"The House of the Rising Sun" is traditional American folk song that tells the tale of a wasted life in New Orleans. The most famous version was recorded in 1964 by the English rock group The Animals.
To play “House of the Rising Sun” on the guitar, you need to know how to play an up-and-down arpeggio pattern, how to finger basic major and minor chords, and how to make a song about a wasted life in a house of ill repute sound light and frothy.
The up-and-down arpeggio pattern (p-i-m-a-m-i) makes a nice accompaniment for “House of the Rising Sun” and other songs like it. Your left hand should hold down each chord for the entire measure. Think broken chords (where the notes ring out) and not individual notes (where the notes stop short). Notice that the fingers play only the top three strings for every chord in the song, even though the thumb changes strings from chord to chord.
