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Lead Guitar & the Formula 1 Theme Song

Lesson #542 • Mar 22, 2024

Hello, friends! In today’s lesson I want to look at the Formula 1 (F1) theme song, which is played during the opening credits of each race. To me, this short instrumental is a weekend anthem that pumps me up each and every time I hear it - because I love watching F1 so much.

So, let’s learn it on guitar! I’ll show how to play the main melodic theme, which is really just two short phrases and a simple key change. Fairly easy to learn the notes, but plenty of free practice sessions (using my audio jam tracks) will have you cranking out purple sectors in no time. Lights out and away we go!

  • 0:00 Overview
  • 1:06 Riff Explained, Part 1
  • 3:41 Riff Explained, Part 2
  • 6:08 Jam Track Instructions
  • 7:45 Playthrough w/ Tabs
  • 9:20 Key Change, Explained

Instructional PDF 2 pages

Follow along with the print-friendly PDF! It includes all of my notes for this lesson, allowing you to follow along at your own pace. You're free to download, print, and share the PDF across your devices.

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Follow along with the print-friendly PDF!

It includes all of my notes for this lesson, allowing you to follow along at your own pace. You're free to download, print, and share the PDF across your devices.

To download the PDF, upgrade to premium or log in.

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Acoustic Playthroughs

Original Version (Dm to Gm)

Used in the 2021 opening credits, as well as the live orchestra performance from 2018.

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Updated Version (Dm to Fm)

Used in the opening credits in 2022 and every year since (as of 2024, when I’m writing this).

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Audio Practice Tracks

Here’s a few looped recordings I made, where I strum through the chords this theme song uses (with a basic drum beat added). After going through the melodies I teach in my main tutorial, things repeat for around 5 minutes –– making this perfect for a quick practice session.

Note, both audio tracks begin with the D minor section. From there, the key changes – and based on which version you’re following, things will either go to F minor (10th fret of third string root note) or G minor (12th fret of third string root note). See my PDF guide for additional details.

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Dm to Gm version - click to download, or press the play button below to stream:

Dm to Fm version - click to download, or press the play button below to stream:


Videos of the Theme Song

Original Version (Dm to Gm)

Updated Version (Dm to Fm)

F1 has blocked this video from being embedded on websites outside of YouTube, so click here to watch it.

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