Guitar riffs have a distinctive sound that has been the signature of
thousands of rock, pop, soul and funk songs since the 1950s. Learn how to
play some cool guitar riffs in this easy guitar lesson.
We're going to
take a look at three classic riffs used by artists such as Chuck Berry, The
Beatles and countless others. You'll need to know how to read a little tab
to follow and learn the examples.
1. Chuck Berry Style Guitar Riffs
Back in the 1950s Chuck Berry became one of the creators of rock 'n' roll
when he coupled the classic blues guitar style with binary four beat rhythms
and gave birth to rock and roll.
Berry's signature guitar sound is based upon a riff widely used in the
blues. This blues riff is played on only two strings and uses a moving line
on the top string to create its familiar sound. Here is an easy to play two
bar example based on open chord positions.
e -----------------|-----------------
B -----------------|-----------------
G -----------------|-----------------
D -----------------|-2-2-4-4-2-2-4-4-
A -2-2-4-4-2-2-4-4-|-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
E -0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-|-----------------
2. Sus Chord Riffs
Here's an effect based on sus chords that sounds great in rock and pop
songs. This kind of sound is used by The Beatles and many other classic rock
artists.
Sus is short for suspended, the 3rd of the chord has been replaced by the
second or fourth degree causing it to lose its major or minor quality. The
resulting chord seems to float undecided, suspended somewhere between major
and minor.
Here's a short example using open D and A chord positions.
e -2--3-3--2-0--2--|-0--0-0--0-0--0-
B -3--3-3--3-3--3--|-2--3-0--2-3--2-
G -2--2-2--2-2--2--|-2--2-2--2-2--2-
D -0--0-0--0-0--0--|-2--2-2--2-2--2-
A -----------------|-0--0-0--0-0--0-
E -----------------|----------------
3. G major pentatonic riffs
Get a neat country or country rock influenced sound with these easy to
play riffs from the G major pentatonic scale. You can use these riffs over a
progression with G, C and D major chords.
First, let's take a look at the G major pentatonic scale position used to
create the riffs. If you're not familiar with this scale practice playing it
up and down to get the hang of it.
e --------------------------0--3-----
B ---------------------0--3----------
G ----------------0--2---------------
D -----------0--2--------------------
A ------0--2-------------------------
E -0--3------------------------------
Now you can combine this scale with some easy open G and C chords like in
this example.
e -3---------------|-0---------------
B -0---------------|-1----------0-3--
G -0---------------|-0--0-2-0-2------
D -0------2-0------|-2---------------
A -2--0-2-----0-2--|-3---------------
E -3---------------|-----------------
This kind of riff sounds great with some hammer-ons and pull-offs. Once
you're comfortable with the chords and scale work some hammer-ons and
pull-offs to and from the notes on the second and third frets into your
riffs.
Conclusion
These 3 easy guitar riffs create the distinctive sound of numerous rock
and pop hits. Learn to play them and you are well on your way to becoming a
great rhythm guitar player.
