How To Play Eye of the Tiger

Can you show me how to play Eye of the Tiger from Rocky 3? The question came yet again, this time from a seven year old whose parents weren't even born when the film first showed. If I had $5 for every time I had been asked that question, I would be nicely set up now. Anyway, however old the Rocky films may be and however 1980s the song, it remains a firm favorite and the power of that first riff is a classic. So this page will tell you a simple way to play Eye of the Tiger and show you some more advanced versions of the song if you like.

Intro Image credit -

The front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, including the famous "Rocky Steps", as well as the Rocky Statue.

21 April 2007

Photo by Bobak Ha'Eri

Permission CC-By-SA-3.0

Beginner version in B minor

Well, the original song The Eye of the Tiger by Survivor was in F# minor which is not an easy chord to simplify for beginners, so this version will be in B minor. That is the key I used to play it in with my band too, for vocal purposes. It works and there is nothing wrong with changing keys unless you are desperate to play along with the film or the CD. Singers and musicians do it all the time.

The riff uses power chords, these are movable three string chords and you can play them along string 6. The numbers represent the frets your first finger goes to. The Xs are left hand muted notes. These are made by touching the string without pressing it fully down producing a percussive click. When I teach little kids the song, I usually go with:

BANG icky icky icky

BANG BANG BANG icky icky icky

BANG BANG BANG icky icky icky

BANG BANG BANG

Sounds silly, I know, but it works well with the actual rhythm!

It is a good idea to play the single note version with just the index finger on the fretting hand until you have memorised the order and the feel of the moves, then add the other fingers and move the power chord. Focus on the index finger being in the right place and also on the correct spacing.

The proper way to play a power chord is with fingers 1, 3 and 4 on your fret hand. Do NOT be tempted to play power chords with fingers 1, 2 and 3. Firstly playing like that will hamper you learning proper barre chords later (Check out power chords and barre chords here), and secondly (far more important) it will strain your fingers over time and may result in repetitive strain injury or Carpal Tunnel Syndrome which can stop you playing permanently!

Here are the easy chords for the Eye of the Tiger. I have given a four string version of Bm to avoid the necessity of a barre chord.

Sheet music versions from Amazon

The Eye of the Tiger is such an amazing song that it has been arranged for many groups. Here is a selection of some of the arrangements available.

Eye of the Tiger for mixed choir:

Eye of the Tiger - SATB Choral Sheet Music

Several songs including Eye of the Tiger for string orchestra:

Pop Showcase for Strings (For Solo or String Orchestra)

Standard sheet music for piano and vocal with guitar chord symbols:

Eye of the Tiger (Theme from Rocky III) - P/V/G Sheet Music

Arranged for beginner band:

Eye of the Tiger (Pop Beginning Band)

Eye of the Tiger in Big Notes for the visually impaired:

Eye of the Tiger Big Note

Conductor score for Eye of the Tiger for Marching Band:

Eye of the Tiger Conductor Score Marching Band Arr. Victor Lopez

This version is an arrangement for jazz ensemble:

Eye of the Tiger Conductor Score Jazz Ensemble

Flexi-band means you can miss out some of the instruments and it still works!

Eye of the Tiger - Flex-Band Score and Parts

This book of movie themes for piano also includes it:

Eye of the Tiger: movie theme (Robert Schultz Popular Music Made Easy for Piano)

Schaum Pop Favorites just had to include Eye of the Tiger amongst others!

Schaum Pop Favorites / A - The Red Book

If you want to play it with Concert Band, here is the score and parts!

Eye of the Tiger Conductor Score & Parts Concert Band

While you are learning the chords, simply strum down once on the letter, then once each on the slash lines.

When you know the chords, this is a really neat rhythm that sounds amazing:

Ding Dingading Ding Dingading Dingadinga

You would play that:

Down downupdown Down downupdown Downupdownup

The 37 rock songs include some personal favorites of mine: Ballroom Blitz, Bang a Gong (Get It On), Living After Midnight, Rock You like a Hurricane, School's Out, War Pigs, Welcome to the Jungle, You Give Love a Bad Name and of course the Eye of the Tiger!

Thank you for listening - I hope you enjoyed this little lesson :)