Only if you return the favor!!. When I see you added my channel, I'll run streaking throughout the many guitar videos of RUclips espousing the Sweetwater channel and the wonders found there within
Are you playing "wrong" or merely "improvising"? lol My dad always used to ask my older brother how long it takes to learn guitar. I never understood why as a kid. I get it now. Harsh!
Regarding Smoke on the Water, the record version, I think all these observations are correct and that the best way to get a proper sound for Smoke on the Water is to play the darker variations high up the neck on the lower strings before the bass and drums occupy the low end of the spectrum, then kick into 2nd gear and play closer to the nut on the higher strings when the bass instruments arrive. Switching from neck to bridge pick ups in between can also help enhance the effect.
The thing to note about Ritchie Blackmore in live settings is that he never quite sticks to what he played on a studio recording. He changed it quite a bit when Deep Purple played concerts. Blackmore chalked it up to having a poor memory of what he did in the studio when they made records.
Harrison Myers or that he changed it up because it sounded better live (different acoustics or even using a different guitar) or he came up with a better way to play it after it was already recorded or he changes it up a little here and there so he doesn’t get bored playing the same over and over. Could be any one of those reasons or even all of them depending on his mood, the venue or what have you.
Awesome tips there Nick! I think everyone has bungled those riffs at some point! I'm glad I am not the only one who has "went down the rabbit hole" looking for the correct way to play a certain song! Great video!
I know a lot of people who plays Born To Be Wild's on a wrong way. I used to be one of them Lol. Most of them, play that riff following the chords sequence E > C# > D > E, instead keepin on E and Just keepin on E chord while pressing the C# and D only on notes. And paying a certain attention, i realized that the difference between these two forms are huge on how they sound. Anyway, great video. And sorry for my english. I hope someone understood my words ahahahah. Rock on!
Surprising and enlightening! Showing some love for Dimebag Darrell on the white strat, excellent. I just reread through your Riffer Madness book the other day. Such a good book. Thank you Nick!
I know Hetfield's Enter Sandman is played from the 5th fret, but when I first learned it I played it on open E, Octave E second fret D string, open G, and the walk on 1st fret A and open A. It requires no finger gymnastics, and everything rings the way it should.
Thank you, Nick... Great research! As for "Smoke", I think that Richie may have moved to the 5th fret when the bass kicks in because it needed a brighter sound to offset Roger's part. But only the man truly knows! Cheers.
Makes sense that Blackmore changes to the lighter strings when the bass kicks in so that guitar can occupy a different tonal range. Starts out dark, but then the bass does the heavy lifting and the guitar brightens.
Great research. Tabs used to drive me nuts. ...close approximation with most tabs but so frequently you know they're off. I loved Blackmore riffs but so much of what's tabbed is off in his case. Thanks. 11:47...okay, yes, ...he does that a lot...and I didn't know what key he starts with on that and then keys in as the organ comes in. 🤘 Some other things I've suspected is in some cases he'll thumb fret the low G on the last note of the riff...but there's really a lot of variations with his playing. Primarily though, pick and finger hybrid picking is pretty much everywhere and he thumbs over a lot. The difference with the finger picking is important because all the notes ring immediately rather than the slight space that occurs when the pick passes through the strings... good stuff. 13:59...Blackmore riffs are quite a rabbit hole...have fun with that!😁 Oh, yeah, and if your doing it with strat single coils like he did every move becomes drastically more pronounced ...(compared to fat buckers that tend to give a homogeneous sound, if you will...) Sorry, long comment, but one thing I did read... Blackmore said that fourths are part of his playing approach...so as you mentioned the inverted chord, the G on the bottom is something to consider. I've thought of his playing in terms of G but since G is D's fourth, D might be a good frame of reference... anyway...
Joe Walsh explains the Whole Lotta Love riff on the Gibson guitar setup demo. He figured it out on his own and said it took him quite a while and then he apologises to Jimmy that the secret was out
One of the reasons I love guitar is all the subtle nuance that exists between different approaches by every player. Personally I try not to get too hung up on replicating exactly what’s on the record in place of trying to capture a feel and imposing my own interpretation. However it can be a useful exercise looking at the individual techniques of the greats especially the ones that aren’t obviously apparent.
