Check out this free guitar lesson from Guitar Control instructor Darrin Goodman on the iconic Tony Iommi riff from the Black Sabbath song “Into The Void”. Darrin gives step by step video instruction and included free guitar tabs (just click the link) that will have this killer riff in your arsenal in record time.
For more killer 70s classics check out The 1970s Guitar Song Collection. https://www.guitarcontrol.net/1970s/
Early Life
Anthony Frank Iommi, aka Tony Iommi, is British guitarist, song writer and producer born on February 19th 1948 in Handsworth, Birmingham. Iommi began playing the guitar in his teens after being inspired by the band “The Shadows”.
Accident
At the age of 17 Iommi was working in a sheet metal factory and had the tips of his middle and third fingers on his left hand cut off in an accident at the factory. Iommi was told that he would never play guitar again due to the accident. Shortly after the accident a co-worker at the factory played a recording of jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt, who was a very accomplished guitarist even though he only used two fingers on his fretting hand due to an accident involving a fire. This inspired Iommi to find a way to continue with the guitar and eventually lead to him making his own prosthetic finger tips from medicine bottles and leather from an old jacket.
The Origin Of Killer Riffs
Iommi experimented with lower tunings on the guitar and inadvertently pioneered the Heavy Metal guitar genre. The list of iconic riffs that Iommi has created is very long and his influence can be heard today in modern Metal guitarists. Iommi is regarded as the Godfather of Heavy Metal.
Legacy
Notable contributions to the Heavy Metal genre include; War Pigs, Iron Man, Paranoid, Into The Void, Fairies Wear Boots and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath to name a few. Iommi continues to write, record and perform with Sabbath to this day in many various versions of the band being fronted by iconic vocalists such as; Ozzy Ozbourne and Ronnie James Dio. Sabbath is regarded as the greatest Heavy Metal band of all time.
