Learn to play 3 killer riffs from Queensryche from Guitar Control instructor Darrin Goodman. Be sure to get the free tabs to go along with this killer lesson and you will be rockin’ these classic riffs tonight!
Introduction
Hey everybody how’s it going? This is Darrin with GuitarControl.com bringing you this video lesson and today I want to show you how to play three cool riffs from Queensryche. So the first few albums from Queensryche with the classic lineup are some of the best albums that have come out in my opinion. I really like everything up through, well even Empire had a lot of stuff I like, but kind after that I kind of lost my interest.
Also right now you can get this cool free chord chart uh you can download from GuitarControl.com and there’s a link down in the description so click on that to download the chart; it’s in PDF format and you can print it out and have it just wherever you’re practicing and stuff so at a glance you can get any chord that you might ever need.
So be sure to click on the link in the description for the tabs and let’s get close up and take a look at these.
Queensryche Riff-1 – Operation Mindcrime
All right so the first one we have is Operation Mindcrime. So this one we’re going to start off we’re on the second fret of the low E string with your first finger and then we’re gonna go to the fourth fret of the A string with your third finger and then back to the second fret of the low E. So these are eighth notes so it’s like one and two, and then on the and of two we’re going to do almost kind of like a slide from nowhere to the fifth fret of the A string and then that’s tied to a half note; so it rings out for the rest of the measure… So that’s also tied to the downbeat of the second measure is a dotted half note so it rings out for a total of five beats; so beats three and four and then beats 1, 2 and 3 of the second measure. And then we’re going to come up to the seventh fret of the A string and we’re going to pick that and slide out of it and then it just repeats and it plays that sequence three times before it goes to the next part… So here on the fourth ending we come down and do a B5 power chord; so first finger on the second fret of the A string and then the fourth fret of the D and G string and then to an A5… and then to the open low E string again… All right and then so for this next little part we start again here on the second fret of the low E string and this time when we go to the A string instead of just being the fourth fret of the a we’re going to get the fourth fret of the A and the D string and then the low E string open and then a D5. So for this D5 here it’s just like a regular D chord, but we just don’t play the high E string and when I make the transition I just drop down my first finger on the second fret of the G string and my second finger on the third fret of the B string and that’s the first two measures… And then on this on the and of four of that second measure we hit the open low E string again, back to the second fret, the fourth fret on the A and D, the open low E string, the D5 again; so it’s more or less kind of the same thing… and then to an E5. So I’m just going to move my first finger straight down so now I’m just going to bar the second fret of the A and the D string and the low E string is open. And then we’ve got this A5 over E (A5/E); so if you just bring your finger up like you’re going to do an A major chord, so I’m just barring the second fret of the D and G string and then the note on the G string moves down to the first fret, but the note on the D string stays on the second fret and then it just repeats…
Queensryche Riff-2 – Queen Of The Reich
All right so the next we’re going to look at is Queen Of The Reich. So this is a fairly easy riff and this is the very first Queensryche riff I ever learned. I was in a couple different bands that covered this song. So we start off so we’ve got the low E string played four times, open pedal, as 16th notes. Then we have this B5 so we’re going to take our first finger we’re just going to bar the second fret of the A and the D string like we’re playing E5, but then we’re also picking up the fourth fret of the G string. Now if you don’t get that, if that’s uncomfortable and you’re having trouble getting the note on the G string, you can omit it and its okay. So we have… and then four more pedals and then we’re gonna add our third finger here on to the fourth fret of the D string to make this B5 and then the pedal again and that’s the first measure… And then on the second measure we just move up a half step to C5 and then the open A string, back to the C5 and slide to D5; so we just slide up a whole step… So pretty cool riff, not too hard to play, but it is a pretty cool riff I think.
Queensryche Riff-3 – I Don’t Believe In Love
All right then the last one I’m going to look at is I Don’t Believe In Love. So this one’s a little bit more challenging than the previous ones have been. So we start off by resting on this first measure for the first three beats and then we come in on the and of four with this C5; so third fret of the a string with my first finger and the fifth fret of the D and G string with my third finger, so it’s like one, two, three, four, and we hit that… And then immediately follow that with the open D string on the downbeat of one on the second measure. Mow this is where it gets challenging because we also have to move up here to be ready on the and of two with this D5 power chord; so my first finger is on the seventh fret of the G string and my fourth finger is on the tenth fret of the B string. So getting that transition in time can be challenging, so just play it really slow until you can make that change. So we hit that D5 and then we hit the open D string again and then what we’re going to do is we’re going to change this to a G5 over D (G5/D); so our first finger just stays where it is on the G string and the note on the B string goes from the tenth fret to the eighth fret with your second finger and then the open low D string again and now this note on the B string goes from the seventh fret to the sixth fret. So in this case you’re going to have to switch your finger… so how I do it is I just put my second finger where my first finger is on the seventh fret of the G stringand then move my first finger to the sixth fret of the B string, open D string again and now we’re going to put our first finger back onto the seventh fret of the G string and we’re going to take our pinky and go all the way to the 11th fret of the B string and that’s B flat over D (Bb/D) and that’s we strum that on the and of four and then it’s tied to the next measure for the first three and a half beats and then on the and of four we hit the C5 again and that’s half of the riff… Alright so the second half it starts off the same way… then we’re going to come down to that C5 again and then we’re going to just move that chord shape straight up so now we’re on the first fingers on the third fret of the D string and the third finger is on the fifth fret of the G string, fourth finger is on the fifth fret of the B string and we’re going to hit that and then move your pinky up to the sixth fret and this is on the downbeat of one and then we’re going to come down and do Bb5; so it’s just like the C5, but we move it down to the first fret… This is really awkward because he reaches up with his pinky and grabs the fifth fret here and I have a really tough time doing that 90% of the time. So an alternative way you can do it is you could hit the high E string open, but just try not to get the open B string in there, that’s not that’s no good… and then the whole thing would just repeat… See like right there, I hit that that B string, that’s really tough, it’s the hardest part in that for me to be able to get that that high E note in there.
Conclusion
All right so there you have it… three cool riffs from Queensryche. Not too terribly tough to play except for that last one we just talked about the end of it there. So if you like this lesson be sure to give me a thumbs up and leave a comment down below if you have any questions about this or other guitar related topics. If you’ve not already done so please subscribe to the channel and hit that notification bell so you don’t miss any of the content that we upload throughout the week. Well that is all I have for you today. Thanks for watching and have a great day.