My thought on Blackmore moving back to the fifth when Hughes kicks in is that, in that position it brings the unwound G into the mix which creates a brighter sound to better contrast with Hughes' thundering bass line.
Smoke on the Water lick is lightly finger picked with not so much gain. But it sounds cool when Jon Lord's comes in doubling the lick on his Hammond organ plugged into a Marshall. That is marked by a volume increase.
Re: Smoke on the Water. It made sense to shift from the 7th to the 3rd position after the BASS came in, because there was no need for a "dark" guitar tone. 3rd position had the brilliant highs. No need for a clash between the Bass and Guitar.
I saw an interview with John Paul Jones where he talks about playing the _Whole Lotta Love_ riff using the open D string. But I had no idea Jimmy did this also. Even so, as a kid I used to tug that D note slightly because I could hear that he was warbling the sound of it somehow, and it wasn't a pedal as far as I could hear. Cool video btw too, all sorts of interesting tidbits. Edit: The paranoid riff is "darker" on the 12th fret because the strings are thicker. This concept goes for using heavier gauge strings as well. Stevie Ray Vaughn is a perfect example. Smoke on the Water was also the very first riff I taught myself. But I was doing it from memory and made the exact same mistake of getting the intervals correct, but playing it on the open E string. I'm also guessing Ritchie moved back down to the third fret as a bass friendly gesture, as the thinner strings would interfere less with the bass in the overall mix. As a side note, the first song I learned to play correctly was shown to me by a friend whose father was a professional guitarist: Draw the Line by Aerosmith.
Brilliant! The simplest riff ever turns out not to be... but the genius of guitarists like Blackmore and Hendrix is that they keep throwing in little variations and rarely play the same song the same twice. These guys have musical brains operating ten times faster than us mortals!
@@Skiptracer1981 USA is now a net exporter of oil, so first off go educate yourself before opening your piehole, next don't be talking smack about the US servicemen/women. Freedom doesn't come for free.
Buy the epiphone Tony Iommi special. I got one for my brother and me and they are so great long sustain very powerful and it's just a beautiful guitar with the cross inlays. Or try the white fang model of George Thorogood this guitar sounds great plugged in our all by itself I just got it and haven't put it down.
3dsman 3dsman “Freedom”. Sorry, I live in Canada where we can see how the US really operates without the illusions your media likes to dream up. Freedom to not have health care and to buy McDonalds and Apple products until your head explodes. Freedom to back out of climate deals and freedom to start proxy wars on three continents. Freedom to elect a raging monster who makes you all look like children. Freedom. Great stuff you’re selling. I don’t need to educate myself. I am from a military family and worked as a translator. All a common grunt is to the US brass is some meat to train into a sheep with a gun. Red Zulu Zulu 009-6
Brilliant video - anything that promotes originality and authenticity in whatever genre of humanity should be embraced and this video is no exception. I can't top any of this only that on the Machine Head album Smoke on The Water is finger picked as follows: AD at 5th - DG at 3rd - DG at 5th - AD at 5th - DG at 3rd - DG at 6th - DG at 5th - AD at 5th - DG at 3rd - DG at 5th - DG at 3rd - AD at 5th. As someone else said further down in the comments Blackmore would play any number of variations out of boredom and to confuse people - I've even seen him play this song barring the strings using just his thumb over the fretboard, bless him!
Thank you Nick...like so many others, I was playing these riffs incorrectly. Even though what I was playing was close enough for rock and roll, your demonstrations added back in those little nuances that really add more impact to the riffs and make the parts sound so much more cool. The truth is that even if the artists weren’t playing them the way that you demonstrated, what you were playing is something I will incorporate going forward. On that note (pun completely intended), I hope that you do more of these kinds of videos.
This is the type of crap I do if I'm playing correct notes and it just doesn't have the same feel as the original way I'm hearing it, I search through RUclips and try to zoom in on hands and see how they're positioned and moving. It has especially helped me with learning Pretenders songs, they have a specific way of playing jangly chords that don't sound anywhere near as good if you play them in another way.
