Radiohead - "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi" How to Play Guitar Tutorial Lesson

A guitar lesson for "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi" from Radiohead's 2007 album In Rainbows.
In this tutorial, I break down all of the key guitar parts in the mix. I had trouble finding a complete tutorial for Weird Fishes on KZbin so I wanted to give my take on the many nuances and details of this song, which is in standard tuning. I can hear at least 3 or 4 guitar tracks playing at once in the original recording, so in this lesson I walk through how Jonny Greenwood, Ed O'Brien, and Thom Yorke play it live while still staying faithful to the In Rainbows version.
This is my favorite Radiohead track. It finally clicked with me one day after many listens (like many Radiohead songs do) and very quickly became one of my favorite songs of all-time. I've never heard another song like it. Arpeggi is simply beautiful in the way it builds and takes you to another place. From a thematic standpoint, it's heartbreaking yet somehow simultaneously uplifting.
There are some really raw and interesting versions of this song from the 2006 tour before In Rainbows was released so give those a listen. Also check out Lianne La Havas covering this song at Glastonbury in 2013. It's Weird Fishes with an R&B vibe. Maybe the best Radiohead cover ever.
Guitar: 2013 Fender American Standard Stratocaster
Amp: Fender Blues Junior
Microphone: AKG P220
Audio was mixed using Reaper.
Thanks for watching!

[@alexanderberkenbosch423]

Definitely the best tutorial of Weird Fishes I have seen so far. This deserves way more views, keep it up with these guitar tutorials

[@polacorp]

isnt he missing repeats of the first part?

[@ninstendo1416]

@@polacorp nope

[@stantonh1452]

I mean he doesn’t even talk about the timing of the chord changes which is really complex and a huge part of the songs unique sound.

[@thefakengx3839]

Radiohead sure does love stretchy chord shapes

[@JasonBhoy7]

They do the things that take a song to another level. I think it was Ed O'Brien who spoke about how the direction of Radiohead after OK Computer scared him because he didn't think he was capable of the stuff.

[@lebigfin5251]

Omg a oasis fan who doesn’t hate Radiohead

[@lebigfin5251]

I’m a massive oasis fan btw

[@emma-xt5iy]

@@lebigfin5251 there are lots of oasis/rh fans you just have to know where to look (:

[@ExileOnDaytonStreet]

That Lianne La Havas cover is outstanding

[@ChrisLeeW00]

Damn does radiohead love the em7

[@citrus4419]

Chris LeeWoo cause it sounds hot af lol

[@Richard-wu5ce]

Great description of the song! I feel exactly the same way and it evolved and resonated within me the same way. It wasn't my favorite at first as well, then one day I just heard it differently and have been obsessed since. It makes me feel so many different emotions that I always have a different experience listening . Thanks for the tutorial even though it's a little above my talent level, but I'll still try to learn it. Thanks brother! Great job

[@AaronRadioStudio]

Thanks for watching Rich! One of my all-time favorite songs that takes me to another place.

[@starsackaney4996]

@@AaronRadioStudio Right....same here.

[@mus31]

Most concise tutorial for weird fishes on youtube. Especially the jonny parts. great job!

[@tomaspapa614]

Your dedication and patience to explain, not easy to find on youtube , thanks bro

[@reza_qn]

just wanted to say thank you so much for helping me learn this song, It's my favourite radiohead song

[@LasVillafrancas]

Really awesome job, man! And that you shot this in one take is equally impressive! You’re breakdown of all of the chords validated the uke ukulele tutorial I did of this song, and also showed me what I missed (like the Gmaj7 on the outro). I always felt that In Rainbows was Radiohead’s culmination of their past albums; a masterpiece of chord experimentation, Thom’s incredible voice, and the band’s musicianship, in general. It really is their most romantic album and has crystallized so many feelings of love that one goes through - from the infatuation of All I Need, to the I-wanna-be-with-you-but-I-can’t of House of Cards. There are just so many gorgeous layers to the songs on this album. It’s almost like the album where Radiohead became self-actualized as a band... Anyway, keep up the great work!

[@AaronRadioStudio]

Totally agree! Thanks for watching!

[@jorgepalma5099]

You did a great job.. You have a wonderful passion for this band, as I do.. Keep up the great work.

[@mus31]

Thanks for breaking down Johnnys part.

[@dnkornelas]

Thanks man, I have to play it for an audition in 8 hours, you saved me

[@AaronRadioStudio]

Hope the audition went well!

[@pixussb7524]

Damn, you learned the song in 8 hours?! I can’t even learn these kind of songs in a day :(

[@dnkornelas]

@@pixussb7524 yes

[@pixussb7524]

martín alan Ornelas Wow, did you succeed at the audition?

[@dnkornelas]

@@pixussb7524 no, there were other bandmates that didn't showed up to it

[@wavynick2841]

this guy is still hearting comments! addicted to this riff

[@simonwalton]

Love your attention to detail. Brilliant work!

