When working with my students on the subject of blues I am constantly stressing the importance of getting to grips with good blues riffs simply because of their importance in building the necessary technique needed to play classic rock riffs. We all know the influence that the blues has had on the music that followed it but for the guitar it has a very special degree of importance because of the guitar riffs that have made the songs what they are. Some songs that have had a clear blues influence when being written have become so familiar as rock songs that it may be easy to overlook their roots as blues guitar riffs.
The 1960s was an inspirational time was music and the blues played a significant part in shaping much of the music that was written at the time. The Rolling Stones were great advocates of the blues particularly in the sixties but what about the guitar riff in (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction? It's known more as a rock song but you can't help thinking Keith Richards was messing around with a blues riff when he came up with it. The infamous intro and verse riff from Hendrix's Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) is another great example of how some blues guitar playing produced a captivating and, arguably his best, rock guitar riff.
The music of Cream provides us with some real obvious blues riffs which are now safely tucked in the rock category. One of the most famous being Crossroads which was of course a blues cover but arranged and recorded in much more contemporary (for the time) rock rhythm than the Robert Johnson version - and with that unforgettable riff of course. Sunshine of Your Love is another classic with a very catchy riff that is based around the notes of the very telling blues scale.
During the more definitive classic rock period Led Zeppelin made no bones of their blues influence and used a similar idea of using the blues scale as a basis for a rock riff with Heartbreaker. Bring It On Home has a very strong blues intro before it launches into that huge rock riff based around the very bluesy open E minor pentatonic scale with an added major 3rd. Listen to Rock n Roll and you will again hear a familiar blues riff that has been rocked up.
In more recent times ZZ Top are well known as a rock trio but their blues influence is obvious. Take La Grange or Tush, for example, for some real blues rock guitar riffing. The idea of taking the blues to shape a guitar riff has carried way past the seventies and eighties, however. How about Lenny Kravitz's Are You Gonna Go My Way from 1993? The whole song centres around a blues guitar riff that almost sounds like it's a lead lick but instead helps to create a really classic rock song.
The list could go on of course as there is so much blues influenced music out there and as far as blues guitar riffs go there's no denying their contribution to some great classic rock despite their not necessarily sounding like a blues riff any more.
So if you are guitar student you'd do well to learn up your on your blues guitar riffs even if you have no intention of pursuing the blues as a player. When you are trying to figure out that classic rock riff, or even think of one of your own, you'll already have a good idea of where its coming from - or indeed where it's going to.
The 1960s was an inspirational time was music and the blues played a significant part in shaping much of the music that was written at the time. The Rolling Stones were great advocates of the blues particularly in the sixties but what about the guitar riff in (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction? It's known more as a rock song but you can't help thinking Keith Richards was messing around with a blues riff when he came up with it. The infamous intro and verse riff from Hendrix's Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) is another great example of how some blues guitar playing produced a captivating and, arguably his best, rock guitar riff.
The music of Cream provides us with some real obvious blues riffs which are now safely tucked in the rock category. One of the most famous being Crossroads which was of course a blues cover but arranged and recorded in much more contemporary (for the time) rock rhythm than the Robert Johnson version - and with that unforgettable riff of course. Sunshine of Your Love is another classic with a very catchy riff that is based around the notes of the very telling blues scale.
During the more definitive classic rock period Led Zeppelin made no bones of their blues influence and used a similar idea of using the blues scale as a basis for a rock riff with Heartbreaker. Bring It On Home has a very strong blues intro before it launches into that huge rock riff based around the very bluesy open E minor pentatonic scale with an added major 3rd. Listen to Rock n Roll and you will again hear a familiar blues riff that has been rocked up.
In more recent times ZZ Top are well known as a rock trio but their blues influence is obvious. Take La Grange or Tush, for example, for some real blues rock guitar riffing. The idea of taking the blues to shape a guitar riff has carried way past the seventies and eighties, however. How about Lenny Kravitz's Are You Gonna Go My Way from 1993? The whole song centres around a blues guitar riff that almost sounds like it's a lead lick but instead helps to create a really classic rock song.
The list could go on of course as there is so much blues influenced music out there and as far as blues guitar riffs go there's no denying their contribution to some great classic rock despite their not necessarily sounding like a blues riff any more.
So if you are guitar student you'd do well to learn up your on your blues guitar riffs even if you have no intention of pursuing the blues as a player. When you are trying to figure out that classic rock riff, or even think of one of your own, you'll already have a good idea of where its coming from - or indeed where it's going to.