Hey there Queefer, just being social graceful to my guitar- brethren. One advice I give is always figure out what kind of paraphernalia the player is exploiting.To wit: are they using a foot-pedal, are they in standard tuning or an odd-tuning, do they have a capo on the neck, is it one guitar or two guitars, I've even heard of some guitar players substituting the high E string with a banjo string!
The reason he changed smoke on the water is all venues and amp. If the amp is dark and mushy play the brighter position. If the amp is spikey play the darker position. If the song dictates the guitar stand out, play that position, or if it needs to sit down in the mix again change to adjust. Know chords and riffs all over the neck and you can adjust for changing conditions.
Brother you have to remember who you are talking about blackmore never wants his playing to be stale he always evolves his way of doing it a little different because it keeps the song from being boring to him. So with him playing it up or down it just depends on when or what he is going to do next to help him from becoming a drag down and frustrated with playing the same thing over and over and over every night
Mark Picente correct....and...incorrect. Written parts are always the exact notes written. BUT you can play the same “notes” on different strings and be the same song. Sometimes it’s personal opinion, but it can also be pretty subjective. I don’t think there’s really a wrong way to play it, just the best way to play a riff, and sometimes if there’s multiple parts being played simultaneously, then they are the same part being played in different places to give separation and layers to the sound...in a nerd, I’ll see myself out
Music is art. In art, there is no right or wrong. Just be yourself. Play it your way. Knopler will never be Hendriks and vice versa. Never will be you and I be any of both. Don’t ever let people define you or your music!
Most of the beef in the Smoke On The Water riff (and most Purple riffs tbh) is the ORGAN. I think that's why people always wanna add that low root note in there because the record sounds much thicker than the guitar isolated.
Blackmore probably went from 8th position to 3rd position when the bass enters because it's brighter and more cutting and complements well with the low bass notes.
Ritchie plays it all over & since about '74 he's usually done the Dm intro. He almost never finger picks it except the intro, depending on his mood...if you listen he'll tell you the trick: you have to do up-strokes, you don't want to hit the 5th first. I've seen him pick one guitar with another, even doing it with his foot, since I've seen him at least a dozen times since '74, when I saw him twice. I know Iomi does his riff up high, as that is how he showed me...I used to be a photographer & have photos!
It looked like you were playing it backwards. You have done the world a service and we will undoubtedly hear the improvement at our local Guitar Center
As far as "Smoke On the Water", knowing Blackmore he switched to the 3rd position when the bass came in specifically because it was brighter and wouldn't sound muddy against the bass.
Jimmy Page has admitted numerous times to playing his own stuff in the wrong position, if and whenever necesarry. That is, according to the natural flow of where ever, and in what direction, his hands are moving. His rationale?: "why struggle?"
Wow! A lefthanded Jackson Stratocaster with a Dimebag sticker on it. Now, how many laws is that guitar brakeing exactly? 😂 Also, when the bass comes in, he propably moves to the 4-position to cut through more. That's my guess...
There is a Richie Blackmore interview video where he shows the actual Gibson 335 he played on Machine Head's Smoke On The Water. He played the riff with A and D string 5th fret. On one live recording he is playing the riff starting with D and G string open, and twangs the open D/G with the tremelo bar. My opinion is that Blackmore is too creative to keep playing the same lick exactly the same way, over and over.
It's a very simple riff (that sounds killer) that begs to be played all over the neck, it's just to easy not too. Generally guys who get it done focus on the big picture, don't worry about the "tone wood" on their fretboard, and the guys sitting in their living room focus on insignificant details. To each their own, I suppose.
Maybe Blackmore changes position because once the bass and drums come in, the riff cuts through the mix better, being brighter as it's played on the higher strings
You could do 68768463541687 drum versions of this series and still not cover all of the things I've seen that are just wrong. Not that I'm innocent. ;-)
I agree. The harmonic at the end of the 12th, makes it sound more natural. In regards to the, "Smoke on the water," that listening to the song, in the past, I always envisioned, that it was either two different guitar players or two different guitars, but I always noticed the tone change, but wrote it off. But, your explanation makes sense. Plus, it adds some contrast the the riff. If he just played it at the same place, it could have been dull. But by moving it around, it made the same riff, have some contextual quality. Great video.
