Learn to play Three Easy & Fun Iconic 1980s Guitar Riffs from Guitar Control instructor Darrin Goodman. Be sure to get the tabs to go along with this free Three Easy & Fun Iconic 1980s Guitar Riffs guitar lesson.
Introduction
Hey everybody how’s it going? This is Darrin with GuitarControl.com bringing you this video lesson. Today I want to show you Three Easy & Fun Iconic 1980s Guitar Riffs. I did one of these a while back and there was quite a bit of response from it and I had some requests to do some more of these so I’ve got three more ready for you to go today. 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 Three Easy & Fun Iconic 1980s Guitar Riffs.
Three Easy & Fun Iconic 1980s Guitar Riffs-1 – Photograph – Def Leppard
All right so the first Easy & Fun Iconic 1980s Guitar Riffs we have is Photograph by Def Leppard. So first let’s just kind of go through the chords we’re doing in this. The timing on this is kind of a little unusual. So we start off we’ve got this E5 over B (E5/B) and we’re on the ninth fret of the D and the G string… And then we have B; so what we’re going to do and when I’m doing this I like to use my third finger because the next chord is this B. So our third finger is still going to play the ninth fret of the D string, but our middle finger is going to go to the eighth fret of the G string… And then we have an A5; so we’re going to simply move our third finger from the ninth fret of the D string to the ninth fret of the G string and then put our first finger onto the seventh fret of the D string… And then we have D five over A (D5/A); which we simply just take our first finger and lay it down flat so now we’re barring the seventh fret of the D string and the G string. So those are our chords. Now this starts off it’s this first measure is eighth notes and we rest on the downbeat of one and then on the and of one we start playing this E5/B; so it’s like one and two and, and then on the downbeat of three we switch to the B for three and, and then we rest on four. So one and two and three and four, and hen we switch to the A5 and it’s one and, and then on the downbeat of two we rest and then on the and of two we hit the D5/A, but then it’s tied to a half note so it just rings out for beats three and four. So we’ve got one and two and three four… and that’s the basically the riff and the first of Three Easy & Fun Iconic 1980s Guitar Riffs.
Fun Iconic 1980s Guitar Riffs-2 – Looks That Kill – Motley Crue
All right so the next Easy & Fun Iconic 1980s Guitar Riffs we’re going to look at is the main riff for Looks That Kill by Motley Crue. So for this particular one to be in the same key they’re in, I’m just in standard tuning, but you actually have to tune down an entire whole step. So this one’s really simple as far as the chord shapes we just have the regular fifth power chords that I’m sure you already know when to play. So it’s A5; so our first finger is going to be here on the seventh fret of the D string and then your third finger on the ninth fret of the G string and we’re going to play, and again this is all eighth notes, so we’re going to pedal the open A string. So we’ve got one and two and… and that’s the first measure. Then we’re just going to move down a whole step for G5 and now this one starts on the downbeat of one; one and two and three and four and. So on the downbeat of four we hit that G5 and then we’re going to slide it down a half step to G flat five (Gb5)… and that is all there is to the second Easy & Fun Iconic 1980s Guitar Riff.
Easy & Fun Iconic 1980s Guitar Riffs-3 – Nothin’ But A Good Time – Poison
All right and then the last Easy & Fun Iconic 1980s Guitar Riffs we want to look at is Nothin’ But A Good Time by Poison. So this is just like the intro riff for the song and this is the hardest one out of these three by far to play; so if you are a total beginner it might take a little bit of work to really be able to get this down right and like I said it’s kind of difficult to play. So we’re going to start off with an A over E (A/E) and we’re just all the way up here on the 14th fret and i’m just going to take my first finger and barre it across the D, G and B strings and then we’re going the next chord we’re going to have is a C sharp over F sharp (C#/F#). So we’re just going to keep our first finger here, but we’re going to put our second finger down onto the 15th fret of the B string and our third finger down on to the 16th fret of the D string and you’re going to be lifting both of these fingers up and down and setting them back down here at the same time. So like I said if you’re a beginner you might have trouble with this and you’ll put your fingers on and then when you lift them off they’ll do this and then you’re going to kind of hunt to put them back down; so what I’d really recommend doing is just kind of working with that just lifting your fingers up and down so you can kind of develop a muscle memory to land them together. All right, so this one is a combination of eighth notes and quarter notes and it’s kind of a weird thing to count, so you more or less kind of want to feel it. So we start off with this A/E and it’s an eighth note and then a quarter note; so it’s like… and then it rings out for just a second before we put our fingers down for the C#/F#… and then we’re going to lift our fingers back off and put them back on and back off and then open… so that’s like the first measure plus the downbeat of the second measure. Now on the second measure at the end of four we did the open strings and then back to the A/E and then you want to just keep your finger there just like you’ve got it, but now we’re going to put our second finger onto the 15th fret of the A string and that’s just a C dyad and then you’re going to take your third finger and go to the 16th fret and that’s a C sharp minor (C#m) and then we’re going to follow that to the C#/F# and back to the A/E and then finally with the open strings again and that’s the first two measures… Now we’re going to go to just a regular G… and you can just play a full on G chord, but what he’s doing is just getting the third fret of the low E string and then the D, G and B strings open and then the open strings again to the D… and then the open D and G strings and then it just starts over again. So the whole thing really slowly… and it just it just repeats. So like I said if you really are a beginner this one is going to take a little bit of time to really get this Easy & Fun Iconic 1980s Guitar Riff down…
Conclusion
All right, so there you have it, Three Easy & Fun Iconic 1980s Guitar Riffs that are pretty easy to pick up, but if you’re a beginner that last one there like I said that one might be kind of challenging, but I recommend just working on it slowly because if you get that muscle memory you know for lifting your fingers and keeping the shape and everything it’s going to really be helpful for other things that you do going forward. So if you like this Three Easy & Fun Iconic 1980s Guitar Riffs 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 Easy & Fun Iconic 1980s Guitar Riffs and have a great day.
