House of The Rising Sun Guitar Tutorial

Table Of Content

• Genius is the world’s biggest collection of song lyrics and musical knowledge
• Learn an Easy Guitar Version of “House of the Rising Sun” Using Simple Chords
• – House Of The Rising Sun chords
• Is The house of the rising sun based on a real place?
• Riff Breakdown: The House of the Rising Sun – The Animals (Tabs & Chord Diagrams)
• The House of the Rising Sun Lyrics

Some people believe that the song is based on a real brothel or gambling house in the French Quarter of New Orleans, which was known as the “Rising Sun” in the 19th century. However, there is little concrete evidence to support this theory, and it is possible that the song is purely fictional. The chords for The House of the Rising Sun are based out of the key of A minor, but uses a major IV chord (D) in place of the Dm and a major V chord (E) in place of the Em.

Genius is the world’s biggest collection of song lyrics and musical knowledge

Here we’re playing an F chord, but from the root on the 4th string instead of the 6th string root. So when playing the F chord we have 4 strings as well and end up with the same picking pattern as the D chord in Bar 3, doubling up the F note on the 1st string. Before we get to the riff itself, it’s important to make note of time signature used for The House of the Rising Sun as it’s not the traditional 4/4 time. This song is played in 6/8 time, which means there are 6 beats per measure with the 8th note getting the beat.

Learn an Easy Guitar Version of “House of the Rising Sun” Using Simple Chords

Regardless of whether you’re indoors or out, or how you cook your dinner, we call them campfire songs. As a singer-songwriter, I find learning these tunes and their history very interesting. That being said, the earliest known recording of the song dates back to 1933, when folklorist Alan Lomax recorded a version by a woman named Georgia Turner in Middlesboro, Kentucky. The song was also recorded by Appalachian musician Clarence “Tom” Ashley in 1934, and by Texas singer and guitarist Lead Belly in 1944. There is no consensus among historians or folklorists as to whether “The House of the Rising Sun” is based on a real place. The lyrics of the song describe a house in New Orleans that is known as the “Rising Sun,” where many people have ruined their lives.

Behind The Song Lyrics: “House of the Rising Sun,” The Animals - American Songwriter

Behind The Song Lyrics: “House of the Rising Sun,” The Animals.

Posted: Mon, 14 Mar 2022 07:00:00 GMT [source]

– House Of The Rising Sun chords

The song has been recorded by many artists, but the most well-known version is probably the one by the English rock band The Animals, which was released in 1964. The Animals’ version is a bluesy, rock interpretation of the traditional folk song, and it became a huge hit both in the UK and in the US. In Bar 6 we go to the E chord, where again there’s another nuance in the picking pattern.

The House of the Rising Sun Chords

In 6/8 time, the emphasis falls on the 1st and 4th beats, which gives it a waltz feel. Although the date and author of the song are unknown, some musicologists have said that it resembled ballads of the 16th century, and could very easily have derived from one of that time. As a popular folk song, the oldest record of “House of the Rising Sun” in reference to a song was 1905, and it was first recorded in 1933 by an Appalachian group.

Other early recordings include Woody Guthrie’s version from 1941 and Bob Dylan in 1961. The version by the Animals, however, is by far the most popular, and Dylan is often annoyed when it is assumed that he covered that song from them. This selection, “House of the Rising Sun,” is cautionary tale of things gone wrong in New Orleans. While the basic melody was nailed down pretty early, the accompanying chords have seen a lot of variations along the way.

Riff Breakdown: The House of the Rising Sun – The Animals (Tabs & Chord Diagrams)

The earliest recordings of the song—like Clarence Ashley and Gwen Foster’s 1933 “Rising Sun Blues” and Woody Guthrie’s version from 1941—were generally in Appalachian folk or bluesy styles. Among my favorite other interpretations are Josh White’s brooding solo take and Ronnie Gilbert’s jazzy three-piece arrangement with the Weavers. Despite its long history and many variations, the original author of the song remains unknown. While the picking pattern is similar, there’s a small difference from Bars 1 and 2.

Since there are only 4 strings to pick instead of 4, the F# chord on string 1 is picked twice, once with a downstroke and once with an upstroke. In this lesson we’re going to break down the iconic riff of The House of the Rising Sun by The Animals. It’s pretty straightforward as far as the progression, but does offer some nuanced picking patterns over arpeggiated chords that can be a little tricky to play. The challenge arises in picking them with the appropriate speed in order to capture the correct rhythm.

The Riff

The Animals' version of the American folk song is considered one of the 20th century’s British pop classics. While the original version was sung in the character of a woman led into a life of degradation, the Animals' version is told from the view of a young man who follows his father into alcoholism and gambling ruin. The song is often heard in the soundtracks of popular TV shows (The West Wing and Supernatural) and movies (Suicide Squad). The term “campfire song” is generally used to refer to a familiar old song that folks can sing along with to a simple guitar accompaniment. But the tunes we cover in this series extend beyond the repertoire of well-fed cowboys on the open range.

The song is in 6/8 time—that’s six eighth notes per bar, counted, “One, two, three, four, five, six.” If you are not familiar with this meter, play along with the video to get a good sense of how it feels. I like to play the song with a flatpick, mixing things up with strums and single notes, as transcribed in the first eight measures. You could keep things even simpler and go with straight strumming throughout, or use a basic fingerpicking pattern—whatever works best for you. The original author of “The House of the Rising Sun” is unknown, as the song is a traditional folk song that has been passed down through generations of musicians. The song has been recorded and performed by countless artists over the years, and each version may have different lyrics or variations. “The House of the Rising Sun” is a traditional folk song, so its original author is unknown.

Since rhythm is something you need to hear + feel, I have a tutorial below that will walk you through this. Otherwise, these House of the Rising Sun TABs clearly illustrate the picking order. This House of the Rising Sun guitar chord chart and web page will guide you through this classic song by The Animals. We will cover the easy strumming version of this song, as well as the picking pattern used in the recording. The riff we’re going to breakdown is the intro riff to The House of the Rising Sun. While the intro is slightly different from the verse riff in terms of the actual chord progression, the picking pattern and feel are the same.

For the E chord, you pick each note of the chord, which give us 6 notes across the fretboard. The two additional 16th notes can, again, be a little tricky so start slow and build up to tempo. In bar 1, we’re arpeggiating an Am chord and picking down on strings 5, 4, 3, and 2, then reversing and picking up on strings 1, 2, and 3. This can be a little tricky to play at first, but you want to avoid strumming through these notes. Play it at a tempo slow enough to allow you to pick these notes individually then increase the tempo as you get it up to speed.