Sweet Leaf

Let's learn the classic Black Sabbath song "Sweet Leaf"!

Get your electric guitar ready - today we’ll learn how to play the fantastic Sweet Leaf by Black Sabbath. This is a complex song - it's experimental and has many guitar layers, just as we expect from a band like Black Sabbath!

There are some tricky guitar parts in the original, I kept things as simple as possible for this lesson. We’ll explore some of the verses, and any beginner getting started with power chords will be able to play these riffs! All of the chords are rooted on string 6. :)

We won’t look at the solo, but I’ll give you a few tips so you sound just like Black Sabbath! If you're up for it, we'll explore the doubling melody as well, which is a bit more advanced.

 

What Guitar Tuning is Sweet Leaf in?

The original Sweet Leaf is in C# tuning (C#, F#, B, E, G#, C#), which means you’d have to tune each string down by three semitones. For this lesson, I’m using regular tuning - it’s what I recommend most beginners to start with! It sounds great and is much easier to play.


 

How to Sound More Like Black Sabbath

If you’re wondering how you can get near to the Sweet Leaf sound… well, you’ll need a fuzz effect.

For the lesson, I’m using the effect in my Kemper - but you can use a guitar pedal as well. It sounds aggressive, more so than a regular amp with distortion, and gives you a lot of sustain. I’m using a little bit of crunch too. :)

Now that we're all set up, let's check out those riffs.

 

Sweet Leaf by Black Sabbath: Verse Guitar Riff

For this riff, you’ll need A5, D5, C#5, and C5, but the rhythm is a little complex and the chords change quickly, so check out the video for all the details.

 

💡 Need a Power-Chords Refresher? Check out my Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Power Chords.

 

We cover how to slide between the chords, but you can strum on each change if you like. :) Here are a couple of extra details: lightly brush the strings with your strumming hand when changing chords to add some extra noise. And try adding vibrato on the final C5 to mimic the vibrato sound on the recording, which is caused by the loosened strings.

 

Sweet Leaf by Black Sabbath: Chorus Riff

Here we need A5, G5, C5, and E5. Again, watch the video for all the details - the rhythm and chord changes are tricky.

If you’re a complete beginner, stick to those riffs for now. Let’s look at some more parts for the advancing beginners and intermediates among us. ;)

 

Sweet Leaf by Black Sabbath: Double The Melody

During the verse riff on the original Sweet Leaf, you can hear a guitar playing the root notes up an octave. This works great as a second guitar part.

You’ll need the notes A, D, C# and C on string 4 - can you figure out where they are? Your Octave Shapes might come in handy. ;)

 

Extra Guitar Parts

The song gets a bit crazy after a while! If you’d like to play along with it, listen up.

After two verses and choruses, we come to a new section that uses A5, B5, and C#5, and it stays on C#5 while a second guitar plays another iconic guitar riff. It only has three notes, but it’s very effective. See the video for how to play it.
 

💡 Remember: Black Sabbath were not a pop-punk band. Their music is psychedelic metal or doom metal. They were at the forefront of music and were experimenting a ton! So you’ll find a lot of unusual elements in Black Sabbath’s music.

 

If you’re a bit more ambitious, listen to Sweet Leaf, try to cop the chords, and maybe explore some improvising. This one is also great for bands. ;) Laters!

🎵 Want chords, tabs, and lyrics to follow along with my song tutorials for guitar? Check out JustinGuitar Tabs!