Free Online Guitar Lessons
Best Guitar Riffs
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Always wanted to learn how to play parts of classic rock songs from Led Zeppelin, Guns and Roses, Metallica, Pearl Jam and many more? Well then you've come to the right place - This lesson focuses on a few classic guitar riffs aimed at new and intermediate players.
This free video based lesson will teach you how to play the best guitar riffs in rock and pop music. There are some riffs you simply can't do without, and here you'll learn how to play them...
| Song | Artist | Rating |
| Enter Sandman | Metallica | 3 |
| Day Tripper | The Beatles | 3 |
| Smoke on the Water | Deep Purple | 3 |
| Simple | Phish | 3 |
| Wild Thing | The Troggs | 4 |
| Pretty Woman Intro | Roy Orbison | 4 |
| Walk this way | Aerosmith | 5 |
| Alive | Pearl Jam | 6 |
| Nothing Else Matters | Metallica | 6 |
| Stairway to Heaven Intro | Led Zeppelin | 7 |
| Are you Gonna go my Way | Lenny Kravitz | 7 |
| Money for Nothing Intro | Dire Straits | 7 |
| Sweet Child 'O Mine | Guns 'n Roses | 8 |
| Under the Bridge | Red Hot Chilli Peppers | 8 |
What exactly is a Guitar Riff?
A Guitar riff is a short piece of melody usually played by the rhythm or solo guitarist that makes up a vital part of a song. Riffs can be complex or very simple, but they're usually very catchy.
Ricky Rooksby defines it like this: "A riff is a short, repeated, memorable musical phrase, often pitched low on the guitar, which focuses much of the energy and excitement of a rock song."
Many times the 'hook' of the song - that most memorable piece of melody that people immediately link to a specific song or band - is a guitar riffs.
Learning the Riffs
As usual on this site, the free lessons include videos that I've recorded of the riffs, so you'll know exactly what it's supposed to look and sound like. With most of the Riffs, I'm using an electric guitar with some amplified effects like distortion and overdrive - If you have the gear, try and do the same...
A Guitar riff is a short piece of melody usually played by the rhythm or solo guitarist that makes up a vital part of a song. Riffs can be complex or very simple, but they're usually very catchy.
Ricky Rooksby defines it like this: "A riff is a short, repeated, memorable musical phrase, often pitched low on the guitar, which focuses much of the energy and excitement of a rock song."
Many times the 'hook' of the song - that most memorable piece of melody that people immediately link to a specific song or band - is a guitar riffs.
Learning the Riffs
As usual on this site, the free lessons include videos that I've recorded of the riffs, so you'll know exactly what it's supposed to look and sound like. With most of the Riffs, I'm using an electric guitar with some amplified effects like distortion and overdrive - If you have the gear, try and do the same...
How these Riffs are Rated
I've used a simple rating system to classify the best guitar riffs in this section according to difficulty. The 1 - 10 system means the easiest riffs will be rated lower and the hardcore stuff higher.
If you're fairly new at the guitar, avoid the temptation to start with the more difficult ones and try a riff with a lower rating first, then work your way up from there.
I've used a simple rating system to classify the best guitar riffs in this section according to difficulty. The 1 - 10 system means the easiest riffs will be rated lower and the hardcore stuff higher.
If you're fairly new at the guitar, avoid the temptation to start with the more difficult ones and try a riff with a lower rating first, then work your way up from there.
Click on the Song Name for step-by-step video lessons
In order to play any of these songs, you need to know how to read guitar tabs and how to use basic guitar techniques.
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