in this video I'm going to show you how to play the guitar part from the acoustic version of the song something human by Muse hello I'm Paul Douglas I'm a musician with decades of experience in performing writing and recording music this channel is dedicated to helping the 21st century musician if you hear them please consider subscribing to the channel by clicking that button just below the video player you can buy the music from the links in the description below where you can also see and buy any of the equipment that I use to make my videos something human then now this song is not easy so when you're learning it take it slowly practice a half speed or even slower before you gradually increase the speed up to the full tempo we begin with an a chord shape around about the fifth fret but also using the open a string so we've got open a string then seven on the D string six on the g string and we bar frets five on the B and E string so altogether we have it and we start by plucking the a string the high e strings using the thumb and third finger then we play the a string with the thumb then the first finger g string then the eighth thumb again then B string with the second finger and then g string with the first finger so put that all together it's like this now remember that pattern that right hand picking pattern thumb and third finger thumb first finger thumb second finger first finger so because we're going to use that a lot throughout this song so we play that one time then we play almost the same again but this time on the left hand we're just going to use our pinky to play fret 7 on the g string so instead of that we've got that and that turns the chord from an a chord into an a sus 4 so using exactly the same right hand finger pattern we get this and then putting those two together we play the a shape followed by the asus4 shape three times like this [Music] now the singing starts halfway through the second asus4 indicating the start of the first verse then we play the a shape again but this time we're going to move chord shape the easiest way to do this next chord shape is to make a c-sharp minor bar chord shape at the 4th fret but add in the low E string at the 4th fret as well so we've got that so what we've got there is I'm borrowing all the strings with my first finger of the left hand at fret 4 I'm playing frets 6 on the D and g strings and fret 5 on the B string that chord now we're going to play exactly the same right hand picking pattern that we were using before but this time the thumb is playing the low E string instead of the a string so it goes like this then we're going to move down again we're going to move to an f-sharp minor Barre chord at the second fret so this is the the standard e E minor Barre shape but it's fret - so it's an F sharp minor chord we're going to bar all the strings with the first finger at fret 2 and then we play frets 4 on the a and D strings and we're going to play exactly the same right hand picking pattern again like this [Music] we do that for one bar then we use the second finger on the left hand to play fret 3 on the B string and this adds the 4th into the chord and we play exactly the same picking pattern again with the thumb on the low E string so we have this then we move back to the f-sharp again without the 4th for 1 bar and then we're going to move to a standard a chord shape so that's fret 2 on the D G and B strings playing the same right hand picking pattern again but we're going to play the low E string with the thumb so that goes like this so if I put that little section together what we have is this I play it slowly [Music] after that we're going to play a standard D chord shape so that's two on the g string three on the B string two on the high E string the right hand picking pattern here is we pluck the a string with the thumb high E string with the third finger and then we play D string thumb g string first finger D string is the thumb B string third finger g string first finger that might be easiest if I just play that very slowly and show you what I mean so it's like this [Music] we play that one two times then we move to a standard E chord shape so that's two threat to on the a and D strings and one on the g string same right hand picking pattern as were very familiar with now with the thumb on the low E string so like this and we play that two times through as I just did then then we're going to play the f-sharp minor again followed by the f-sharp minor with the 4th added and then back to the f-sharp minor again and then we finish with the e chord pattern so that's like this [Music] [Music] and that is the whole main first verse guitar part now I'll play through everything we have so far for you slowly [Music] then after that we're going to play almost that whole thing again but instead of playing that end f-sharp minor F sharp with the fourth f-sharp minor E we're going to go back to the a position that the fifth fret that we started out and we're going to play that a a sus for a pattern and end with plucking the a string and the high E string like that so I'll just demonstrate that for you slowly that's the first first we're now into the little pre-chorus bit this starts on an f-sharp minor Barre chord at the ninth fret we bar the top five strings with the first finger at fret nine we play frets 11 on the DNG string and 10 on the B string and then the high E string we just let the first thing a bar take care level we're going to play the same picking pattern we're very used to by now with the thumb picking the a string the first and second fingers on the b and g strings and third finger on the E string so like this we play that one time then learn to play a slightly unusual ecord we're going to play open low E string and frets 9 on the G and B strings and 7 on the high E string so we get that all together using the same right hand picking pattern we've got this then we go to a D shape which is the open D string 11 on the g string and 10 on the B and E strings again the same right hand picking pattern but with the thumb picking the open D string like this we play that one two times then we move to an a shape which is open a string 9 on the g string 10 on the B string 9 on the high E string again same right I'm picking pattern thumb