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OPEN-MIC SONGBOOK

IMAGINE DRAGONS RADIOACTIVE

If you somehow managed to miss this massive track from 2012, we can tell you that it’s a great example of Imagine Dragons’ electro-pop guitar style. It’s all too easy to overlook some of the complex layering of guitar parts that form the harmonic backdrop to the huge drum and synth sounds. Radioactive is no mere synth-pop tune. There are no less than seven guitar parts on the intro, for example, and guitarist Wayne Sermon creates a harmonic soup that belies the simplicity of its chords.

The track features a Bm-D-A-E progression that’s repeated throughout - an easy acoustic strum-along. There are a few implied chords like the E/G#, but you could elect to repeat the main chords or play a few of the clean arpeggios, mixing up the parts as the band tend to do for unplugged sessions.

Guitars and backing: Stave Allsworth Photo: Getty Images
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Total Guitar
September 2020
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