s heyday, as does the film clip featuring Sydney Sweeney in an open-top sports car amidst classic concert vision of the Stones on passing billboards. Angry is a classic blues-rock number that is perfect for electric guitarists to jam with.
Chords : B Bsus E Esus C#m A
Equipment : definitely on the electric guitar and, if you have access to one, a gutsy, old-school valve guitar amp. Otherwise use an overdrive pedal, or some mild distortion (not full on Metal distortion; this is old-school Rock tone).
Pick or fingers ? Only the action of a firm pick will create the rhythm attack you hear on the recording. Fingerstyle does not produce the bright tone, energetic projection of attack that creates Rock style.
How does the timing work? The intro riff is a sudden burst of energy created by a flurry of semiquaver strums on the first beat. Count this rhythm as “1 e and a 2 and 3 4 | 1 2 3 4" repeating.
Relevant pages in Modern Guitar Chord Styles 2 : To learn more about bar-chords and Rock styles, check out Modern Guitar Chord Styles 2 ; it focuses solely on electric guitar chords, rhythm & styles. Pages 4, 5 and 14 explain the common major and minor bar-chords used in Rock styles. And pages 32 - 33 and 38 - 39 provide detailed insight into Rock embellishment chords and their cliched uses.
Need a bit of help?
Modern Guitar Chord Styles 2 is a must-have guide to Electric guitar chords and rhythm styles. It teaches you how to read the rhythm slash notation used in our charts (as used in professional theatre & studio charts) and is specially designed to build your strength and stamina with bar-chords, and extend your moveable chords vocabulary. An excellent tutor for the developing electric guitarist.
