Top Ten Guitar Riffs You Should Know
Throughout rock history, great guitar riffs
were created and have since been used in some way by thousands of other
rock guitar players. These riffs possessed certain elements which made
them timeless and an undeniable force in rock music!
Choose a riff and check it out :
1. The Bo Diddley Guitar Riff
His unique, chugging riffs influenced bands from
The Rolling Stones to Blind Melon! The riff below uses syncopation (
accenting up beats as well as downbeats) and strum mutes to achieve
it's hypnotic effect. Try it using any guitar chord!
(HEAR IT!)
2. The Who Riff
You have to add this to your bag of tricks!! Every
rock guitar player who is worth anything has played this rhythm a hundred
or so times!!
(HEAR IT!)
3. Muddy Waters - Mannish
Boy Riff
This classic Blues Riff has been nipped, tucked, and reworked by The
Stones, Zeppelin, and many more! To learn more about triplet rhythms
click here.
Perform the grace note hammer-on very quickly.
(HEAR IT!)
4. Credence Clearwater - "Have
You Ever Seen The Rain" Riff
Ahhh, the '70's!! John Fogerty is a master of rhythm
guitar and the guitar riff! When you listen to CCR, you can just lay
back into the grooves of Fogerty's rhythm playing!
(HEAR IT!)
5. Led Zeppelin "Bring
it on home" riff
This was early Zeppelin at it's bluesy best! Yes, stole this riff directly
from the blues, but so did the Stones, The Beatles, and everyone other
band!! If you don't know what swing eighths are, check out the
E Blues Shuffle Rhythm to learn about them.
(HEAR IT!)
6. The Rolling Stones - "Brown
Sugar", "Start Me Up"
This was Keith Richard's pride and joy and the epitome
of '60's Rock and Roll swagger and style! Tune your guitar to open
g tuning and give it a go!
(HEAR IT!)
5. Jimmy Hendrix Riff
Jimi raised the bar on how rock music should sound
after tossing off one of his firey, other worldly riffs like this one!
(HEAR IT!)
8. Chuck Berry "Johnny B
Goode" Riff
This is quintessential classic rock and roll! Neon
can play an intro riff like Chuck can! The key is to use hard down strums
and lock in with those accents.
(HEAR IT!)
9. Nirvana's Teen Spirit Riff
This riff brought the rock world a sound so powerful and unrestrained
that rock would never ever be the same again! When performing the
strum mutes, keep your fingers on the Bb5 chord, but don't press down.
More on
strum muting...
(HEAR IT!)
10. Eric Clapton
and Cream - "Sunshine of Your Love"
This was THE guitar rock of the 1960's! His Gibson
SG through a Marshall combo was a match made in heaven. This riff
was made possible with power
chords!
(HEAR IT!)
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