The Tragically Hip - Ahead by a Century - Guitar Tab

Trouble At The Henhouse

1996 3:43

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About Ahead by a Century

Few songs in Alternative Rock reward a fingerpicking approach as naturally as this one. The signature opening arpeggio in D major sets the entire mood, and getting those rolled notes to ring cleanly against open strings is the first real challenge. The chord voicings throughout lean on open-position shapes, but the transitions need to feel unhurried and deliberate at 120 BPM, so resist the urge to rush the strummed chorus sections. The interplay between the clean, sustained chords and the more driven moments in the arrangement asks you to control your pick attack carefully, keeping softer passages genuinely soft. If the verse arpeggio pattern is giving you trouble, use the Practice Toolbar to loop it slowed down until your fretting hand can hold each chord shape steady while your picking hand moves independently. The Tragically Hip built this track around restraint, and that is exactly the discipline it teaches you.

• The opening arpeggio in D major uses open-position chord voicings, making clean string separation the main technical hurdle for beginners.
• At 120 BPM in E Standard tuning, the tempo is forgiving enough to focus on dynamics and pick-attack control rather than pure speed.
• The chorus strumming pattern requires a deliberate shift in right-hand intensity from the delicate verse fingerpicking, so practise the transition point specifically.