The Basics of Malcolm Young's Unmistakable Rhythm Guitar Style

Malcolm Young, with his trademark Gretsch 6131 Jet Firebird, performs with AC/DC at Olympiahalle on March 27, 2009 in Munich, Germany.

Newbie rockers often make two mistakes when trying to replicate the power of Malcolm Young’s thundering progressions: They assume the AC/DC rhythm king used tons of distortion, and that he regularly employs barre chords.

Actually, the secrets of his power involve huge .012-.058-gauged Gibson strings (including a wound G), a perfectly intonated semihollow ’63 Gretsch Jet Firebird, a rumbling row of Marshalls turned up just loud enough to put sharp edges on the chords (“If those amps are on 3, that’s a loud night for me,” says Young) and open chords struck with a murderous strumming attack. (“He certainly doesn’t tickle it,” says his brother Angus.) 

Try this sequence of power grips for a taste of Malcolm’s merciless guitar part on Highway to Hell’s “Walk All Over You.”

* This article was originally published here