Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Some Easy Lead Guitar Riffs For You To Attempt

By Joss Schuyler

When you first begin to play the guitar you may find yourself becoming frustrated because your skills are not all they are cracked up to be. You will find that you would like to be able to play the kinds of songs that your favorite guitarists are able to, but which you can't. In fact there are plenty of songs that you are going to find difficult playing in the beginning. So it is a good idea if you spend some time learning a few of the easy lead guitar riffs first.

For you to be able to play any sort of lead guitar riffs you need to be able to read guitar tabs first. If you cannot read guitar tabs then even learning easy lead guitar riffs becomes much more difficult for you. Anyone who has mastered reading guitar tabs will tell you just how much easier you will find it to play lead guitar riffs including the ones we mention in this article.

1. Smoke On The Water is a very popular guitar riff that people who are only just starting to play this particular instrument will attempt to learn. The reason for this is that this is a very simple song to learn.

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 by AC/DC as well as being a rock anthem classic is also one of the simplest of all lead guitar riffs that you are someone just starting to play the guitar can learn. Be aware that you may find that you have problems playing this particular riff simply because the tempo (speed at which it should be played) is quite fast. Normally this piece of music when played by AC/DC is played at 96 beats per minute.

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 easy lead guitar riff to attempt when you have only just started learning to play the guitar is Love Me Tender. Although this may not be considered a rock riff as the other two mentioned are it is a very simple one for you to learn. It only requires you to use your middle, index and ring fingers in order to play the notes of this song in the right order. However, it will take plenty of practice on your part as with any new piece of music you are learning to play it correctly.

Above we have looked at three easy lead guitar riffs that you will find details of how to play online and which are worth you thinking about learning when you start playing the guitar. But in order for you to further improve your guitar playing you will need to dedicate as much time as you can to practicing what you learn including easy lead guitar riffs.

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