A bit further on down the song Smoke on the Water, for the chorus, the correct chord is a C major bar chord at the 3d fret ( ..".Smo-oke... on the ... " ) then an A flat maj ("....water...") I had figured it out, took me awhile... and when I was chatting with Ritchie about it, ( I'm fortunate enough to know him as a friend.. )he told me he had always thought it was a C minor !! but he stated was always asking his bandmates what chord it was..he told me" oh well, I was only playing the bottom A and D and G strings on the bar chord," which turns out to be no different from a C major.
If I am not mistaken, Nick Bowcott used to be with Grim Reaper. Anyways on the Classic Albums series featuring Machine Head, Blackmore showed how he plays the Smoke On The Water riff.
Interesting video. I have used RUclips videos to figure out where guitarists are playing the riffs. Also, a friend of mine was the original guitarist for a famous rock band. One time we were in a bar and the DJ played one of his tunes, knowing he was present at the bar. He told me the current guitarist in his old band plays the riff wrong. And he ought to know since he wrote it.
little known trivia the main licks for both 'BURN' and 'MAN ON THE SILVER MOUNTAIN' are actually just variations on the main lick for 'SMOKE ON THE WATER' RICHIE admitted as such himself in an interview. i decided to check it out for myself and sure enough all 3 are in the same basic position in 'G'. another tune it seems no one plays right is 'ALRIGHT NOW' by 'FREE'. the reason being that it's actually two similar but separate riffs blended together in the mix to sound like one lick. that's why the infamous 'isle of wight' footage of 'FREE' the riff sounds slightly different to the recording. and btw, PAUL KOSSOF didn't even come up with that riff it was actually PAUL RODGERS that wrote that one.
@@THRASHMETALFUNRIFFS No. Instead of playing a note on the first fret 6th string with 3rd fret 5th string, it is inverted. 3rd fret 6th string, 1st fret 5th string. You're probably thinking about 1st fret 6th and 5th string.
@@7James77 Standard 3 string power chords have that inverted power chord in them, because of the octave note, so Imagine you had another string lower playing inverted power chord on the E string, you're index would make a power chord on that invisible string... so let's say ur playing a standard power chord on the A string 5th fret, simply add that index finger to the 5th fret E string, now it's a barre chord that sounds like ur playing Drop D but it's also an "inverted" power chord right there on the E & A... so an inverted power chord is really just a 2 finger barre chord if you want to keep adding in notes to play it across all 6 strings, super simple.
@@7James77 In my Sepultura-We Who are not as Others video. It's an "inverted" power chord making that low sound, tricking the ear into sounding like it's in 7 string range even though the guitars are in E flat, if I was only strumming the top 2 strings, but you see it's really just a barre chord where I'm strumming like 4 strings for even thicker presence.
I learned Enter Sandman from the official tab book that came out just after the black album was originally released and the way it was tabbed in the book is how you played it the first time. I always felt it wasn't quite right but never figured out why. Trouble is, I've played it that way for so long that trying to learn the right way is like learning from scratch all over again.
If you are playing the Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath) version of Paranoid you want to use the E5 chord on the E and A strings. If you want the Randy Rhoda’s/Jake E Lee/Brad Gillis version you want to use the E5 chord in the A and D. The 80s version is more rhythmic and has bass note lead in to the D Chord when you are playing the verse.
IIRC I think Brad Gillis played it with the open e whereas Randy and Jake played it as 2 string (Root/5th) E chord. Music is art so I don’t see anything wrong with taking liberties with an often played song. With the exception of Tony Iommi, the solo on Paranoid is always different when played live. If it works and and sounds good why not!
Cool vid, thank ya! Every time I play the intro riff to the old Stones song, "This Could Be The Last Time," I can feel the ghost of Brian Jones throwing things at me, saying "you're playing it wrong!" (Which is true; he played it up on fatter strings for different tone, I punk out and just run it from the Am position.)
There are a few vids on Whole Lotta that explain the bend on the A string and hitting the open D at the same time. But from what i've seen, and i'm just learning it most get it wrong! Thankfully right from the go i learned it correctly, Thanks James James!