[@jorgepalma5099]

Great job.. I got a lot out of this tutorial. I share your passion for this band.

[@sherwintavarez8539]

Such a nice tone

[@fersen3]

Thank you so much for this tutorial. I'm so happy to be able to play this song properly thanks to you. Nice to hear your comments at the end. You seem passionate and it's nice to hear. I agree that this is the or second best album of the band. I just don't agree on one point, Radiohead is not depressing at all. How can beauty be depressing...? ;-)

[@StankPlanks]

Great job man and lots of fun to play. Beautiful guitar sounds.

[@leoself9858]

Great tutorial. Love playing Radiohead guitar. Reckoner too

[@rikmilne8986]

Respect.. clear tutorial.. thank you sir .. and yes definitely the best tutorial

[@alaudintarelli1761]

Great content, if i get a guitar im watching this on loop 24/7

[@ratonman]

Might wanna go for this at least a few months in

[@aarongonter5782]

been trying to figure out Johnny's part for two days--Thanks!

[@dominicdcocco3361]

Man, thanks you so much. My brother loves this song so I will learn to play it. Greetings from Chile.

[@rafsbio]

Great lesson! Well done, man!

[@tealwave77]

yeah uhhhh, this video is really fucking good. I've been playing for 12 years and you are a damn good guitar teacher

[@ESSBANJO]

fantastic, very detailed breakdown, thank you

[@stevethordarson5198]

Really great job. Tough to figure out all the layers. nice!

[@soypablorios]

excellent man! thanks for sharing, i appreciate it very much!

[@briangoodban7308]

Great breakdowns, you deserve more subscribers

[@reedahee5066]

Great video homie, ill definitely try this out :)

[@naccienac]

Great stuff! Had hoped you'd go over the (imo) most challenging/interesting part of Ed's playing, namely the number of times each pattern is played. If I'm not mistaken this is (for Em7, Fm7, A, GM7) 10 - 11 - 11- 10 the first time, but 11 - 11 - 10 - 11 the second (with the 10 here subdivided into 5-3-2 for the descending a-g-f# pattern). Brilliant songwriting, have listened to this track over 50 times and never noticed how complex the structure actually is under the surface.

[@JoseManuelFayos]

Great work! Specially the B section. Thanks a lot!!

[@MrThebuuu1]

Great job man!

[@thefakengx3839]

I came for Thoms part thank you bruv great lesson

[@pierrelacroix31]

You did a great job dude!

[@NM-jn6cp]

If I could make a slight adjustment, for Jonny's playing (over to under) rather than (under to over) until all 3 of them start playing. High e, down one, high e, down one, thumb. The opposite pattern of the phantom verse! :) Hope it helps. Also Ed is in 3/4 time while Jonny is in 5/4.

[@NM-jn6cp]

By the way, great video, beautiful song

[@AaronRadioStudio]

Great ear! As I mentioned in the video it was hard for me to make out all the guitar parts learning it by ear, but that sounds pretty close to me. That's the beauty of this song. There's so much to it. Thanks for watching!

[@Soccerpro4242]

Such a great teaching. Thank you!

[@renedioz]

Really accurate! Great job!

[@dominikr139]

Thank you! One of the first songs i want to learn!!

[@ninstendo1416]

Love u forever for this

[@rebeccaanne8546]

How lovely. I love that your username is just "aaron" lol. Great tut

[@screamingtrees9619]

You played this so beautifully, nonetheless awesome video man ✌🏽

[@tomipedelaborde]

thank you so much for johnny parts man greetings from Argentina

[@munchyfish201]

thank you so much

[@k.o.o.p.a.]

Beautiful

[@billsims1033]

Great piece of music - I think they are indebted to Phrygian Gates Part One by John Adams from 1977.

[@alexanderlagomarcino5878]

Can you please do a optimistic tutorial? I just found your channel and its very very helpful !

[@AaronRadioStudio]

I have a couple other lessons planned first, but yeah I'll do a lesson for Optimistic in the near future. Thanks for watching Alexander!

[@isaiahkrieger1849]

you're fucking awesome.

[@chelseawong5019]

when will you be making more tutorials?

[@pravar1834]

Hey its Ay ay ron what's up man great tutorial

[@alexanderlagomarcino5878]

Thank you !!

[@antonivanov5751]

Thanks mate!

[@Christian-eb4jb]

Hello! Great tutorial! Can you perhaps do one for Jigsaw Falling into place and teach how to do some of the accents like the one on their Buenos Aires concert?

[@gustavttt4148]

thanks, it helped me a lot! greetings.

[@EdRodri-wt4vo]

Thanks a lot

[@billmadden802]

you are privatetricker's brother. I claim my 5 pounds and love this tutorial.

