Learn to play three fun and easy power ballad riffs from the 1980s 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 will be rockin’ these killer classics in record time.
Introduction
How’s it going everybody? This is Darrin with GuitarControl.com bringing you this video Lesson and today I’ve got three fun and easy riffs from some 80s power ballads.
Right now if you click the link down in the description you can download a free chord chart from Guitar Control. It’s in PDF format and has every chord you could ever need all neatly compiled onto one sheet. So you can print it out, throw a copy in your gig bag, put a copy where you practice; so just in a glance you can have any chord you need and it’s a free download.
So be sure to click on the link in the description for the tab so let’s get close up and take a look at these three fun and easy power ballad riffs.
Power Ballad Riff-1 – Fly To The Angels
All right so the first we’re going to look at is the riff from Fly To The Angels by Slaughter. So for this here we have a slide from nowhere to the sixth fret on the G string and then you’re going to put your second finger down so it’s on the seventh fret of the D string; so this is like one and two… So we hit the open A string on the downbeat of two and then you’re going to take your third finger and you’re going to pick up the seventh fret of the G string and now you’re going to go and three and, and then you’re going to use your pinky to pick up the ninth fret the of the G string and then the open A string. So that’s our first measure… then we’re going to keep our pinky where it is and we’re going to pick up the fifth fret of the D string with your first finger and this is starting on the second measure. So now we’re nine, five, open, one and, two and then we’re going to move from the ninth fret on the G string to the seventh fret and three and now we’re going to flatten that note on the G string a half step so it’s the sixth fret… so we go seven, four, open, six, four, open, four, four, open… So I’m on the second fret of the D string with my second finger and the second fret of the G string with my third finger and the A string and the high E string are both open and the B string is open as well. So we strum that one, two and, three and, four and… just like. Then we’re going to come to the second fret of the D string with your first finger and we’re going to pick that and do a hammer-on to the fourth fret with your third finger and then go to the G string and do the same frets and then we’re going to slide up to the sixth fret and then our second finger is going to pick up the fifth fret of the B string. Then we’re going to shift back down Pull from the fourth fret to the second fret of the G string and then end it on the fourth fret of the D string.
Power Ballad Riff-2 – More Than Words
So the next we’re going to look at is More Than Words by Extreme. So this one I’m going to start off with a G major chord and what makes this one is you have to do this for you slapping the strings, but it’s actually pretty easy. So we play one, we just play on the on the downbeat of one, we just play our low E string here, it should be on the third fret, it’s doing a regular G chord. So we have one and on the and of one we’re gonna pluck the G, B and high E string together and then do that slap one and two. Then we’re still on G, on your transcript says G over B (G/B), but it’s because we’re going to do the same thing but our bass note is going to be the A string. Now instead of the E… we have a C add nine (Cadd9). So for Cadd9 we’re just going to move our first and second finger up a set of strings so that’ll put your second finger on the third fret of the A string and your first finger on the second fret of the D string and that’s happening on the and of four and that’s our measure… Now we hit that on the and of four and it’s tied to the downbeat of one; so and one and two, and then on the and of two we just pluck the A string and three four, and then on the and before we go to a A minor seven (Am7). So we’re just going to take our first it’s basically A minor (Am) without your third finger being on. So the A string is open, second fret of the D string with my second finger, G string is open and first fret of the B string with my first finger and we hit that on the and of four and that is tied to the downbeat of one of the third measure. Then on the and of one we pluck just the G, B and high E strings again, slap and the A string on the and of two and three four and then on the and of four we switch to a C. So you just take your third finger and just set it down onto the third fret of the A string and that’ll make it C. We hit that on the and of four and it’s tied to the downbeat of one and then on the and of one the G, B and high E string, down, beat two the slap and then we switch to a D and this is on the and of two and three and then on the and of three we’re gonna put our pinky down onto the third fret of the high E string to make it be suspended four. All right, and then back to G on the and of four and then the whole thing would just repeat… So when I’m playing it I probably don’t play it exactly the same way, you can kind of embellish that because it has slight changes all the way throughout of it. So if you’re playing and you end up hitting you know the D string when you were only supposed to hit the G string or something like that as long as you’re doing the right chord it’s all going to sound good.
Power Ballad Riff-3 – Patience
All right then the last power ballad to look at is Patience by Guns N Roses. So this one starts off with the regular old C chord… So throughout this there is nothing that is just super set in stone. So take everything that you see as far as like on this transcription you’ll see you play the A and the D string then the D then the G then the B and the high E and then just a D, G and B. It’s pretty hard to just get it all like that and it’s not consistent consistently at all. On the recording there’s like three separate guitar parts that are happening at the same time. So this is just trying to kind of make a version of it that’s simple enough to play if you’re a beginner but, still sounds really good and sounds like the song. So we’ve got that C… so that’s like our first measure and starting on the second measure we have C add nine (Cadd9). So all we’re going to do is take our Pinky and set it down onto the third fret of the B string and we’re going to strum that and do a pull-off so it’s like one and, and then strum C and then strum C again and this time we’re going to pull-off our first finger to the open string and hammer back on. So when it’s off that’s the C major. That’s why it says C Major seven on there. So that’s the first two measures… Now we have a G over B (G/B) on the third measure. So it’s just the second fret of the A string and then the D, G and B strings are open… Okay so this fourth measure this is probably the hardest part of this to make it sound right in my opinion and it’s just because of the different things that are going on there. So I usually kind of do a little bit more instead of just the single notes there I’ll kind of do those, but while still strumming the chord, especially if I’m playing it by myself just to kind of fill it all out… Then we’re going to go to an A major chord and if you play a like this or if you play like this or like this, it doesn’t really matter, but what you are going to have to do is do some suspended chords. So you need to make it so you can get it. We’re already getting the second fret of the G the D oh my gosh of the B string, but we need to pick up the third fret as well… And the B string open; so open fifth string one two and three and four and… I probably don’t play it exactly the same way every time, but when I come to here I’m usually going to come with this because it’s a pretty strong muscle memory, but you can just roll your finger up and you’re still getting those two notes, but getting the B string open… Now we’re gonna go pull from the using your second finger to pick up the third fret of the B string we’re going to pick that and pull-off to the second fret and then we’re gonna play the B and G string open and then hammer-on to the second fret and then end with at the and of four with the D and the G string open to A and D and then Dsus4 we just put our pinky down on the third fret and pull it off for D suspended two as we remove our middle finger so the high E string is open and then back to D and then open A string four and on the and of four the second fret and then just makes the whole thing start over again…
Conclusion
All right, so there you have it, three fun power ballad riffs from the 1980s. 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 haven’t already done so please subscribe to the channel and hit that notification bell so you don’t miss any of the content we upload throughout the week. Well that is all I have for you today. Thanks for watching and have a great day.
