Riff Rundown

Difficulty: Intermediate

Composer – Audioslave

Where to find this song – Audioslave track #2

Release Date – November 2002

The Band:

Chris Cornell – vocals

Tom Morello – guitar

Brad Wilk -drums

Tim Commerford – bass

This band formed after Zack de la Rocha left the original band name
“Rage Against the Machine.” All of the members are the same,
but they needed a heavy-hitting frontman that would equal or surpass
the angst and political anarchy of de la Rocha. They found it in Chris
Cornell, former Soundgarden guitarist and vocalist. Cornell actually
left the project before anything was really being accomplished because
he felt that the band wasn’t going in the direction that he wanted to
go. He rejoined them not long after with a renewed sense and the musical
bond that the band soon would endure allowed them to finally become
Audioslave. The band found their singer, and Cornell finally found a
band again.

Drop D Tuning

Their song “Show Me How To Live” is in drop D tuning. In
drop D tuning the low E string is tuned down one whole step to D. This
enables the guitarist to play power chords with a single finger. If
your favorite band uses drop D tuning and you want to experiment with
this tuning, by all means do so. What ever you do, don’t learn the guitar
in drop D tuning-you’ll get all mixed up.

To tune your guitar to drop D tuning, first make sure your tuned to
standard tuning. Then you’ll want to tune your low E string down two
steps to D (we drop it down one step, hence the name). See the picture
below. You can use the audio clip below to tune your low E string to
D for drop D tuning.

Intro

The intro to this song is fun! Begin this measure by placing your 1st
finger on the “G” string on the second fret. Place your 2nd
finger on the third fret on the “B” string. Allow the “D”
string to remain open. Play that once, and then just use your 1st finger
to barre the second frets on the “low E”, the “A”
string, and the “D” string. If you follow the timing well,
then all of these measures for the intro are finished! You just learned
the intro by playing two chords! These chords if you are curious are
D5 and E5. They are also listed at the top of the tablature.

Here’s what it sounds like looped at the normal tempo of 92 bpm:

Verse

The first and third measures are identical.

To begin the verse, listen to the sample first to understand how crucial
the timing here is. The song isn’t that difficult, but the timing is.
The first and third measures begin with a hammer-on. Remember that a
hammer-on is when you go from a lower note to a higher note, only striking
the first note(s). Begin by playing the “low E” string ( which
is tuned to “D”, but lets leave it as the “low E”
to avoid confusion. Just make sure you have remembered to tune it down!)
Play that string once, and then hammer-on with your 1st finger and barre
the “low E ( drop D)” string, the “A” string, and
the “D” string. Pick that out according to the tablature.
Now, you will need to perform a few mutes, but just notice that on the
tablature you will be playing the same notes throughout this measure.
The best bet in getting this part figured out is by just listening to
the first part over and over to get the timing down. In this measure,
you will only be using your 1st finger, so experiment a little with
it to get the feel down.

The second measure is pretty cool. Begin this by muting a little, and
then hammer-on from the open “A” string note with your 1st
finger to the first fret on the “A” string. Then, you need
to play it open again. Perform a few mutes, and then use your 1st finger
to hit the “D” string on the second fret. Next, just barre
your 1st finger over the second frets of the “low E ( drop D) ”
string and the “A” string. Play that twice, and then just
move your 1st finger to the fifth fret on the same strings. Lift off
of the strings to allow a few open D notes to end the measure!

Here’s what it sounds like at the normal tempo of 92 bpm:

Video

Riff Resources

Complete Transcription To “Show Me How To Live” (PDF)

Complete Transcription To “Show Me How To Live” (Power Tab)

Riff Rundown

Difficulty: Easy

Composer – Live

Where to find this song – Throwing Copper track # 5

Release Date – April 1994

Live rose to chart success on the strength of its overtly spiritual songwriting. This endeavor earned the group frequent comparisons to the popular band U2. Live first formed in the early ’80s in their hometown of York, Pennsylvania, when future members Chad Taylor, Patrick Dahleimer, and Chad Gracy began playing together under the name “First Aid” while attending middle school. They then decided to recruit singer Ed Kowalczyk to fill the only remaining slot in the band. “Throwing Copper” still sells over 1.4 million copies each year on average, and this album was also considered to be their best to date.

Main Riff

This riff will be quite easy to play. What you will want to do is
begin with your 1st finger on the first frets of all strings. You will
do this by barring the frets. Next, place your 3rd finger on the third
fret on the “A” string. Do the same with your 4th finger
on the “D” string. Last, simply use your 2nd finger to play
the second fret on the “G” string. Play that three times
for the first measure. Notice the “x” on the strings after
you play the chord? Remember that this means you will need to mute
the strings by lightly lifting your fingers off the strings being played,
creating a muffled effect. The chord you just played was an Fadd9.

For the second measure, you will be playing a Csus2 chord. Do this
by barring your 1st finger on the third frets of all strings from the “A” string
to the “high E” string. Then, use your 3rd and 4th fingers
to play the fifth frets on the “D” string and the “G” string
in the same fashion that you did in the first measure. Here, if you
look at the tablature, you will be playing the same chord for the entire
measure, but just remember to include the mutes and then the open note
at the end on the “A” string for accuracy.

For the third and fourth measure, you will be playing a standard G
chord, but in a different way than the traditional G chord. Do this
by barring your 1st finger on the third frets of all the strings. Place
your 3rd finger on the fifth fret on the “A” string. Place
your 4th finger on the fifth fret on the “D” string. Last,
use your 2nd finger to play the fourth fret on the “G” string.
Play that a few times, remembering to mute and to play the last note
open on the “low E” string.

