Saturday, December 13, 2008

Easy Lead Guitar Riffs - A Few You May Want To Attempt

By Joss Schuyler

Often when you first begin playing an instrument such as the guitar you will become frustrated at how little you can actually play. Okay you want to be able to play the kinds of songs that your favorite guitarists do, but don't expect to be able to do so overnight. What you will find instead that it is going to take many hours of practice to be able to play even half as good as some of the professional guitarists. It would be far better when you are just starting to play the guitar that you spend time learning a few easy lead guitar riffs instead of the whole song.

If you really want to be able to play easy lead guitar riffs well you need to learn how to read guitar tabs. If you don't have the ability to read guitar tabs then actually playing music on your guitar becomes more difficult. Once you have been able to master reading guitar tabs then you will find it so much easier to play the kinds of lead guitar riffs we mention in this article.

1. Smoke On The Water is not only one of the most popular guitar riffs for people who are just learning how to play the guitar, but is also one of the simplest.

First off you start by playing both the D and G strings open, which means that you will not have placed any of your fingers on to the guitars frets. The next thing you need to do is you place your index finger on to the third fret of the D string and your middle finger of to the third fret of the G string. Before you actually play these two strings together you need to make sure that you have positioned your fingers correctly and then play them only once before moving on to the fifth fret. Then you need to leave these two strings open once more before you then move back to the third fret and then fifth fret again. It is best when you are learning how to play this lead guitar riff you do so using the index finger and thumb of your other hand rather than a pick.

2. Hells Bells which was written by AC/DC as well as being one of the greatest rock anthems of all time is also one of the easiest songs that you as a guitarist can learn to play. Although be aware that you may find this song a little difficult to play initially because of the speed at which it should be played. Normally this easy lead guitar riff should be played at a speed (tempo) of 96 beats per minute and which is why you may find it so hard to play initially.

So if you really do want to learn how to play this riff well then you should start off playing at a much slower speed than it would normally be played. The best way to do this is get yourself a metronome and then use this to slow down the beats per minute at which you should be playing this particular lead guitar riff. Only when you start to feel more confident in your playing skills should you then begin to increase the speed at which you play it.

3. Another lead guitar riff that you could learn to play is Love Me Tender which really isn't classed as a rock riff. But when you are first learning how to play the guitar this is a simple one for you to attempt. For you to be able to play this song you will only need to use your middle, index and ring fingers. However, don't expect to actually be able to get your fingering position correct straight away it will take lots of practice before you find yourself playing the notes in this song the right way.

In this article we have looked at three easy lead guitar riffs that you should consider learning how to play when you first begin playing the guitar. If you really do want to improve the way that you play this instrument then you will need to spend lots of time practice these riffs. - 15359

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