Every December, "Last Christmas" crawls out of the mall speakers, gives its heart away, and gets it returned unopened by lunchtime. Then Panzerballett heard that gentle George Michael earworm and decided the real tragedy was never the breakup — it was that the beat was far too easy to find.
This 28-second clip is Riff #50: the intro to Panzerballett's gloriously proggy, odd-meter reimagining of "Last Christmas" on guitar. It's the exact melody you've been humming since 1984, except the barlines have been rearranged by someone who clearly holds a grudge against your tapping foot.
How this odd-meter Last Christmas riff works
The original is stubbornly in 4/4, sitting on that cozy I–vi–ii–V loop in D major (D–Bm–Em–A) that basically prints money once a year. Panzerballett keeps the tune completely recognisable but regroups the eighth notes into asymmetric bars — think chunks like 3+3+2 instead of a polite 4+4 — so the same phrase keeps landing on beats you never agreed to. Nothing is faster; it's just relabeled, and that relabeling is the whole joke.
The practical takeaway: don't try to count the entire bar. Learn the melody first at a comfortable tempo until your hands own it, then only shift the barlines and count the small groupings out loud (1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2). Once the notes are automatic, an odd meter is just arithmetic wearing a scary mask — and it's the same skill behind the time signatures that trip everyone up. If you want the tune with its heart intact, the straight Wham fingerstyle version is right over there.
Give it a few reps and you'll finally understand your foot's silent resentment. The PDF and Guitar Pro file are waiting for you on Patreon, no re-gifting required.