[FREE TABS] Play top 15 Muse intros to learn on guitar

Whether you are a beginner or an advanced player, you’ll find something to enjoy in these 15 intro riffs. Download the intros of Hysteria, Psycho, supremacy and more. Let’s make some noise! 

Matthew Bellamy is a real riff maker, he’s got the ability to produce great and powerful riffs that stay in mind. He is known for his experimental sound and his surprising modified electric guitars.

The riffs

We have selected 15 riffs that are fun and interesting to play.
Here is an example with the song called “Reapers” which is a very good tapping exercise:

We also have arranged for guitar several songs like Sunburn and New Born:

“15 Muse intros”
(click on the picture to download the zip file)

Click on the titles to download the Guitar Pro 7.5 files.

1. HYSTERIA

Click here to download the Guitar Pro 7.5 file of “Hysteria”

Here is the bassline, which have been arranged for guitar.

Here, we have a constant flow of sixteenth notes. It means that each beat will be divided by 4. To play them, you have to alternate high and low pick strokes systematically. The presence of open strings between the notes of the melody will allow you to work on the precision of the attack of your left hand when fretting the notes, the attack will have to be perfectly coordinated to obtain a well-defined sound. 

The bass line played by Chris Wolstenholme, here arranged to guitar, has been elected “greatest bass line” by MusicRadar, before legendary hit songs like “Another One Bites the Dust” or “Can’t Stop”.

You can easily learn Hysteria with the application Play Guitar Hits.

2. UPRISING

Click here to download the Guitar Pro 7.5 file of “Uprising”

Try this piano intro arranged for guitar, this is an ideal tablature for beginners.

The notes of the last two bars are linked by a slide.

The slide is a sliding of the left hand along the string while maintaining the pressure, we go from one note to another (possibly with intermediate frets) without having to attack the second note, this effect maintains the vibration of the string.

Uprising is the first song in the legendary album “The Resistance”, which won a Grammy award for the best rock album in 2009.

3. KNIGHTS OF CYDONIA

Click here to download the Guitar Pro file for Knights of “Cydonia”

A very easy riff for beginners! 

The wave drowns above the staff corresponds to a vibrato of the left hand. We tend a little, and we release the tension on the string by using the left hand at a certain frequency and amplitude to make the note vibrate.

Cydonia is a region on the planet Mars, known to have, according to theories, sheltered life. 

According to Chris Wolstenholme, the Muse’s bassist, this song summarizes 40 years of rock history in 6 minutes.

4. PLUG IN BABY 

Click here to download the Guitar Pro 7.5 file of “Plug in Baby“

This is an intro in arpeggios with bends, bar chords, pull-offs, hammers-on, at a very fast tempo. 

The bend is a guitar technique consisting in pulling a string using one or many fingers from the left hand to increase the tension and the pitch of the note. An upward arrow indicates that the note is being raised, the number indicating the number of tones, a downward arrow indicates that the pitch is being lowered by releasing the tension.

To play this song, Mattew Bellamy has used an electric guitar, customized by the founder of the Manson guitars’ brand: Hugh Manson himself. He has also made the guitar of John Paul Jones and Dave Grohl.

A pedal effect, the fuzz factory, has been directly integrated into the guitar. Its pedal brings distortion to the sound, with clipping and It is particularly thanks to this song that he is considered as one of the most creative guitarists of his generation.

5. PSYCHO

Click here to download the Guitar Pro 7.5 file of “Psycho”

The drop D is a special tuning consisting of lowering the bass E string by one tone. The guitar is then tuned from low to high notes: D A D G B E.

6. SUPREMACY 

Click here to download the Guitar Pro 7.5 file of “Supremacy“

This is a technically easy but rhythmically complex riff, with a lot of off-beats.

The slide-out: sometimes, a slide results don’t lead to any particular note. We start from a defined note and slide (upwards for a slide in, downwards for a slide out), to the end of the string or till we remove the finger from the string to make the vibration stop. 

Pay attention to the rhythmic precision of this song, all the combinations of sixteenth note placement are represented here, you have to be able to cut precisely each of the 4 sixteenth notes constituting a beat inside.

Practice with your metronome each rhythm made of sixteenth notes before playing the full riff.

7. SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE

Click here to download the Guitar Pro 7.5 file of “Supermassive Black Hole”

A riff to play with a powerful distortion. 

