Learn to play three fun and easy guitar riffs by 38 Special 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 38 Special riffs 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 riffs for you from 38 Special.
Right now GuitarControl.com is giving away a free chord chart, it’s a free download, there’s a link down in the description. It’s in PDF format and contains every chord that you could ever need at a glance. So you can download it, print it out, put it in your gig bag or put it where you practice so any chord you could ever need at a glance; just click the link in their description.
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 38 Special riffs.
38 Special Riff-1 – Rocking Into The Night
All right so the first 38 Special riff we’re going to look at is Rocking Into The Night, this one’s fairly simple. So we’re going to start off we’ve got a just a G5 power chord; so I’ve got my first finger here on the third fret of the low E string and then I’m picking up the fifth fret of the A string with my third finger and I’m also picking up the fifth fret of the D string with my fourth finger. If you’re a beginner sometimes it’s hard to do that. So if you just need to like maybe just use your pinky finger and only play just on the E and the A string, that’s fine, this note that’s on the D string is the same note that we’re playing here on the third fret of the low E string. So we start this it starts right on the downbeat of one and it’s a dotted half note so it gets three beats or maybe like one two three and then we slide out of it and then we rest on beat four. So it’s like one two three four and then starting on the second measure we rest on the first two beats. So when we hit that rest four one two and then uh starting on beat three we’re gonna come down we’re going to do another power chord but this time it’s B flat 5 (Bb5). So we’re going to do the same shape of it here we’re just going to move it down a whole step and up a set of strings so now my first finger is on the first fret of the A string, third finger is on the third fret of the D string and fourth finger is on the third fret of the G string; but again we can we can omit the note on the G string if that’s easier for you. So we get this here and this is a tuplet, it’s a grouping of three and then that takes care of that second measure and then on the downbeat of one on the next measure we’re going to do C5; so we’re just going to take this chord shape and move it up a whole step and that is a whole note and it’s also tied to the downbeat of one, well it’s actually the downbeat of one plus a 32nd note. So I’m not even going to attempt to try to count it, it’s a thing you kind of more or less have to feel. What it ends up doing is it takes up all of beat three except the very last 32nd second note of beat one we would play just the third fret of the A string. So we’ve got… then we hit this three and then the open low E string to the first fret for beat three and then to the second fret for beat four and then it just repeats; so the whole 38 Special riff…
38 Special Riff-2 – Hold On Loosely
All right so the next 38 Special riff we’re going to look at is the riff from Hold On Loosely. So this isn’t too terribly tough either, it’s these same power chord shapes except there’s one slight difference that we’ll look at here in a second. All right, so we start off we’ve got a B5; so we’re all the way up here on the seventh fret of the low E string with your first finger and then typically I would use my third finger to play the ninth fret of the A string, but I’m going to use my pinky and I’m going to show you why here in a second. So we rest on the first, it’s a whole a half a half note rest and then a eighth note rest so we start this on the and of three and then we move it down a whole step four and… So when we move up here we’re on the seventh fret of the A string with your first finger and the ninth fret of the D string with your fourth finger. So let me explain why when we use these fingers. So now we hit that and then on the downbeat of one we rest so it’s one and then starting on the and of one we’re just playing the same E5 that we ended with and we’re palm muting it now, so it’s like and two and three and and then on the downbeat of four we rest and then on the and of four we’re gonna switch to this B over D sharp (B/D#). So basically what we’re gonna do is we’re gonna keep this shape, but we’re gonna move our first finger down one fret, so this is why I’m using my pinky finger instead of my third finger because this is an awkward stretch and this is much easier… Then move down to the six and then it just continues that same timing… So this time when we make the change we’re just going to move down to a D5, so it’s that same shape but down a whole step… And then down to the fourth fret you move one down one fret on the on the D string… and then it just and starts over again…
38 Special Riff-3 – Caught Up In You
All right then the last 38 Special riff we’re going to look at is Caught Up In You. This one’s is really easy for most of it, but there’s one part of it that’s pretty challenging, especially if you’re a beginner, it’s the hardest part of all of these riffs. So we’re going to start off you take your second finger and put it on the ninth fret of the D string and your third finger onto the ninth fret of the G string and your first finger onto the eighth fret of the G string. So this is all eighth notes and we’re just playing just the D and the G string one and two and; so on the and of two we take our third finger off so it’s fretting the eighth fret… So it’s one and two and three and four. So that’s like the intro part of it, that’s the first measure and it’s repeated three times. Okay and then starting on the second measure we start off again that same thing, one and two and three and; so it’s basically the same thing. Then we come back to nine again and this is where we’re gonna start to change. So we’ve got one and two and three and four and; so on the and of four we’re going to come down we’re just going to barre the sixth fret of the D and the G string and then that continues on to the fourth measure so this is and one and two, and then on the and of two we come down to the fourth fret and three, and four, and then on the and of four we come down to the second fret… on the and of four and then on the next measure this is the part that’s kind of difficult. So we’ve got one and two on the and of two we’re going to reach up with our pinky and barre the fifth fret of the B and the high E string, so that’s on the downbeat of two, so one and, two and, back to here… then we have to come up to this and barre the sixth fret of the D and the G string, but this time you’re going to want to use your third finger… So use our first finger and then we’re going to do that barre the fifth fret of the B and the high E string again, but this time use my second finger… back to two to six, back to the B and E string again, six four and then the last measure just pedals out one and two and three and four and at the fourth fret and then it would just start over again. So again that fifth measure… So the whole 38 Special riff…
Conclusion
All right so there you have it, three fun and not too terribly difficult to play riffs from 38 Special. So if you like this 38 Special riff 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 three fun & easy riffs by 38 Special and have a great day.