[@neuroaux7430]

I have no problem playing the actual beginning picking pattern for Ed's guitar, but once the vocals kick in I'm out of sync??? Almost seems like the guitar skips a beat to begin the chord progression again once the vocals start? Is there are way for me to count in my head to be able to play along in sync with the studio version? the number of arpeggios per chord seems inconsistent too, but nobody goes into detail on that.

[@user-bs3ec4ko8e]

Would you consider doing a tutorial on Everything In Its Right Place?

[@AaronRadioStudio]

? I came up with a guitar arrangement of that song so sure I'll post that one at some point!

[@ggthewhale]

10:38 unless I'm mistaken Thom plays something else entirely

[@jackmanville2779]

19:22

[@brightoneasterling9304]

You have the exact name of one of my best friends

[@asobi01]

@@brightoneasterling9304 lol

[@td9209]

Bwst weied fishes tutorail ever!

[@rebeccaanne8546]

fuckin love this song and you are the best yay

[@Oreo41212]

Any tips for keeping pace with the song? I can play through the chords fine in normal 4/4 time, but when I try to play along to the song I just can't keep up with the drums

[@prith7900]

Slow it down and then make ur way up to original speed

[@Andrew19650]

Great job, please THE BENDS

[@Straaaayyyy]

The biggest problem for me is speed of finger picking cuz ed plays those 3 notes 10 times on each chord, but i can only 7, it's fast af

[@goldsmg7165]

What guitar tuning is it

[@AaronRadioStudio]

Standard tuning!

[@will-iv8yq]

1:44

[@filmishit]

I don't even own a guitar why am I here?

[@berkcavdar3520]

Great lesson but tune your guitar man geez lol, seriously the best one on KZbin tho thanks :)

[@thekickinvain]

I love this tutorial but my biggest issue i keep running into is strumming i can not for the life of me figure out how to strum so smoothly the way you do. Any tips? Btw im a newbie

[@AaronRadioStudio]

Play it very slowly at first. Make sure when you're fretting the notes they all sound clear. Next, focus all your attention on your picking/strumming hand. Gradually build up speed and you'll have it in no time!

[@thekickinvain]

Aaron thank you so much I appreciate it.

[@brightoneasterling9304]

is jonny playing in 5/8?

[@AaronRadioStudio]

One of my viewers correctly stated that Jonny is playing in 5/4. Hope this helps, thanks for watching!

[@nicolasvargastobar9770]

Existe la posibilidad de que agregues las tabs ? O tener este video con subtítulos en español? Saludos

[@AaronRadioStudio]

¡Hola! I learn primarily by ear so I don't think I'll be adding tabs to these videos, but this is the best tab I've found for "Weird Fishes" on the Internet: hakwright.co.uk/music/tab/weird_fishes_arpeggi.txt Me gustaría agregar subtítulos, pero desafortunadamente mi español no es muy bueno.

[@nicolasvargastobar9770]

Muchas gracias por tu respuesta, revisare el link que enviaste. Saludos otra vez

[@gumbowumbo6784]

The finger plucking is hard for me

[@AaronRadioStudio]

Practice slowly and it will get easier over time! You got this 👍

[@noobplaysleague7552]

12:10 bru what do I play? You told me to play one thing then said don't but then there's a whole bar left out 😣

[@AaronRadioStudio]

Sorry for the confusion! Thom Yorke plays this chord for two measures: (9)x798x (from lowest strings to highest), then briefly plays (9)x797x during the second measure. Next, he plays this B minor chord for two measures: (7)x977x. This is where you can add the 9th fret on the G string during the second measure if you'd like. Then those four measures are repeated. So to recap the main chord shapes of what I called "Section B": (9)x798x => (7)x977x then repeat before playing xx767x => xx577x.

[@noobplaysleague7552]

Aaron Wow, thanks so much! I didn't mean to sound rude or anything, I'm happy you were able to take the time to do that 😀 Thanks so much! I'm not having the best of days but this cheered me up (and this song 😃)

[@timeonlinemusic]

could you make a tab?

[@AaronRadioStudio]

I learn primarily by ear so I don't think I'll be adding a tab to this video, but this is the best tab I've found for "Weird Fishes": hakwright.co.uk/music/tab/weird_fishes_arpeggi.txt

[@danieljamesmead]

I like you

[@class66]

Chords for the outro..?

[@AaronRadioStudio]

Check around the 19:00 mark!

[@jorgepalma5099]

Gre

[@arthinox3317]

7:35 - I think you meant 6th fret G

[@AaronRadioStudio]

Yes, you are correct. Thanks for watching!

[@royghosn18]

Dude explain the chords for us beginners

[@the5chord]

Should I definitely not be using a pick for this?

[@AaronRadioStudio]

To get really close to the sound of the recording on In Rainbows, I suggest using your fingers rather than a pick, but I believe that Jonny uses a pick when they play Arpeggi live. So play it with a pick or with your fingers...whatever you feel comfortable with, man! Thanks for watching!

[@mitch5944]

Yes as he said in my opinion it sounds more like the recording finger picked

[@mayaj.961]

10:56