Chords + Lyrics | The Pretender
Intro
| Amadd9 | Am /B /C Am | F#m7b5 (/G) | Fmaj7 |
Verse 1
||: Amadd9 | Am /B /C Am | F#m7b5 (/G | Fmaj7 :||
Keep you in the dark, you know they all, pretend.
Keep you in the dark, and so it all, began.
Instrumental 1
||: Am13 (F# G A) :|| x4
Verse 2
| Am | Am | Am | Am | D/F# | D/F# | Fsus2/C | Fsus2/C |
Send in your skeletons. Sing as their bones go marching in, again.
| Am | Am | Am | Am | D/F# | D/F# | Fsus2/C | Fsus2/C E5 G5 |
They need you buried deep, the secrets that you keep are ever ready, are you ready?
| Am | Am | Am | Am | D/F# | D/F# | Fsus2/C | Fsus2/C F#5 E5 G5 |
I’m finished making sense, done pleading ignorance. That old, defence.
| Am | Am | Am | Am | D/F# | D/F# | Fsus2/C | Fsus2/C F5 G5 |
Spinning infinity boy, the wheel is spinning me, it’s never-ending, never-ending.
| (D5 E5) | (F#5 G5) |
Same old story.
Chorus 1
| Am | Am | (/A /B /C) | (/C) Am D7/F# |
What if I say I’m not like the others? What if I say I’m not just another one of your plays?
| D7/F# | D7/F# | Fmaj7 | Fmaj7 |
You’re the pretender, what if I say I will never surrender?
| Am | Am | (/A /B /C) | (/C) Am D7/F# |
What if I say I’m not like the others? What if I say I’m not just another one of your plays?
| D7/F# | D7/F# | Fsus2/C | Fsus2/C |
You’re the pretender, what if I say that I will never surrender?
Instrumental 2
| A5 A6 A5 A6 A5 | A5 A6 A5 A7 A5 |
Verse 3
| Am | Am | Am | Am | D/F# | D/F# | Fsus2/C | Fsus2/C F#5 E5 G5 |
In time or so I’m told. I’m just another soul for sale, oh well.
| Am | Am | Am | Am | D/F# | D/F# | Fsus2/C | Fsus2/C F5 G5 |
The page is out of print, we are not permanent, we’re temporary, temporary.
| (D5 E5) | (F#5 G5) |
Same old story.
Chorus 2
What if I say I’m not like the others? What if I say I’m not just another one, of your plays?
You’re the pretender, what if I say I will never surrender?
What if I say I’m not like the others? What if I say I’m not just another one, of your plays?
You’re the pretender, what if I say I will never surrender?
Oh, oh, oh, oh.
Instrumental 3
||: A5 A6 A7 A6 | A5 A6 A5 A7 A5 :||
Bridge
||: A5 A6 A7 A6 | A5 A6 A5 A7 A5 :||
I’m the voice inside your head you refuse to hear.
I’m the face that you have to face, mirroring your stare.
||: Am Asus2 A5 A7 :|| x4
I’m what’s left, I’m what’s right, I’m the enemy.
||: Asus4 Am Asus2 A5 :|| x4
I’m the hand that’ll take you down, bring you to your knees.
||: A7omit3 D/A :|| x8
So who are you? Yeah, who are you? Yeah, who are you? Yeah, who are you?
Breakdown verse
| Amadd9 | Am /B /C Am | F#m7b5 (/G) | Fmaj7 |
Keep you in the dark, you know they all, pretend.
Chorus 3 (double)
What if I say I’m not like the others? What if I say I’m not just another one of your plays?
You’re the pretender, what if I say I will never surrender?
What if I say I’m not like the others? What if I say I’m not just another one of your plays?
You’re the pretender, what if I say that I’ll never surrender?
What if I say I’m not like the others? (Keep you in the dark)
What if I say I’m not just another one of your plays? (You know they all)
You’re the pretender (Pretend), what if I say I will never surrender?
What if I say I’m not like the others? (Keep you in the dark)
What if I say I’m not just another one of your plays? (You know they all)
You’re the pretender (Pretend) What if I say I will never surrender?
Instrumental 4
| (D E) | (F# G) |
Outro
||: A5 A6 A7 A6 | A5 A6 A5 A7 A5 :||
So who are you? Yeah, who are you?
||: Am Asus2 A5 A7 :|| A5 N.C A5 | A5 N.C |
Yeah, who are you?
The Pretender Backing Track | Chord Analysis
Above, you’ll find backing tracks to use when learning The Pretender. I’ve used stem separation to extract the guitar while keeping the drums, bass, keys, horns, and vocals intact.
After studying the chords and TAB, use my backing tracks to prepare for playing this tune with a band.
Chord Progressions – What’s Going On?
Not your average chord progression or rock ’n’ roll arrangement, The Pretender is a masterclass in chord movement and using dynamics to shape a song. Let’s break down each section.
Intro
Using an Am chord in a Cm shape and shifting the bass note, we get this progression for the intro, first verse, and one of the (many) breakdown sections:
| Amadd9 | Am /B /C Am | F#m7b5 (/G) | Fmaj7 |
Verse Riff
A repeating riff runs through the verse, using the top string to change notes while the second string drones. You could describe it like this:
||: Am13 (F# G A) :||
Verse
Once the full-band verse kicks in, the progression becomes even more intriguing. The Am chord feels both Aeolian and Dorian, as both F# and F appear.