The simile marks are signs which indicate that we repeat the two previous bars (a simple simile indicates a repetition of the previous bar, a double simile indicates a repetition of the previous two measures).  

Dead notes: a string is attacked with the right hand but the left hand mutes the string without fretting a note, the sound is thus muted, without discernible pitch.

8. UNINTENDED 

Click here to download the Guitar Pro 7.5 file of “Unintended”

This is a very interesting arpeggio to practice, with a clean sound on acoustic or electric guitar.

Arpeggios: the vertical wave indicates that the group of strings is attacked with the right hand, in such a way as to distinguish each note played. This can be done more or less quickly depending on the effect wanted.

9. REAPERS

Click here to download the Guitar Pro 7.5 file of “Reapers“

Tune your guitar in Drop D again for this fast and fun riff.

You have to play in legato the notes under the braces. You will find three types: the hammer-on, the pull-off, and the tapping. 

The hammer-on involves attacking the first note with the right hand. The next note will be attacked by the left hand, who will fret the string already in vibration. 

To play a pull-off you’ll need to attack the first note with your right hand and then withdraw the finger of your left hand, pulling the string slightly downwards so as to maintain the vibration of the string for the note that is fretted lower. We attack the first note with the right hand and we take off the left hand’s finger driving the string a little bit to the low, in a way to maintain the vibration for the note which is fretted lower. 

The tapping technique is a hammer-on made with a finger of the right hand.

The first note (the circled T) is a left-hand tapping, the note is attacked directly with a hammer-on with the left hand without a note having been previously attacked with the right hand on this string.

10. NEW BORN

Click here to download the Guitar Pro 7.5 file of “New Born“

Here is a guitar adaptation for the piano part in Newborn. Be sure to enchain each chord well, in order to avoid the cut between each position, and get a great fluidity in your game. 

Some positions are played in an evident way on the piano, but they are more difficult on the guitar. In this case, we adapt the constraints related to the instrument, while maintaining what makes the particularity of an accompaniment. 

11. SUNBURN

Click here to download the Guitar Pro 7.5 file of “Sunburn“

Here is the introduction on piano arranged for solo guitar. 

Be careful with the string jump. With a mediator, these types of arpeggios are more complicated than the finger playing, which permits jumping strings easily. 

In more, the flow rate of the sixteenth notes constant will let you a little break if you alternate systematically all pick movement. This is despite all a great exercise to increase the precision of the play with the right hand. 

“Let Ring Throughout”: the resonance of the playing notes have to continue beyond their theoretical duration, written on the partition. 

12. STOCKHOLM SYNDROME

Click here to download the Guitar Pro 7.5 file of “Stockholm Syndrom”

Tune your guitar in Drop D for this fast riff

Start by practicing this riff slowly. The flow of sixteenth notes combined with the fretted notes alternating with the open string will require great precision in execution.

If you want to try to play the solo and outro, they are played the exact same way as the intro, just in a different speed and key.

13. THE HANDLER

Click here to download the Guitar Pro 7.5 file of “The Handler“

Drop D tuning. 

The tablature contains ghost notes: these notes are attacked more weakly, and are represented in brackets. 

14. MUSCLE MUSEUM

Click here to download the Guitar Pro 7.5 file of “Muscle Museum“

Play this riff on the B and G strings only.

Be careful with the triple eighth notes, you will have to double your flow rate in back and forths with the pick on the fourth quarter of time, to come back to a flow rate of sixteenth notes. Work slowly at first to integrate the gesture.

After they had finished writing the song, the group had a lot of difficulty finding its name. So, they took a dictionary and chose the first word after Muse: Muscle Museum. 

15. FURY

Click here to download the Guitar Pro 7.5 file of “Fury”

An easy riff, Mattew uses a whammy pedal, on octaver. 

The tremolo picking: notes represented in tremolo picking have to be attacked at the rhythm indicated (sixteenth or eighth notes), by altering mediator shots ou finger playing. 

How to use Muse signature sounds in Guitar Pro 7.5?

Here is how to find Muse’s signature sound called “Hysteria” in Guitar Pro 7.5.

More than 700 sound pre-sets, that reproduce faithfully the sound of your favorite artists and titles, are available on Guitar Pro. 

To know more: watch our tutorial video, called “How to use signature sound, and manage the sounds”. 

The presetting “Hysteria” by Muse is in: 

The inspector on the right> tracks > sounds > distortion guitar > Signatures > Hysteria.