on the a string and we play that one one time then it's back to the e shape we played which we play two times [Music] so that is the whole pre-chorus so far if I play that through for use very slowly it goes like this [Music] so that pre-chorus pattern that's whole thing is played two times and then we are into the chorus the chorus starts with the f-sharp minor pattern that we played at the second fret we've already played this and we play that one time like this then the e pattern in root position that we've already played in the verse we play that one time as well like this and then it does something that we've not done yet we're going to play the open a string and two on the B string together then four on the a string and five on the B string together so that goes like this and then we're going to move to the D pattern we pay you played in the pre-chorus or put the tenth fret so that's the one that's up here we played that two times then we do that whole thing again that is the whole chorus and were into the second verse I'll put that whole chorus together for you slowly [Music] so when the second verse now now this is like the first verse but instead of picking the strings with our fingers we're going to strum the chords now I think Matt Bellamy switches to using a plectrum a pic here you can strum with your fingers if you want that will sound absolutely fine but I'm going to use a plectrum this good enough for Matt bow me it's good enough for me we strum the chords in this sort of a rhythm and we're going to strum those first verse chords let's just go through them just to remind ourselves so we've got that a position there then the asus4 so we have the pink Ian and then it's going to be that c-sharp minor' with the G sharp in the base so extend the bar onto that low ease yet on to that low E string then it's the f-sharp minor and then we add the 4th back to F sharp minor and then the a chord with the e in the bass and then d E and then the F sharp minor cut mine with the fourth added F sharp minor E so if I play that through slowly should sound something like this [Applause] [Music] [Music] if you remember back to the first verse the first verse it repeated the first half of the verse with a the ending being just slightly different so instead of going down to that f-sharp minor F sharp minor the 4th F sharp minor E it went here and it stayed on my a which isn't exactly what we're going to do in this verse and of course we're strumming the chords now rather than picking them so that second verse ends like this [Music] now we're into the second pre-chorus which is very similar chords to the first pre-chorus but was strumming them now so like this so we've got the f-sharp minor chord so this time when we played that eat next the e chord we're going to play a standard e Barre chord on the middle four strings at the seventh fret and the D chord that we're going to go to then higher up the neck is the same as we're playing before adding in the open D and the a chord is like the very first chord we played at the beginning of the song and then the next day he called is that same standard ebar shape at fret 7 we play that chord progression two times and that's the whole second pre-chorus so I'll play that fruit for you now [Music] [Music] [Music] then we're into the second chorus which is very similar to the picked first chorus were just strumming chords so we start with F sharp minor standard bar chord shape at the second fret standard II called root position standard a chord root position then we're going to move up to an a chord which is the standard Barre chord at the fifth fret but we're not gonna play all the notes we're just going to play the middle strings so like this and then we're going to go up to that high D chord and we play that through two times we then finish the chorus with a root position E chord then turn into a nice sauce fall by moving that first finger on the g string up one fret to fret two and then back to e again so that whole chorus goes like this [Music] [Music] [Applause] then we have a little breakdown bit where we're back to finger picking again and that starts with this f-sharp minor shape what we're going to do here is we're going to use the right hand thumb on the low E string first finger D string the third and fourth fingers together on the B and E strings then the first finger D string again so that's like this then we play a standard a chord shape of root position using the exactly the same right hand picking pattern so [Music] then we play what we played before when we played open a string and fret 2 on the B string together and then 4 on the a string 5 on the B string together then we're going to go to that high D chord and we're going to slowly strum the strings in that chord with the thumb and we do that whole thing two times for the break down so if I play that through for you slowly it's like this [Music] then we're into a little instrumental bit and the guitar in that bit is exactly the same as the second half of the second verse the song finishes with the breakdown bit again exactly the same as before and that's followed by the final chord of the song which is the a chord at the fifth fret slowly strummed like this and believe it or not that is it that is the whole song what I'm going to do now is do a full playthrough of the whole song but I'm going to play it a little bit slower than it is on the track to give you something to practice against as you're building your speed up [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] you [Music] you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] question of the day the versions of the songs on the deluxe edition of simulation theory are there any on there that you prefer to the other versions the acoustic version of propaganda this acoustic version of something human um and probably the void and the gospel version of dig down all fall into that category for me what do you think let me know in the comments section below thanks for watching if you haven't yet subscribed to the channel then please hit that subscribe button and the notification bell to get notified of new videos and don't forget to check out the links in the description below keep making music and I'll see you again in the next video Cheers you