How to Play Day Tripper

Learning how to play Day Tripper is a great challenge for a beginning guitarist and is a cool song to add to any intermediate guitarist’s arsenal of tricks. This was one of the first songs I ever learned. In fact, I still have the “The Beatles Guitar” book that I learned this song from. Because of this, the main riff has a bit of sentimental value for me, and I’m excited to teach you how to play it today.

The song was originally released as the B-side to We Can Work It Out, which is another fantastic song, but I’m digressing. If you’re interested in the song’s history, check out the Wikipedia page!

On to the lesson. We’re first going to review the main guitar riff. Then I’ll dissect the solo, and finally, I’ll go over the chords and chord diagrams for the song.

The Main Riff

The main riff to Day Tripper is a great early rock n roll riff and is a good challenge for a beginner to intermediate guitarist. To be honest, it took me a while to remember how this riff went, and it took a bit of concentration to get my fingers to remember where the notes were. This one will take a bit of practice, but it’s worth it. Learning how to play Day Tripper is very rewarding. The first riff is repeated several times over an E7 chord. After the lyrics come in, the main riff will drop down one string over the A7 chord. It’s essentially the same fingering for boths riffs, and the only difference is the string you start the riff on. Check out the tablature below!

One cool thing to note about the guitar on Day Tripper is that there is a slight chorus effect on the guitar. HOWEVER! I do not think The Beatles used a chorus pedal or other effects when they made this record. Why do I think this? I don’t think studios were using chorus pedals back when this song was recorded because chorus pedals either didn’t exist or at least weren’t widely distributed yet. If you listen to other songs from this era, you’ll notice that a lot of the lead vocal parts from the 1960s were actually sung and recorded twice by the band’s lead singer. In this case, The Beatles used this same technique for the lead guitar and recorded the guitar part twice. How cool is that! Watch the green Gretsch Streamliner in the video, and you’ll see that it’s playing the main riff and first part of the guitar solo exactly the same as the lead guitar. Awesome!

The Guitar Solo

The guitar solo can be broken into two parts. The first part is played over a B7 chord. Basically, its the same as the opening riffs in E and A. But because there is no open B string on the guitar, you will need to learn a new fingering for the main riff starting at the 7th fret of the low E string.

The second part of the solo is played quietly behind The Fab Four as they begin singing in the “Ah’s.” There’s not much to the second part of the solo, so if you’re a beginner this would be a good challenge for you. It has a slide and a couple of bends that will challenge your hand strength! If you’re an intermediate to advanced guitar player, the techniques should be second nature by now. You should be able to pick this up pretty quickly. I really like the simplicity of this solo, and I think it’s inspired by a lot of the common “Johnny B. Goode” style solos that came after Chuck Berry hit the rock n’ roll scene in the 1950s.

The Chords!

Now that you’ve reviewed the solo (or if you skipped over the solo) it’s time to take a look at how to play the chords to Day Tripper. For a beginner guitarist, you’re going to have a big challenge. Learning how to play Day Tripper requires a lot of bar chords. The good news? You only need to learn (3) bar chord shapes to get through the song, even though you’re going to need to know 6 chords total (and maybe a 7th bonus chord). Check out the chord diagrams below!

Now, to put Day Tripper into Nashville numbers is kind of a mouthful. The Beatles often leave the simpler chord progressions which makes their songs very interesting, but difficult to quickly teach someone. If I were forced to write this in Nashville numbers, I suppose the verse would be I-IV (1-4) which is simple enough. But the chorus follows a II-IV-IVb-VI-V (2-4-4b-6-5) progression. It’s beyond goofy when you compare this to popular chord progressions, but it sounds great.

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The Strumming Pattern

John Lennon’s strumming pattern is simple and straight forward throughout the entire song. He strums on the 8th notes using a down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up strum pattern. Watch the second guitar in the upper middle area of the video. This guitar is playing John’s part, and you’ll notice the light strumming. John takes an easy approach to strumming this song, and it fills in the background nicely.

Now, you’ll notice the lead guitar played on the sonic blue Telecaster in the video has much more attack and crunch to it. George palm mutes the chords which gives his rhythm playing in the chorus a more punk rock or garage rock feel (though punk rock had not yet hit the scene).

One other small note. The 2nd lead guitar that doubles the main guitar riff throughout the song and at the beginning of the guitar solo switches over to a B7 chord. You can see this in the video during the solo if you watch the green Gretsch. I believe this is the only time the B7 chord appears in the song, and this second lead guitar will take a similar palm-muted approach to play the chords during the Ah’s in the second half of the solo.

Lyrics and Chords!

Now that you know the chords and the main riff, let’s warm up our vocal chords and strum along!

E7……………………….

Got a good reason

E7…………………………………….

For taking the easy way out

A7………………………

Got a good reason

E7…………………………………………….

For taking the easy way out now

F#…………………………….

She was a day tripper

F#…………………………..

One way ticket, yeah

A7……………….Ab7…………..Db7

It took me so long to find out

B7 (F# Base)……….E7

And I found out

E7……………………..

She’s a big teaser

E7…………………………………………..

She took me half the way there

A7……………………..

She’s a big teaser

E7……………………………………………………

She took me half the way there, now

F#……………………………

She was a day tripper

F#…………………………..

One way ticket, yeah

A7……………….Ab7…………..Db7

It took me so long to find out

………………….B (F# Base)

And I found out

B (F# Base) – Rythm Guitar 1 |B7 – Rhythm Guitar 2

Guitar Solo!

B (F# Base) – Rythm Guitar 1 |B7 – Rhythm Guitar 2

Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah

E7………………………..

Tried to please her

E7…………………………………………….

She only played one night stand

A7………………………..

Tried to please her

E7…………………………………………………….

She only played one night stand, now

F#……………………………

She was a day tripper

F#…………………………

Sunday driver, yeah

A7……………….Ab7…………..Db7

It took me so long to find out

…………………B (F# Base)

And I found out

E7………………………………………..

Day tripper, day tripper, yeah

E7…………………………………………

Day tripper, day tripper, yeah

E7…………………………………………

Day tripper, day tripper, yeah

That’s It!

Day Tripper is in essence a simple song, but it’s got a lot of interesting subtleties that make you appreciate The Beatles’ musicianship. While the chords are not necessarily too tough, the arrangement for this song is unique given when it was recorded. Congrats on learning how to play Day Tripper and keep on practicing! This is a great song if you’re thinking of starting a band, and now you’ve unlocked the pieces to arrange the song!

Similar Songs

I don’t have any other pop tunes from the 1960s on the site at the moment, however, you can check out Waylon Jennings Only Daddy That’ll Walk the Line. It has another great intro guitar riff, and if you’re an advanced guitar player the solo will be a great challenge for you!

Also, if you liked the guitars in the video, check out our reviews of them! We’ve reviewed the Classic Player Baja 60’s Telecaster and the Gretsch Streamliner! They’re sweet guitars, and if you’re interested in either one of them, I recommend both.

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And if you struggled with any part of this lesson, reach out and let me know! I’d be happy to help you work through one part or another!