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Studio

Song · 1979

Classic

Message in a Bottle

Artist
The Police
Released
1979
Guitar
Andy Summers
  • Riff
  • Arpeggios

What makes the part famous

The techniques to work on to play it, each in one sentence.

  • Riff

    A short, catchy figure repeated through the song: the part everyone recognizes first.

  • Arpeggios

    The notes of a chord played one after another instead of strummed together.

Message in a Bottle chords

What the studio found on the isolated guitar of the recording: the key and the chords, with fingerings that flow from one to the next.

Key
A major
Chords
A · B · C#m · F#m · D

The progressions that come back

    1. A
    2. B
    3. C#m

The chords and their fingerings

  • A
    A majorI · Tonic×123
  • B
    B majorV/V · secondary dominant×1234
  • C#m
    C♯ minoriii · Tonic4fr×1342
  • F#m
    F♯ minorvi · Tonic××13
  • D
    D majorIV · Subdominant××132

Automatic analysis: it can get a chord wrong, and your ear has the last word.

Analyze your own recording

Record yourself playing it, or upload a version you have the right to use: the studio isolates the guitar and finds the chords, tempo, strumming and fingerings, with a fretboard video and a PDF.

Open the studioFree, nothing to install

Same techniques

More famous parts that take the same work.

No lyrics or recordings here: just the titles, to help you pick what to learn. Titles and names belong to their respective owners.