How to Play Paint It Black Chords by The Rolling Stones on Guitar

Paint It Black is a classic rock song by The Rolling Stones, released in 1966 as a single and later included in their album Aftermath. The song features a distinctive sitar riff by Brian Jones, inspired by the Indian music he was listening to at the time. The lyrics, written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, express a dark and nihilistic mood, as the narrator wants everything to be painted black to match his despair.

If you want to learn how to play this song on guitar, you will need to know some basic chords, strumming patterns, and guitar tabs. In this article, we will show you how to play Paint It Black by The Rolling Stones on guitar, using different sources and methods.

Chords

The song is in the key of E minor, and uses mostly simple chords that are easy to play on guitar. The main chords are Em, B7, D, G, A7, and A. You can find the chord diagrams for these chords on various websites, such as E-Chords or Ultimate Guitar.

[Intro]
Em  B
Em
 
[Verse 1]
Em                       B
  I see a red door and I want it painted black.
Em                      B
  No colours anymore, I want them to turn black.
Em  D       G          D          Em
  I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes.
Em  D       G       D       A               B
  I have to turn my head until my darkness goes.
 
[Verse 2]
Em                         B
  I see a line of cars and they're all painted black.
Em                              B
  With flowers and my love both never to come back.
Em  D          G          D         Em
  I see people turn their heads and quickly look away.
Em       D       G    D       A             B
  Like a newborn baby it just happens every day.
 
[Verse 3]
Em                         B
  I look inside myself and see my heart is black.
Em                          B
  I see my red door, I must have it painted black
Em      D         G     D       Em
  Maybe then I'll fade away and not have to face the facts.
Em         D    G      D       A                   B
  It's not easy facing up when your whole world is black.
 
[Verse 4]
Em                             B
  No more will my green sea go turn a deeper blue.
Em                              B
  I could not forsee this thing happening to you.
Em   D      G      D      Em
  If I look hard enough into the setting sun
Em   D         G          D     A                B
  My love will laugh with me before the morning comes.
 
[Verse 5]
Em                       B
  I see a red door and I want it painted black.
Em                      B
  No colours anymore, I want them to turn black.
Em  D       G          D          Em
  I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes.
Em  D       G       D       A               B
  I have to turn my head until my darkness goes.
 
[Outro]
Em  B
Em  B
Em  B
Em  B
 
               Em                      B
I wanna see it painted, painted black, black as night, black as coal
  Em                        B
I wanna see the sun blotted out from the sky
               Em                                 B
I wanna see it painted, painted, painted, painted black, yeah

Tabs

If you want to play the sitar riff that opens the song and repeats throughout, you will need to use guitar tabs. Guitar tabs are a way of writing music for guitar using numbers and lines that represent the frets and strings of the guitar. You can find the tabs for Paint It Black on Ultimate Guitar, where you can also see a video lesson and listen to a backing track.

The h means hammer-on, which means you pluck the string once and then press down another fret without plucking again. You can play this riff with your index finger on the first fret, your middle finger on the second fret, your ring finger on the third fret, and your pinky finger on the fifth fret.

Conclusion

Paint It Black by The Rolling Stones is a great song to learn on guitar, as it has simple chords, a catchy riff, and a powerful mood. You can use different sources and methods to learn how to play this song, such as chords, tabs, video lessons, and backing tracks. We hope this article helped you learn how to play Paint It Black by The Rolling Stones on guitar. Have fun and rock on!