Poison

How to play Poison by Alice Cooper on guitar

These are the sounding chords. With a capo on fret 3 you play B, Bm, G, D, A, Em and more, the shapes the player above shows.

This song is a classic hard-rock play-along that feels sharp, dramatic, and fun once you lock into the groove. At about 120 BPM, it has enough drive to keep you focused, but the riff-based movement makes it satisfying to repeat until it clicks.

You can lean on the open shapes D, Dm, F, C, Am, and G, but the tougher barre shapes A#, Gm, D#, Cm, and G# will test your fretting hand. The main thing to watch is the opening move D - Dm - A# - F, since it asks you to shift quickly from open shapes into a barre chord without losing the pulse.

Start by looping that opening progression slowly and cleanly, then add the rest of the chord changes one at a time. Once your hands know the shapes, practice with a steady count and raise the speed in small steps until you can stay relaxed at full tempo.

Use the play-along above to follow each chord change in time with the music, or learn the shapes first with the chord diagrams below.