Learn to play 3 more fun and easy 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 classic 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 and easy guitar riffs from the 1980s.
Right now Guitar Control is giving away a really cool free chord chart, there’s a link down in the description where you can download yours. Every chord you could ever possibly need all neatly compiled into one sheet and it’s in a PDF format so you can print it off, put it where you practice, put it in your guitar case and it’s a free download click the link.
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.
1980s Guitar Riff-1 – Holy Diver – Dio
All right so the first one I’m going to look at is the riff from Holy Diver by Dio and this is all just made up of the fifth power chords. So we’re starting off we have C sharp five (C#5); so I’m on the fourth fret of the A string with my first finger and then I’m picking up the sixth fret of the D string with my third finger. You could also pick up the sixth fret of the G string as well with your fourth finger or just by barring your third finger, but if you’re a beginner and it’s difficult for you to get all three strings you can just get the ones that are on the A string and the D string for sure. So it’s this shape all the way through it and we start off here with the C#5 and the rhythm for this we’ve got an eighth note and then we pedal just the A string, still fretting the fourth fret, we pedal that as 16th notes; so it’s you know like long, short, short, and we do that twice, then C#5 up a whole step to D sharp five (D#5); so now put your first finger on the sixth fret of the A string and then the eighth fret of the D string and G string. And then we move up from there a half step to E5… then we come back down and basically kind of do the first part again, but this time we just do one set of that… then we hit the chord switch back to D5 or excuse me to D#5… to E again. So down to B5, so all the way down to the second fret… so that’s like the first two measures and half of it… All right so the second half of it after we come down to the B5 on the beat four of the second measure, let me come back to the C#5 again… to the D#5, E5, back down to B5 again… and then C#5, B5, back between the two…
1980s Guitar Riff-2 – Talk Dirty To Me – Poison
All right then the next we’re going to look at is the riff from Talk Dirty To Me by Poison. So this one’s using the same chord shapes that we just did, but now we’re starting on C5; so we’re starting on the third fret of the A string with your first finger and the fifth fret of the D string and G string if possible. So we’ve got C5 and the timing for this is a little a bit different, so this first one here is a quarter note and this is beat one and then on the downbeat of two we rest and on the and of two we hit this again as an eighth note and then we rest… And then on the and of three we hit it again and then on all of beat four a quarter note and then we’re going to move up and that’s the first measure… Then we’re going to move up a whole step to D5 and we’re going to do the exact same timing.. so that’s the first two measures… Then we’re going to come all the way up here to f sharp five (F#5); so first fingers on the ninth fret of the A string and then we’re picking up the 11th fret of the D string and the G string with your third finger or third and fourth, just like what we talked about in Holy Diver. Now for this here it’s all eighth notes and we’re going to pick here on the F#5, but slide to a G5, so we just move up a half step, one and, two and, so one and two and three and four and… and then on measure four we do that one more time, one and, two and, three, four and; so on the fourth measure one and, two and, and then you can see on there that that’s tied to beat three, one and, two and, three, and then for beat four just two more eighth notes and then that whole thing just repeats… All right a little fun fact on that song. That is the very first song that I performed live in my own band when was 16 or 17 years old.
1980s Riff-3 – Wanted Dead Or Alive – Bon Jovi
All right and then the last one I’m going to look at is Wanted Dead Or Alive by Bon Jovi. So I’m switching to a clean tone and this is made up entirely of these triad shapes that if you’ve seen any of the lessons that I’ve done on triads you probably already know some of these, but we’re basically going to be using two shapes for this, so all the notes that we’re going to be fretting are on the G string and the high E string. So we have two shapes we’re going to have a shape where whatever fret you’re playing on the G string will be your middle finger and then it’ll either be the same fret on the high E string with your third finger or a half step below with your first finger. So we start off we’re on the 14th fret of the G string with your second finger and the 13th fret of the high E string. Now I’m going to play the D string open, so with this I’m going to play with my fingers right now just to kind of hopefully play it a little more accurately. So we play the D string, then the G string, high E string and then back to the G string; one e and uh. So these are sixteenth notes… then on each beat we move to a different chord and that’s our first one there, it’s actually a D minor. Then we have a C with a D in the bass. So with all of these the D string is just always going to be open. So now we’re going to move our middle finger down a whole step so we’re at the 12th fret and then use our pick up the 12th fret of the high E string, same picking, then we’re going to move that shape down a whole step to the 10th fret; so 10th fret on both the G string and the high E string and that’s our first… Then our next shape for beat number four is we’re gonna slide down a half step to the ninth fret, but the high E string note moves down to the eighth fret and that’s our first measure… Then we’re going to move all the way down to the fifth fret of the G string and the high E string and this is the start of measure two, down a half step with her third finger or excuse me with our second finger; so on the G string we’re going from the fifth to the fourth fret and then on the high E string we’re going to the third fret… so the very last part there we hit this two e and uh, and then starting on the downbeat of three we’re gonna pick this G string again and we’re going to just keep that shape and we’re going to pick that and slide to the second fret three e, and then pick the high E string on the and of three and then it’s tied to beat four and it’s a dotted eighth note and then the last sixteenth note of beat four is just the D string again and then it just repeats…
Conclusion
All right so there you have it, three not two terribly tough riffs to play 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’ve not already done so please subscribe 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.
