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The Police - Every Breath You Take - Acoustic Guitar Lesson

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The Police - Every Breath You Take - Acoustic Lesson

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The Police - Every Breath You Take acoustic guitar lesson video
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Synchronicity (Remastered 2003) album cover
Synchronicity (Remastered 2003)
1983 4:14
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The Police 1983 A major
Capo Advisor 0 A major · Original key

Every Breath You Take

Every Breath You Take by The Police is a 1983 rock classic featuring a distinctive arpeggiated guitar riff that defines the track. The song showcases efficient use of suspended chords and minimal picking patterns, making it accessible for intermediate players while offering nuance in dynamics and tone control. Learning this track helps develop fingerpicking accuracy and chord voicing sensitivity.

  • The iconic opening riff uses a clean, arpeggiated guitar pattern that repeats throughout the song with minimal variation.
  • Released in 1983 on Synchronicity, the album that cemented The Police's commercial success and critical acclaim.
  • The song's sparse arrangement emphasizes guitar texture and rhythmic precision over complex technical passages.
Fender Stratocaster
Guitar

Fender Stratocaster

Andy Summers used the Strat on select Police tracks for its smooth, singing sustain and contoured body comfort during intricate fingerpicking passages. Its versatile pickup switching complemented his hybrid Tele's spiky attack, offering warmer mid-range tones for atmospheric arrangements.

Fender Telecaster
Guitar

Fender Telecaster

Summers' modified 1961 Tele Custom with Gibson humbucker in the neck and Fender single-coil bridge became his signature weapon, delivering both cutting reggae arpeggios and warm, sustained chords that defined The Police's distinctive sonic character.

Gibson ES-335
Guitar

Gibson ES-335

The ES-335's warm, woody tone and semi-hollow body resonance gave Summers jazzier options in the studio, adding sophisticated harmonic depth to Police tracks that required softer, more organic textures beyond the Tele's angular attack.

Marshall JCM800
Amp

Marshall JCM800

Summers pushed the JCM800 just past breakup for crunch rather than full distortion, pairing it in stereo with his clean Roland to create The Police's signature wide, layered guitar image with grit and clarity coexisting.

MXR Phase 90
Pedal

MXR Phase 90

This swirling phaser added jet-like, psychedelic textures to Summers' clean tones, occasionally used to enhance the shimmering, otherworldly quality of Police arrangements without overwhelming their reggae-influenced rhythmic precision.

MXR Carbon Copy Analog Delay
Pedal

MXR Carbon Copy Analog Delay

The MXR Carbon Copy's warm analog delay provided rhythmic slapback and lush atmospheric repeats essential to Summers' compositional approach, where effects functioned as fundamental song elements rather than decorative flourishes.

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