For this article a guide on how to play “Brown Sugar” by the Rolling Stones. Like many other Rolling Stones songs, this one uses chordshapes which are typical for the Stones and Keith Richards: It is the well-known sus4 chord resolving to a standard triad  A-Shape chord. It is the particular fingering (voicing) of the chords which creates that well-known sound. A similar sound can be found in “Start Me Up”. There are a host of other bands which use this particular sound.
The video explains very well how to play the intro. Check out the tab for the fingering for each chord underneath the video.
No need to alter the tuning of your guitar into Open G, or take any of the strings of the guitar for that matter. You can play the song in standard tuning and still get similar results.

Watch the video at the bottom of this article to get an idea of how to get that sound:

Here are the fingerings for each chord:

            Gsus4       G            C       Csus4      Eb     Ebsus4   Ab          Bb

   E   —————————————————————————————————–

   B  —–13——–12———5——–6———8——9——–1———3————————–

   G  —–12——–12———5——–5———8——8——–1———3————————–

   D  —–14——–12———5——–7———8—–10——–1———3————————–

   A  ——————————————————————————————————-

   E  ——————————————————————————————————–

N.B : Observe High E and Low E and A are not being used.

Very beginning intro uses: Gsus4 and G then moves to C and Csus4

For second part and end intro chords move into: Eb Ebsus4 Eb and C Csus4 C

For very end intro goes into Ab Bb C Csus4 and intro ends on C (A-shape type of chord)

Watch the video to get an idea of how the chords move, don’t worry about the chordnames if you are still fresh to the guitar. I only put those chordnames there for those of you who would like to know what is going on harmonywise, as it will help you to understand this particular sound better.

For fun: I actually create medlies out of various intros of different songs, play them in the same key and move them around from one into to the next one, in this way you get more out of the intro and it becomes real playing instead of just playing a intro from another song. You can even alter the feel of the intro and add other parts to it, in this way you turn it into an intro of your own. Experiment with your own style to see what you can come up with!

Hope to see you soon with more ideas to inspire you own guitarplaying.
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Eddie