Beginner Guitar - Metal Guitar Riffs
Heavy metal is a chugging, throbbing, intense guitar based style of music.
While all instruments, and all parts of a metal song are, of course, important, it's the metal guitar riff which drives the crowd wild and gives each song its unique identity.
Think of Deep Purple's Smoke on the Water, or Metallica's Enter Sandman and you almost can't help but hum the main riff.
So what exactly is a guitar riff? Well, like any musical hook, it's a short phrase of a few notes which is designed to be distinctive and designed to draw the listener in and give them something to remember the song by.
It's a melody (although melodious is probably not the first word you think of when it comes to metal).
If you hear a new song and find yourself humming the main guitar part then the riff has done its job.
Why learn metal guitar riffs? Simple - because you can instantly impress girls with them.
Well, ok, maybe not the best reason but there is an element of truth there.
Some riffs are easy to pick up in a short time and are, as we learnt above, unique and instantly recognisable.
So, if you are new to guitar, learning a few cool riffs is a great way to be able to show off your new found skills to your friends and, perhaps more importantly, give you the incentive and motivation to carry on learning.
Once you get a nice riff under your fingers you feel like you are progressing further on the road to rock-god.
OK, I'm sold! Which ones should I learn? The answer to that is to learn riff from songs that you like.
I've never been a fan of learning things you are not in to.
Having said that, try to pick an easy one if you are a beginner - if you pick something stupidly difficult then you will just not get there and the early stages of learning guitar are when you are most likely to put your guitar down, decide that you are not musical and give up.
If you want a couple of specific riffs to learn, then I have already mentioned a couple in this article.
Smoke on the water is super easy (try learning it on just one string if you are very new to guitar) and I've often used it as the very first thing to teach any new students.
Enter Sandman is a little more tricky (although still simple in the grand scheme of things) so tackle this one when your fingers are starting to obey you! Where from here? Riffs are the central part of many metal songs, but don't forget that a thumping rhythm is also important and when you have a little more skill, there is nothing like mastering a screaming guitar solo!
While all instruments, and all parts of a metal song are, of course, important, it's the metal guitar riff which drives the crowd wild and gives each song its unique identity.
Think of Deep Purple's Smoke on the Water, or Metallica's Enter Sandman and you almost can't help but hum the main riff.
So what exactly is a guitar riff? Well, like any musical hook, it's a short phrase of a few notes which is designed to be distinctive and designed to draw the listener in and give them something to remember the song by.
It's a melody (although melodious is probably not the first word you think of when it comes to metal).
If you hear a new song and find yourself humming the main guitar part then the riff has done its job.
Why learn metal guitar riffs? Simple - because you can instantly impress girls with them.
Well, ok, maybe not the best reason but there is an element of truth there.
Some riffs are easy to pick up in a short time and are, as we learnt above, unique and instantly recognisable.
So, if you are new to guitar, learning a few cool riffs is a great way to be able to show off your new found skills to your friends and, perhaps more importantly, give you the incentive and motivation to carry on learning.
Once you get a nice riff under your fingers you feel like you are progressing further on the road to rock-god.
OK, I'm sold! Which ones should I learn? The answer to that is to learn riff from songs that you like.
I've never been a fan of learning things you are not in to.
Having said that, try to pick an easy one if you are a beginner - if you pick something stupidly difficult then you will just not get there and the early stages of learning guitar are when you are most likely to put your guitar down, decide that you are not musical and give up.
If you want a couple of specific riffs to learn, then I have already mentioned a couple in this article.
Smoke on the water is super easy (try learning it on just one string if you are very new to guitar) and I've often used it as the very first thing to teach any new students.
Enter Sandman is a little more tricky (although still simple in the grand scheme of things) so tackle this one when your fingers are starting to obey you! Where from here? Riffs are the central part of many metal songs, but don't forget that a thumping rhythm is also important and when you have a little more skill, there is nothing like mastering a screaming guitar solo!
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