Bad To The Bone- George Thorogood

About “Bad To The Bone”

“Bad to the Bone” is a song by George Thorogood and the Destroyers released in 1982. It was not a major hit on initial release, but later the video for the song made recurrent appearances on the  MTV. Licensing for films, television, and commercials has since has helped make “Bad to the Bone” a staple of classic rock.

Note: This song is in open G tuning and uses a slide.

How to Tune To Open G

For open G tuning you will tune your guitar to D-G-D-G-B-D. I’ll show you how to tune to it in the following video.

How To Play “Bad To The Bone”

Bad To The Bone Tab

Bad To The Bone (Complete Tab PDF)

bad to the bone

Tush 1

For this riff, you may want to use your thumb for the “low E” string notes, as it will provide much more ease in playing the riff. The option is still totally up to you though. In this riff, you will be focusing on some palm mutes and a slide, as well as some “vibrato.” Vibrato is when you rapidly shake the string being played with your fret hand as much as possible to produce a wah-like effect. This riff is set to 144 bpm (beats per minute).

Below is the riff slowed down a little to give you some practice:

Here is the riff at normal speed:


Complete Transcription To “Tush” (PDF)

Complete Transcription To “Tush” (Power
Tab)