Best example of Enter Sandman is from a show a couple of years ago in new New York, starts off with Hetfield showing the crowd his pick for some reason with the camera zoomed in, then he plays the intro and it's still zoomed in pretty well. I've found that if I play the open G and 5th fret D together, it sounds a little more like the record
After you watch, give this video a thumbs up and subscribe! 😎🤘
Great to have these videos via Sweetwater.......I get most of stuff from you guys now.....numero uno !
Only if you return the favor!!. When I see you added my channel, I'll run streaking throughout the many guitar videos of RUclips espousing the Sweetwater channel and the wonders found there within
@Sweetwater Please provide the tab for the “Enter the Sandman” riff….thanks in advance
I knew it! paranoid IS played on the 12th fret, Take that Giovanni from my first band on 8th grade, it’s been 10 years but the truth has surfaced
He may play it at the 12th but any body can see if you hit the open E when you play the E 5th chord it's darker and fuller
Yes it is. Always has been. Just like alot of Iommi's songs are played in c sharp.
What a scrub, get rekt Giovanni
Giovanni is a scrub.
10 years... I’ve got socks older than you... OMG! I really do!
If you want to hear riffs played wrong, sit in my living room for 10 minutes
mike Tuttle I think 1 is enough
Hahaha me too I'm not playing them wrong it's just all the better I am
Are you playing "wrong" or merely "improvising"? lol My dad always used to ask my older brother how long it takes to learn guitar. I never understood why as a kid. I get it now. Harsh!
mike Tuttle lol!
Greatest comment ever?
Dang. Looks like I've played every one of these riffs wrong. Turns out, I needed a left handed guitar!
🤣🤘
So that's how Jimi did it!!
I can play every riff out there wrong. Top that!
Especially “Paranoid.”
I like it better played wrong
When I order from Sweetwater they give me free candy. That puts a smile on my face.
You know you've done something right when you put a smile on Mr. Grumpy Face!
Mr. Grumpy Face I got a bag the other day from them with one banana taffy and FIVE red hots. It was awesome.
LMAO!
They fail on this when you buy software downloads. This is where they need to improve.
I know I just got a white fang guitar the George Thorogood model and I got all kinds of candy
Pure Genius! Thanks for taking the time and good to see you still ROCKING, Mr. Nick Bowcott!
My mom once told me that everytime someone plays 0-3-5 Rudy gains a suscriber.
Rei_clone#2 that is true
0-3-5 bro!
@@wesleytrott6397 play something else bro
You’re Moms right!
I hate the song anyway
I had a Grim Reaper tape back in 84-85 and Nick was the guitarist. Need to revisit their music again, been too many years 🤘🎸
Regarding Smoke on the Water, the record version, I think all these observations are correct and that the best way to get a proper sound for Smoke on the Water is to play the darker variations high up the neck on the lower strings before the bass and drums occupy the low end of the spectrum, then kick into 2nd gear and play closer to the nut on the higher strings when the bass instruments arrive.
Switching from neck to bridge pick ups in between can also help enhance the effect.
The thing to note about Ritchie Blackmore in live settings is that he never quite sticks to what he played on a studio recording. He changed it quite a bit when Deep Purple played concerts. Blackmore chalked it up to having a poor memory of what he did in the studio when they made records.
Harrison Myers or that he changed it up because it sounded better live (different acoustics or even using a different guitar) or he came up with a better way to play it after it was already recorded or he changes it up a little here and there so he doesn’t get bored playing the same over and over.
Could be any one of those reasons or even all of them depending on his mood, the venue or what have you.
@@CamaroAmx Guitar virtuosos do what they want!
Awesome tips there Nick!
I think everyone has bungled those riffs at some point! I'm glad I am not the only one who has "went down the rabbit hole" looking for the correct way to play a certain song! Great video!
These segments are great. Awesome host as well.
Enter sandman was still wrong.....you alternate picked the walkdown. NEED MORE DOWNPICKING LOL
Tyler Wilson and a wah pedal when Kirk starts playin his part as well
James doesn't down pick that intro
Actually there should also be open G string strummed with fretted D and both keep ringing.