Riff Resources

Complete Transcription To “Lightning
Crashes ” (PDF)

Complete Transcription To “Lightning
Crashes ” (Power Tab)

Riff Rundown

Difficulty: Intermediate

Composer – The Doors

Where to find this song – The Soft Parade track # 2

Release Date – July 1969

The formation of The Doors begin at UCLA in 1965, where Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek were students. On a southern California beach, Jim read one of his poems to Ray and the two decided to collaborate on some songs. Manzarek recruited John Densmore who, in turn, recruited Robby Krieger. Morrison dubbed the band “The Doors” from Aldous Huxley’s book on mescaline, “The Doors of Perception.”

The Doors began playing clubs on the Sunset Strip, until they finally ended up as the house band at the Whisky-A-Go-Go. Unfortunately, that gig ended after a controversial performance of the song, “The End”. Not all was lost though as their performances at the Whisky-A-Go-Go got them a great deal of exposure, and led to a contract with Elektra
records. They in turn churned out hit after hit and the stardom therein led Jim to involving himself in one controversy after another.Intro

Begin the first measure by placing your 1st finger on the second fret
on the “G” string. Barre your 4th finger on the fifth frets
of both the “B” string and the “high E” string.
Play that about three times, and then lift your 1st finger off of the “G” string
to play the open notes, with the fifth frets still being pressed. Follow
the tablature and at the end of the measure, use your 3rd finger to
play the fourth fret on the “B” string. The rest of the measures
are identical.

This one is a little harder than it looks. This
riff will take a little practice to get up to the correct speed of
109 beats per minute.

Riff Resources

Complete Transcription To “Touch
Me” (PDF)

Complete Transcription To “Touch
Me” (Power Tab)

Riff Rundown

Difficulty: Intermediate

Main Riff

Pretty stuff here! Use your tremelo bar to get the vibratos. Use your thumb
to fret the note on the second fret of the low E string. I pick this with my
fingers (even for the lead part below) Let the notes ring!

Intro Solo

Below is the vocal like lead. It’s played over this chord progression: D,
Bm7, G, D played 3 times, Then on the 4th time: Bm7, Em7, G/A, D.

Riff Resources

Complete Transcription To “People
Get Ready” (PDF)

Complete Transcription To “People
Get Ready” (Power Tab)

Difficulty: Intermediate

Nobody can quite sound like Jeff Beck. He’s always had his own distinct style. Once a rival of the likes of Clapton and Hendrix, Beck continues to explore music through mostly instrumental albums. “Blue Wind” is from the 1976 album “Wired”.

Main Riff

This riff is in 4/4 time except for the 2nd measure in which we switch to
2/4 time (only 2 beats).

Notice that the 4th measure mirrors the 1st measure, but with addition of
bends. This is a typical Jeff Beckism. It may be tricky to get it to sound
right because it relies on precise bending.

Riff Resources

Complete Transcription To “Blue Wind” (PDF)

Complete Transcription To “Blue Wind” (Power
Tab)

Difficulty: Intermediate

This is a really cool sounding riff from the new band Tantric. In the
authentic recording it’s played with an acoustic guitar and doubled
with electric guitars with very little distortion and tuned down 1/2
step.

It’s in “drop D” tuning which means you have to tune down
your low E string to a D. To do this, first make sure your tuned to
standard tuning. Then you’ll want to tune your low E string down two
steps to D. See the picture below. You can use the audio clip below
to tune your low E string to D for drop D tuning.

Trouble With The Fingerings?

Below are the suggested fingerings to use in order to play the riff.
You should fingerpick the riff also. Use your thumb to play the notes
on the low E and A strings and your 3rd finger to play the notes on
the G string.

Riff Resources

Complete Transcription To “Breakdown” (PDF)

Complete Transcription To “Breakdown” (Power Tab)

Riff Rundown

Difficulty: Intermediate

“Holiday” is a song by the American punk rock band Green Day. It was released as the third single from their seventh album American Idiot. The song is in the key of F minor.

Intro Riff

Verse

Here’s the verse with both bass and guitar:

Guitar

Bass

Riff Resources

Complete Transcription To “Holiday” (PDF)

Complete Transcription To “Holiday” (Power
Tab)

Riff Rundown

Difficulty: Easy -
Intermediate

Main Riff

The main riff of the song has 2 guitar partsand a piano part. Below is the transcription to the 2 guitar parts as well as the “lead voice” piano part transcribed for guitar.

Here’s what all 3 parts sound like together:

Piano

Below is what it sounds like looped at the normal tempo of 132 bpm.

Video

Guitar 1

Video

Guitar 2

Video

Riff Resources

Complete Transcription To “Clocks” (PDF)

Complete Transcription To “Clocks” (Power
Tab)

Riff Rundown

Difficulty: Easy

“Refugee” was released in January 1980 as the second single from the Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers album Damn the Torpedoes.

Main Riff

The main riff consists of a rhythm guitar and lead guitar. The rhythm guitar riff is instantly recognizable to many.  The lead guitar is overall pretty easy, except for the 4th and last measure, which includes a quick bend and slide that may be hard to transition between.

Guitar 1

Guitar 2

Riff Resources

Complete Transcription To “Refugee” (PDF)

Complete Transcription To “Refugee” (PowerTab)

Riff Rundown

Difficulty: Easy

“Centerfield” one of the most popular baseball songs ever. It’s a fixture at ballparks between innings. Learn how to play the main riff of this song on guitar.

Intro

Riff Resources

Complete Transcription To “Centerfield” (PDF)

Complete Transcription To “Centerfield” (Power Tab)