There is also some great variation at the end of every repeat. Take note: this is how you make subtle changes to keep the interest up, and also how you get your band to sound authentic—by nailing the details.
||: Am | Am | Am | Am | D/F# | D/F# |
| 1. Fsus2/C | Fsus2/C :||
| 2. Fsus2/C | Fsus2/C E5 G5 :||
| 3. Fsus2/C | Fsus2/C F#5 E5 G5 :||
| 4. Fsus2/C | Fsus2/C F5 G5 :||
| 5. (D5 E5) | (F#5 G5) |
To get TAB detailing how to play this, including how we must blend layers and decide how to fret riffs, scroll further down this guitar lesson.
Chorus
The chorus closely resembles the verse, with an added bass line in bars 3 and 4, and the D/F# now becoming a D7/F#.
||: Am | Am | (/A /B /C) | (/C) Am D7/F# |
| D7/F# | D7/F# | Fmaj7 | Fmaj7 :||
Breakdown
The breakdown section sounds like Chuck Berry on acid! Starting with a classic honky-tonk rhythm, Dave moves up the neck, hitting the m3rd, sus2, b7, and sus4 extensions to build intensity—nice one, Dave!
||: A5 A6 A7 A6 | A5 A6 A5 A7 A5 :||
||: Am Asus2 A5 A7 :|| x4
||: Asus4 Am Asus2 A5 :|| x4
||: A7omit3 D/A :|| x8
Here’s a chord chart aiming to make sense of all of The Pretender’s chords and arrangement.
The Pretender Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro Download
You can download my chart as a PDF or in the iReal Pro format. If you choose iReal Pro, you can experiment with adjusting the layout.
The Pretender | TAB
In the TAB below, you’ll discover the many sections to learn in order to play all of The Pretender’s chords authentically.
There are two main challenges:
- How do we combine several layered guitars into one part?
- When do we switch from one prominent idea to another if there is only one guitar in the band?
Intro + Verse 1 + Breakdown
Let’s start from the top. Below is the full part, exactly as on the record.
What Dave is doing here is playing an Am in a Cm shape, using the open A and E strings.
In bar 2, we manipulate the bass note in between an open top string (E). The final note is an F#, which, when combined with an Am, creates an F#m7b5 chord.
In bar three, we hold this new chord (F#m7b5) before more bass notes take us to an F, which, when combined with an Am chord, creates an Fmaj7—clever stuff.
Dave has admitted that the main idea for the chorus is a tweaked version of Sesame Street’s One of These Things Is Not Like the Others. I’d like to add that I feel this intro was inspired by Stairway to Heaven.
Instrumental 1 + Verse 2 (guitar 1)
Next up, the band kicks in without bass, and we play using a distorted sound. After listening and transcribing this for quite a while, I believe this is how Dave plays it:
I can hear open strings and pull-offs, but not all the time. To be sure, I also tried using only pull-offs when possible, like this:
As much as that was fun (and reminded me of Thunderstruck by AC/DC), it doesn’t sound quite right. Here’s what it looks like if you play without pull-offs:
This, again, doesn’t sound quite right and reassured me that my first example is the correct way he plays it. With all that said, you can design your own approach. To begin with, maybe slide into the first note.
Verse 2 (guitar 2)
Let’s be honest—you can’t just play the lick throughout verse 2. At some point, you have to switch to what the second guitar plays on the record. When you do this is up to you.
Perhaps the bass player can play the stabs at first, then when you start them, he moves on to pumping. Later, you can both join in with pumping eighth notes.
Here’s the full verse 2 guitar 2 part, custom-made by taking into consideration all the layers on the original recording. I’m especially impressed with the little variations before the repeat—again, well done, Dave!
Chorus
On the record, the chorus is a feast of layered guitars. Here’s what I came up with for a one-guitar-in-a-band situation (should you hit the third string, make sure you hold down fret 2 so it blends well):
Instrumental 2 + 3 + Bridge
Clearly a nod to Chuck Berry, Instrumental 2 will later be modified. Here’s the starting point:
The next instrumental develops that riff and then goes into a bridge which takes it even further. Allow the chord names to help you remember the intervals so you can later read this from a chart.
End
Lastly, the ending is a greatest-hits version of most of the parts we played.
When you think you’ve got all this TAB down, play along with the backing tracks and the chord chart to find out if you’re ready to play this modern classic with a band.
How Foo Fighters Turned a Sesame Street Hook into a Rock Anthem
The Pretender was the first single and opening track from Foo Fighters’ sixth studio album, Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace (2007).
The song was a huge success and is considered by many—myself included—to be Dave Grohl’s greatest performance yet.
Apparently, it was originally called Silver Heart and only had the chorus, played at a much slower tempo. Dave got the main hook from Sesame Street’s One of These Things Is Not Like the Others.
During a break from the studio, he developed the verse and the Chuck Berry-inspired breakdown, transforming it into not just the album’s lead single but also the band’s go-to opener for live shows.
The greatest lesson here? The Pretender didn’t just come to Dave—he crafted it!
The Pretender Chords: Continue Learning
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