Is there any way of getting the TABs of the simplified version Justin plays as from 11:30 minutes of the DIre Straits’ song ‘Money for nothing’. The way he played it when he 13 or 14 years old?
Thx
About Riff 3, you say in the text that it is:
D D 5:7 5:5 D D D 6:1 6:0
But I think I listen 6:6 instead of 5:5
I feel switching finger 1 and 2 in the Riff 1 is way easier, this way the finger stay closer to the fret
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I just have a question regarding the enter sandman riff. How important is it to stick to the recommended fingering? For myself I find it a lot easier to swop fingers 1 and 2 around. I don’t want to learn any bad habits but I really struggle playing it the way its shown.
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Hi Sandra,
I think this question is for the clean riff at the beginning of the song, not the rest of the distorted riffs?
For me, I find I am buzzing the D string with finger 1 when I have enough room to drop finger 2 on the E string in the right place.
In general, using a comfortable fingering is ok, but you need to watch for getting used to it and then not having a necessary finger available for something else. SUS chords comes to mind, and I’m not sure you have been that far in the lessons yet.
I recommend slowly working up to the fingering. It takes months to get your fingers and muscles to do it, but once there, it feels right. Don’t try to shortcut at these early stages if it is just trying to do the lesson fast rather than in a better way. It will help you later.
If you want to work on timing or just play the song, work on both fingerings. Be mindful of what feels awkward and I bet you will see your proposed fingering will be second option after a bit of practice on both.
Great thanks for the advice. Will keep on practicing
I’ve listened to and played Enter Sandman for many years and never really noticed they let that G ring out in the opening riff, but now that it’s been pointed out it is so obvious… and the riff is soooo much harder to play with my pinky, which while maybe not technically too short at around 2.5", it sits a full 1" below my ring finger due to the angle of my knuckles, plus it hates bending anywhere but toward my thumb. 
Of course I can just play the open G instead, but this may be some good if highly uncomfortable practice.
As with others, I’m finding it hard to do riff 1 with the original fingering (pinky on 5:7 and 2nd finger on 4:5). I know other ways are okay, but I really want to give i “the old college try” using this approach.
The main problem is my pinky is angled pretty far sideways in order to make the stretch, and it ends up muting the fourth string below it. Here are a couple photos.
The question for those who are more experienced: is there anything obvious that I’m doing wrong, or is this just a matter of stretch and more practice? In particular, when I watch Justin play the riff, his pinky is quite nearly perpendicular to the fretboard. I can’t figure out how to make that happen.
Hi Michael,
There is definitely some stretch to this as well as building strength to hold your fingers in place. Since you probably never hold your fingers like this for daily activities, it will feel really awkward.
Work on it slowly. Put fingers in position and try to hold them there for a few moments. If you start to fatigue, then relax for maybe 60-90 seconds and go back to it. Don’t over-do it. It took me maybe 5-6 weeks for this to come without fatigue.
For reference, my pinky is slanted off to the side like yours. Mine is on the fret though. Fingers 1, 2, and 3 are more aligned with each other than yours are.
I can’t really see, but I rotate my wrist so my pinky base joint at the hand is touching the neck. This gives me enough reach to not mute the string below. Being able to bend your last joint with your wrist bent is also a stretching and strength thing that will improve if you work at it. Again don’t over-do it. I had to back off and let some aching recover at one point because I was pushing my flexibility stretches too much.
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FWIW Michael I just stuck with alternative fingering under the mantra if it works, it works!
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You could try to place your thumb closer to the centerline of the neck. This allows for your fingers to curve a bit more thus preventing the muting of strings unintended.
People have different anatomies. I have the same issue as you where trying to move my pinky further out only causes it to seemingly ‘rotate’ instead of angle further. I was able to get it working with some practice, but yeah, I feel your pain.
I was wondering the same thing. I look at Justin’s positioning and, granted he’s got a whole lot of experience on me, but when I wrap my fingers around the neck they don’t want to go square and boxy. They all converge to a point in the center of my palm. I have trouble slanting my fingers with the F mini bar and D minor, too. I wonder if it’s related.