In this guitar lesson, we shall be looking at the In Bloom TAB. If you’re looking for a grunge Nirvana classic that’s almost entirely based on simple power chords, this will definitely be the lesson for you. In Bloom is the second track from Nirvana’s famous second album, Nevermind and it’s a track that follows the structure that many Nirvana songs follow of having loud chorus sections and quiet verses. In Bloom also happens to be one of my favourite tracks by Nirvana. It’s right up there with their other great tracks for me and I’m not alone in that opinion as Rolling Stone ranked it highly on their list of the greatest Nirvana songs.
No further introduction is necessary. Get your power chord hats on folks and let’s get to the TAB and instructions. This one is suitable for beginner guitarists, or anyone who simply wants to learn a cool grunge song.
In Bloom TAB and Guitar Lesson
In Bloom TAB Intro part 1
We naturally start with the intro to the song. You’re going to want a whole bunch of distortion for this one and you’re going to want to prepare yourself for three finger power chords. Here’s the TAB.
The rhythm of this part is simple. It should be easy enough to learn the rhythm by listening to the recording. We start off with a B flat power chord based on the A string. I won’t bother listing all the chords as you can see them in the TAB. What I will point out though is that rest right at the end. Many of you will know what that means, but many won’t so to summarise, you’re silent at that point. You can hear this in the recording clearly.
In Bloom TAB Intro part 2
I could have joined the intro together in hindsight but I separated it because of the rhythmic change and because the first part is used as a main riff at different points through the song but this part only really sounds exactly like this at this point. Here’s the TAB.
It’s power chords again but there’re some percussive strums at very specific points in there so look out for them, and then there’s the open A power chord right at the end there too which obviously moves away from that shape we’ve been using throughout so far. We’ll be moving further away again during the next part.
Verse bass section
The next section that we need to learn is the verses and as you can hear in the recording, the guitar is not audible for the whole of the verse sections.
The guitar drops out at the start of the verse parts leaving the bass behind. If you’re in a situation where you have a bassist, you can just rest at this point but if you’re flying solo, you may want to fill that gap. We can do this on guitar easily. Here’s the TAB.
This TAB kind of mimics what you hear on bass but on guitar obviously. Nothing particularly complex here. Just root notes.
Eventually, the guitar kicks in. We’ll look at that next.
In Bloom TAB verse
The guitar eventually joins in once more only this time, we have a different kind of vibe. The power chords have gone (for now) and so has the distortion which has stepped aside for a nice clean tone. Little tip on the tone here, this sounds great with a little chorus so if you can facilitate that, go for it. If not, it doesn’t matter. Here’s the TAB.
So, what we have there is a bunch of barre chords. We have a mix of six string major barre chords, and five string major barre chords. The chords in order are B flat major, F sharp major, E flat major, B major and finally, and open A major chord.
This lesson was kind of aimed at the beginner guitarist. I can appreciate that there will be many beginner guitarists out there who will be struggling with these full barre chords still. If that’s you, you will find an alternative version next.
In Bloom TAB alternative verse
We can easily substitute the barre chords seen in the last snippet of TAB for three finger power chords. The TAB will look like this.
The alternative version is there if you need it but I’d encourage everyone to try and use those full barre chord shapes for that fuller richer sound which will help to further differentiate this part from the loud distorted parts.
Verse ending
The ending of the verses moves away slightly from what we saw previously. There is a slight change in the chords right at the end of the verse which looks like this.
Not much of a difference really. We just swap out the final part of the final bar that we saw previously for this. These power chords are also where the distortion can return to the song.
In Bloom TAB chorus part 1
Next, we need to learn the chorus section of In Bloom. I’ve split it into two sections just like I did with the intro but again I guess I didn’t really need to. It may help some to digest the parts quicker so here’s part one.
Just power chords again there and once more, you can follow the rhythm from the record easily enough.
Chorus part 2
Part two of the chorus section remains in power chord land but the two halves of the section are distinctive enough to separate. Here’s the TAB.
The chorus part of C and E flat flows nicely into the guitar riff that opened the song but there is a slight difference. We’ll look at that next.
In Bloom TAB main riff/intro riff alternate
So, the first intro guitar riff fills the gap after the chorus parts. It’s exactly the same as the intro but for one small difference. The rest that I mentioned earlier has gone. We fill that space with power chord as seen with the snippet below which shows the very end of this riff, not the riff in entirety. You have the TAB at the start of the lesson for that.
In Bloom Guitar Solo TAB
In Bloom as I’m sure you’re aware is a song with a guitar solo. It’s a short guitar solo that lasts just eight bars and it’s one that’s not technically crazy or confusing in terms of rhythm. Here’s the TAB.
So, like with many guitar solos, the best way to tackle this is one bar at a time. It’s kind of rough and almost dissonant sounding but it does fit nicely with the track so definitely worth learning. Lots of bending in there but nothing you can’t handle as long as you want to put in the practice. I don’t think there’s any parts that I need to highlight specifically so we can move onto the final thing that we need to learn which is the closing moments of the song. What I would say though is use your ears, and you may choose to experiment with harmonics at certain points.
In Bloom TAB final extended chorus and outro
The last thing that we need to talk about is the final chorus of the song and also the outro although, we don’t need any new TAB. This chorus is performed in exactly the same way as the others, only the second part is repeated for longer.
As for the outro, we just need one chord. After that final play through of the riff, you just need to jump to a B flat power chord one last time and hit it once. I like to play it at the sixth fret on the low E string this time though so I can slide out to end.
What next?
That wraps up the In Bloom TAB and guitar lesson. Hope you enjoyed learning this grunge classic. The only other Nirvana lesson that I’ve written for Eat Sleep Guitar Repeat so far is the Smells Like Teen Spirit TAB and guitar lesson. There are some other power chord based song tutorials which you could take a stab at such as the Greenday Basketcase guitar lesson or the Blink182 All The Small Things guitar lesson. Or, you could just explore the guitar lessons page and find something that interests you.
Hello. My name is Ryan J Mellor and I play the guitar. I’m also the creator of Eat Sleep Guitar Repeat. I’ve ben a guitarist for many years and my guitar playing has been described as “above average”. My guitar and music knowledge is somewhat impressive but most importantly, I have a passion for creating great guitar and music related content.