LEARN THE SECRET TO THE WORLD’S GREATEST RIFFS! Unless you’ve been living in a cave somewhere in the Outer Hebrides for the last 60 years you will be well aware of the power of the Rock Guitar riff. With just a handful of the right notes and the right measure of attitude an otherwise forgettable song can be transformed into a life-changing experience, an anthem for a generation. A solid riff can make a song, break a record internationally, launch a career (just ask The White Stripes with ‘Seven Nation Army’) and live on well after the composers themselves have bitten the dust (another great riff BTW). We can all sing dozens of great riffs from across six decades of popular music but what if I told you that around 75% of all those fantastic hooks were all essentially the same idea? That nearly all those chart-busting hits were based on a concept so simple so accessible that the casual observer could easily miss it. That mastering this approach would not only make learning classic riffs easier but could inspire you to compose the hits of tomorrow. Not convinced? Well allow me to present my case. I’m going to walk you through three classic riffs from three separate musical eras, firstly so that you can expand your own repertoire and secondly and most importantly, so that you can discover for yourself that they are all pretty much THE SAME IDEA. So stick with me as we learn all three riffs first and then analyze them.
1. Let’s start with those quintessential Rock Gods Led Zeppelin. Now whether you have a penchant for top hats and casual Satanism or not, there’s no denying that those boys knew how to write a cranking riff. Although we’re spoilt for choice I’ve chosen ‘Heartbreaker’ as my first example.
If you’re not 100% familiar with this riff it might be an idea to listen to it first on Youtube before attempting to read through it. For those of you who can read standard notation I’ve included this also. OK? It’s pretty straightforward – nothing much to add really except make sure you are using the correct fingers, none of this one finger nonsense. You’ll notice too that this riff repeats itself in a different position in bars 78, this is important to remember later on.
2. Moving on we arrive in the 1980’s with a great band from the USA -
Aerosmith. Long before releasing that awful song for the movie Armageddon, giving us an unwelcome insight into what would happen if Meatloaf and Michael Bolton decided to get drunk and write a song together, Aerosmith released some top top tracks. None better than the classic ‘Walk This Way.’
Again pretty straightforward to figure out if you know the tune, otherwise back to Youtube you go! I stress once again to be aware of your fingers.
3. Finally we fly on to the 1990’s. Guns n’ Roses who promised so much, disappeared up their own backsides in a heroin induced creative coma and left an era not best known for it’s riffs, although there were a few gems in ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ (Nirvana) and ‘Killing In The Name Of’ (Rage Against the Machine). I’ve taken a slightly different angle and gone with the Lenny Kravitz hit ‘Are You Gonna Go My Way.’
OK do you think you’ve got these riffs under your fingers now? Great, lets get to the meat of the matter now.
4. Now I want to introduce you to the Rock musician’s best friend. No it
doesn’t need to be plugged in and it isn’t weighed in grams. It’s the Blues Scale! Now before you start moaning about scales just understand that any scale is no harder to learn than the alphabet. They are just a series of specific notes in a specific order. You can memorise them just the same as you would memorise any riff.
The Blues Scale
Play through the diagram starting with the bottom circled note on the fat E string and playing from left to right. We’re going to play the ‘A’ Blues Scale so you need to start with your first finger on the 5th fret and your second note should be your 4th finger also on the ‘E’ string. Once you get to the top E, play the scale backwards all the way back to the note you started on. It doesn’t sound like much does it? Well let me play around with it a little.
5. We’re now going to go back to our first riff “Heartbreaker’ which also
happens to be in the key of ‘A’. This time however we are going to change the position of the riff. Just like in bars 7-8 where the band changes the position of the riff, we’re going to do the same. Take a look at this new version.
Exactly the same riff but played in a new position. Have you got the hang of this new version yet? Lets dig a little deeper then. Try to forget that you’re playing a riff and take a look at the actual notes you are playing. Remind you of anything? It’s the blues scale!
In fact every note except the last one is simply the blues scale notes played in order! Can you see that? Now I know that again in bars 7-8 the riff moves up two frets but this is still the blues scale in a new ‘key’. Don’t worry if you don’t know exactly what ‘key’ means, we can cover this at a later point. The last note of the repeated riff is still a note from the blues scale it’s just played down an octave – you can hear it in the position you’ve learnt if you play the 5th fret on the ‘D’ string.
6. Let’s revisit ‘Walk This Way.’ Again we’re going to change the position of the original riff and play as shown.
Now this time you’re going to see it as you should - just notes from the ‘A’ Blues scale jumbled up! It’s that simple.
7. Finally we’re back at ‘Are You Gonna Go My Way.’ This time we’re
going to ‘transpose’ the riff from ‘E’ to ‘A’. This just means it will sound exactly the same but slightly lower or in this case higher. Take a look.
Now it’s clearer still – the good old ‘A’ Blues scale simply jumbled up with a bend here and a double-stop (two notes at once) there. Can you see now that all three world famous riffs come from the same handful of notes? There are some subtle differences, ‘Heartbreaker’ moves up two frets for two bars but this just means that for a couple of seconds Jimmy Page is playing notes from the ‘B’ Blues Scale before returning to ‘A’. Lenny Kravitz plays across the whole two octaves of the position whereas the other two riffs stick in one. The point is clear however, THEY ARE ALL JUST THE BLUES SCALE WITH NOTES PICKED IN DIFFERENT ORDERS!
8. Now you may be thinking that I’ve just picked the three riffs that use
this same scale but there are literally dozens of riffs and hundreds of licks that are based on this principle. Here are a few examples:
Sunshine of Your Love – Cream Back In Black –AC/DC (with chords) Black Dog – Led Zeppelin Cocaine – Eric Clapton Purple Haze – Jimi Hendrix Come Together – Beatles Bad To The Bone – George Thorogood Jumpin’ Jack Flash – The Rolling Stones (with chords) Another One Bites The Dust – Queen Seven Nation Army – The White Stripes Roadhouse Blues – The Doors Money For Nothing – Dire Straits (with chords) Give It Away – Red Hot Chilli Peppers Money – Pink Floyd Even Flow – Pearl Jam My Michelle – Guns n’ Roses (with chords) Foxy Lady – Jimi Hendrix Layla – Eric Clapton Etc…. There are some riffs that don’t follow this rule, but many add one or two extra notes to that this principle. ‘Paranoid’ – Black Sabbath, ‘Jonny B. Goode’ – Chuck Berry, ‘Beat It’ – Michael Jackson are examples of this.
In Conclusion Learn the Blues scale! Learn it in all keys. Learn it in more than one position. Memorise it until you’re singing it in your sleep. I guarantee you’ll hear it hidden in many of your favourite songs, your playing will hit new heights and your ideas for riffs will reach a totally new level.
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