This Smashing Pumpkins riff is quick, easy and beautiful. I also have spotted many errors in guitars I would have bought with this song. That’s always appreciated.
Throughout the 90s, Live has stayed fairly low and yet always has been a presence. With mild success in the album Mental Jewelry, they hit the mainstream with Throwing Copper and the hit song Lightning Crashes.
Lastly, the Chili Peppers. At the peak of their long (and at this moment, on going) career in the music industry, the Red Hot Chili Peppers brought us Under the Bridge. This song is right on the coattails of Stairway to Heaven to become the intro most often played by novices in music stores. And what a great intro it is!
Put a capo on the second fret to play it, and once you have enough practice you can try it without the capo. Enjoy!
Originally known for hard and fast metal with plenty of social outrage, Incubus started to, as David Hodge puts it, “genre dance” (Do You Genre Dance?) While the band switched from their metal style on S.C.I.E.N.C.E. to their much softer and slightly hip hop style on Make Yourself they threw in this little number. It’s chock full of fun bends. You’ll need to listen closely to the original to get it right.
What guitarist can get away without knowing a little bit of Dave Matthews? My roommate in college learned to play Crash flawlessly in about 2 hours… without ever picking up a guitar before in his life. It took me a little bit longer. (Another fun thing about this song: If you only play the bass notes it’s the same melody as a clock chimes before each hour.)
Punk rock’s own illegitimate children, Blink 182, have been shunned by their punk fathers, though their style obviously came from that genre. Blink 182 made punk popular (much to the dismay of punk) without ever playing all six strings at the same time. Their best album, in my opinion, is Dude Ranch. It is filled with quirky lines about girls, getting drunk, and masturbating. Dammit is from that album.
The rapper Everlast stopped jumping around and did some solo work. Formerly in the House of Pain, he picked up a guitar. He played rhythm under rock legend Santana for one excellent song, but not before releasing his own album.
Nirvana is the band for all beginning guitarists. Kurt Cobain put high doses of emotion into his playing, and kept everything simple and straightforward. The first riff I ever learned to play was the intro bass riff in Come As You Are. Only slightly more difficult is the band’s first smash hit.
Weezer found themselves the spotlight early in 90s with their first self-titled album, now known as the Blue Album. Their songs were sincere and humorous glimpses into their average lives. Their second album, Pinkerton, didn’t do as well on the charts, but gave Weezer an almost cult following. This is probably Weezer’s first hit.
It was 1987 when Guns n Roses came out with Appetite for Destruction, an album which popularized hard rock riffs again. The band was a musical sign of the times, symbolizing a lot of what was to follow. Sweet Child ‘O Mine is another rather simple riff. To play like the original you will need to tune all your strings down a half step.
I can not talk about 80s guitar without mentioning Van Halen. While any one of their David Lee Roth era songs could contain a memorable riff (DLR another 80s icon), let’s look at something from his last album with the band 1984. As one reviewer wrote, this is where the band really reached their highest potential. Though Van Halen riffs are usually more than a handful for the beginner, I thought I’d include at least one.
Any look at the music of the eighties is probably going to dwell on bands that didn’t survive. It was a decade where pop music and fashion thrived. Nowhere is the excess of this culture captured better than the album Kick by INXS. The catchy pop songs they produced included some simple riffs such as New Sensation and Devil Inside.
Also notable is the four note riff that follows the chorus in Never Tear Us Apart. It is so simple, yet anyone who has heard the album, or better yet, INXS’ live album from Wembley Stadium knows the power and resonance these simple notes hold.
The 80s could very well be the decade of the sell-out. Groups like Genesis and Yes, once known for writing long progressive rock epics, began turning out radio friendly 3 or 4 minute songs. In 1983 Yes released the album 90125 and earned a new fan base thanks to the riff driven hit Owner of A Lonely Heart.
Ever seen the Sean Penn movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High? It was before he married Madonna. If you don’t know what I’m talking about read on. In this movie they have a few jokes about Pat Benatar look alikes. If you don’t know what Pat Benatar looks like forget about it. But, she is famous for a song I can only describe as ultimate eighties. In 1980 she became an overnight star thanks to her album Crimes of Passion and the song Hit Me With Your Best Shot, a basic song with a riff comprised entirely of power chords.
While Sting was still a member of The Police he consistently turned out good hit songs. Perhaps his biggest hit of the 80s was Every Breath You Take. This song was given a new life a few years ago thanks to a cover by Puff Daddy. It is a rather difficult song to master for physical reasons alone. You are required to stretch your left hand across 5 frets. To sound like the recording you should also subtly apply some palm muting.
