Welcome back! In this article I wanna share with you two great free guitar riffs that I have
composed. Feel free to use them in whatever ways you want.
The first one I will show you is an 80’s inspired riff with some AC/DC influence as well. It seems
like most of the cool riffs guitar player enjoy performing are actually from the 70s or 80s; there is
just something special about those times. I mean, it was the boom of instrumental rock music;
Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Yngwie Malmsteen, Jason Becker, John Petrucci, they all started out
either in the 70s or 80s. We can’t deny how much we are influenced by their playing. Most
guitarist are simply awed whenever they listen to this master perform with their instrument. I’m
so inspired by them, that I decided to do this next riff I’m about to show you. Let’s take a look at
it:
To me, pedal tones just scream 80s; turn up the distortion knob in your amp, grab a whammy
bar and there you go. The last 2 measures of this riff actually sound more like AC/DC to me, but
without a doubt your tone will be making the difference and also the speed. If you play this riff at
a faster speed, it will definitely sound more of an 80s riffs. But if you play it slower, at around
90bpm, and lower the distortion a bit then it will sound like an AC/DC riff. One thing that could
make this riff sound awesome is if you Palm Mute all the single notes; this is gonna create a
great contrast between the single notes and the chords
The next riff I wanna show you is a Glam Rock-inspired riff. For this one, I would suggest you to
swing it. Let’s take a look at it:
Pretty cool huh? I would also tell you to palm mute all the single notes on the 6th string only.
You could also limit your pick motion to downward strokes only, which will make the riff sound
way more aggressive. And you know, in rock music the more aggressive your playing is the
better it is.
That’s all for this lesson. I hope you enjoyed it and please remember to check out our entire
database of videos at: