How to play Big Dreams by Amyl & The Sniffers

Song Guides
Written By Michelle Nelson
 
Download the chart here
 

Big Dreams by Amyl & The Sniffers is a classic Rock ballad. From their award-winning third album Cartoon Darkness, it’s one of the hit songs that has propelled the band to global success in 2025. An old-school arpeggio melody, strong rhythms and a neat, classic lead solo make Big Dreams a great chart for electric players.

Chords: Em A A4 A5 A2 G D G5 D5 E5

Why don’t these chords fit with the recording? The song is played with the chords shown in this chart but was recorded with the guitars tuned to a semitone below concert pitch ; E♭ A♭ D♭ G♭ B♭ E♭

Do I have to use the power-chords? If you want to sound like the original, yes. If you are playing an acoustic you can stick with standard chords but accent the lower notes in the heavy chords. You can play G for G5, D for D5 and Em for the E5.

Pick or Fingers? What you hear, clearly in the intro is the sound of a plectrum picking arpeggio style on Em and A - A4. On electric this is best played by pick but on an acoustic you could hybrid-pick (pick + middle and ring fingers). The strong rhythm work in the bridge sections are all produced by pick strumming.

Acoustic or Electric? Electric is best but the Rock ballad style of Big Dreams will also work on steel-string acoustic. Nylon strings don’t have the tone to project the style of the original but could be effective for a more laid-back ballad style.

Lead guitar : the solo, following the second chorus uses the E minor pentatonic mode and features second position slide and pull-off notes. ‘Pull-off’ notes are played by flicking a finger downwards from the string to create the next note; the finger action picks the string on the way off the string. For more insight about how to control pull-off notes, slides and bend notes, download a copy of Electric Guitar Solo Style 1

Relevant pages in Modern Guitar Chord Styles 1 : to learn more about the chords and suggested rhythms in Big Dreams see pages 5, 8, 10, 14, 20 - 21, 24 and 34. For an excellent introduction to Electric guitar soloing, and to learn more about the TAB presentation used in our charts, check out the very helpful Electric Guitar Solo Style 1

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Michelle Nelson

Michelle Nelson is a professional guitarist, composer, and educator with decades of experience across classical and electric styles. A fully accredited VMTA teacher, she has performed in rock bands, classical ensembles, and plucked string orchestras, and currently composes for the Birrarung Trio and Concordia ensemble. Michelle specialises in Classical (Classical era to Modern), Rock, and Blues guitar, and draws inspiration from artists like Ritchie Blackmore, Jeff Beck, Wes Montgomery, and Mauro Giuliani.

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