Learn to play 3 fun and easy Joe Walsh Guitar Riffs with Guitar Control instructor Darrin Goodman, aka Uncle D. Be sure to get the free tabs to go along with the step by step video instruction and you’ll be rockin’ these classic Joe Walsh riffs tonight!
Introduction
How’s it going everybody this is Darrin with GuitarControl.com bringing you this video lesson and today I’ve got three fun riffs for you from Joe Walsh.
Right now GuitarControl.com is giving away this free chord chart, it’s a free download, there’s a link down in the description. It’s in PDF format, has every chord that you could ever need all neatly compiled into one place and it’s a free download. So download it, print it off, throw it in your gig bag, put it where you practice; any chord you could ever need at a glance and it’s a free download.
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.
Joe Walsh Riff-1 – Life’s Been Good
Alright so the first one we’re going to look at is the riff from Life’s Been Good. So for this one here we start off with this bend here on the second fret of the A string; so I use my second finger and then I put my first finger also on the second fret just to have a little extra leverage. So this is just a half step bend, so we bend and release and then bend and release… so that’s like the first like half of the first measure. Then we hit the open A string and a slide from nowhere to the fourth fret… and then we follow that with the second fret of the G string with your second finger, excuse with your first finger, and that is happening on the and of three and then on the downbeat of four we rest… Then starting on the and of four it’s that same open slide to nowhere riff again… this time we’re gonna go to the third fret of the A string and we’re gonna do a bend, just a half step bend back to the second fret of the G string and then this A over E (A/E); so it’s just like regular A, we’re just not playing the fifth string, we’re just playing the two middle strings, but if you do end up hitting your A string it’s not a big deal, it’s part of the chord… so that’s basically the riff… So when you go through it a second time you can instead of having it be the A you could have it be a D and then that kind of resolves the whole thing that would start over again…
Joe Walsh Riff-2 – Rocky Mountain Way
All right so next we’re going to look at is a riff from Rocky Mountain Way and this one’s really easy, but it’s just it’s a really nice sounding riff. So we’ve got this big full E chord here; so I’ve got my first finger on the fifth fret, excuse me the seventh fret of the A string and then I’m picking up the ninth fret of the D and the G string and you can pick up the ninth fret of the B string as well… or you can play the B and the E string open, that’s kind of how I favor it, it’s got that big full sound. So for this riff we start off we’ve got our fingers in this location and we’re gonna hit just the open low E string and the A string and this is weird because it’s in 12/8, so it’s kind of a weird timing. So we’ve got and then we hit that chord twice; now this is where we get into this almost kind of like a shuffle kind of a thing. We hit the open low E string, one, and then on the and of one we would rest and on the downbeat of two we would rest and then on the and of two we’re going to keep our first finger here where it is on the seventh fret of the A string and we’re going to reach up with our pinky and we’re going to grab the 11th fret of the B string then a rest the open low E string again and then back to the chord, so that’s basically the riff… So that one’s pretty simple, it’s the easiest one in this whole thing by far, but it’s still a classic riff and fun to play and if you’re a beginner, I mean it might be really difficult for you still, but it’s a still pretty fun and easy riff.
Joe Walsh Riff-3 – Life In The Fast Lane
All right and then the last one to look at is the riff from Life In The Fast Lane. Now I realize this is not a Joe Walsh solo song, that this was actually from his previous band the turkeys, but he wrote this riff and it’s just a really cool riff; so I wanted to include it.
All right so we start off we’re going to be on we’re going to go to the fifth fret of the A string with your first finger and this is all kind of all in this area right here. So we’re going to start off by picking that and then doing a hammer-on to the seventh fret and then we’re going to follow that with the seventh fret of the D string; so how I do that I just roll my third finger up so I can pick that note up because then the next note is the seventh fret of the A string… Then we go to the fifth fret of the D string with your first finger… and then back to the seventh fret of the A string with your third finger to the fifth fret… Okay then we’re going to come as soon as we get seven five on the A string then we’re going to come to the seventh fret on the low E string and we’re going to pick that and slide simultaneously to the fifth fret… and then third fret and then the open low E string… All right, so that’s the first measure. Then the second measure starts off, basically it’s the same thing, it’s just got this one change. So now we start again on the fifth fret of the A string, hammer to the seventh fret of the D string, back to the seventh fret of the A string, to the fifth fret of the D string, seventh fret of the A string to the fifth fret of the A to the seventh fret; and now we slide from this pick seven and slide to five, then to the third fret and we do a little bend and then there’s a rest. So then when we play the third measure, it’s the same as the first measure, the same sequence of notes, but the timing changes a little bit; so once you start playing you kind of get the feel for it…
Conclusion
All right so there you have it, three fun, not too terribly difficult; I mean I guess if you’re a total beginner some of these might be a little bit more difficult, but you know still fun cool riffs from Joe Walsh. 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.