Wow u guys just know it all so perfectly
Dark Claw they think they do
I know a lot of people who plays Born To Be Wild's on a wrong way. I used to be one of them Lol. Most of them, play that riff following the chords sequence E > C# > D > E, instead keepin on E and Just keepin on E chord while pressing the C# and D only on notes.
And paying a certain attention, i realized that the difference between these two forms are huge on how they sound.
Anyway, great video. And sorry for my english. I hope someone understood my words ahahahah. Rock on!
Surprising and enlightening! Showing some love for Dimebag Darrell on the white strat, excellent.
I just reread through your Riffer Madness book the other day. Such a good book. Thank you Nick!
This is such a great video - thanks for showing us these riffs :)
Great detective work, Nick! I'll be sharing this with my students, too. Thank you.
Wow, being incredibly precise about these licks, how could it get better?
I know Hetfield's Enter Sandman is played from the 5th fret, but when I first learned it I played it on open E, Octave E second fret D string, open G, and the walk on 1st fret A and open A. It requires no finger gymnastics, and everything rings the way it should.
All the former guitar shop salesmen are having PTSD flashbacks...
And half of us guitarists too, lols.
Underrated comment
Thank you, Nick... Great research! As for "Smoke", I think that Richie may have moved to the 5th fret when the bass kicks in because it needed a brighter sound to offset Roger's part. But only the man truly knows! Cheers.
Makes sense that Blackmore changes to the lighter strings when the bass kicks in so that guitar can occupy a different tonal range. Starts out dark, but then the bass does the heavy lifting and the guitar brightens.
Great research. Tabs used to drive me nuts. ...close approximation with most tabs but so frequently you know they're off. I loved Blackmore riffs but so much of what's tabbed is off in his case. Thanks.
11:47...okay, yes, ...he does that a lot...and I didn't know what key he starts with on that and then keys in as the organ comes in. 🤘
Some other things I've suspected is in some cases he'll thumb fret the low G on the last note of the riff...but there's really a lot of variations with his playing. Primarily though, pick and finger hybrid picking is pretty much everywhere and he thumbs over a lot.
The difference with the finger picking is important because all the notes ring immediately rather than the slight space that occurs when the pick passes through the strings... good stuff.
13:59...Blackmore riffs are quite a rabbit hole...have fun with that!😁
Oh, yeah, and if your doing it with strat single coils like he did every move becomes drastically more pronounced ...(compared to fat buckers that tend to give a homogeneous sound, if you will...)
Sorry, long comment, but one thing I did read... Blackmore said that fourths are part of his playing approach...so as you mentioned the inverted chord, the G on the bottom is something to consider. I've thought of his playing in terms of G but since G is D's fourth, D might be a good frame of reference... anyway...
Awesome lesson! Thank you!
Joe Walsh explains the Whole Lotta Love riff on the Gibson guitar setup demo. He figured it out on his own and said it took him quite a while and then he apologises to Jimmy that the secret was out
LOL....Steve Stevens does the exact same thing on one of his gear videos.....
One of the reasons I love guitar is all the subtle nuance that exists between different approaches by every player. Personally I try not to get too hung up on replicating exactly what’s on the record in place of trying to capture a feel and imposing my own interpretation. However it can be a useful exercise looking at the individual techniques of the greats especially the ones that aren’t obviously apparent.
The moral of the story: Learn the fretboard. Do your research, and pay attention.
Great video!
My thought on Blackmore moving back to the fifth when Hughes kicks in is that, in that position it brings the unwound G into the mix which creates a brighter sound to better contrast with Hughes' thundering bass line.
Roger Glover was the bass player.
@@davemis40Sorry. Should've made it clear I was referring to the California Jam footage. I know Glover did it originally. 👍🤟
@@akc5150 I'm a big fan of Hughes
Smoke on the Water lick is lightly finger picked with not so much gain. But it sounds cool when Jon Lord's comes in doubling the lick on his Hammond organ plugged into a Marshall. That is marked by a volume increase.
Re: Smoke on the Water. It made sense to shift from the 7th to the 3rd position after the BASS came in, because there was no need for a "dark" guitar tone. 3rd position had the brilliant highs. No need for a clash between the Bass and Guitar.
I saw an interview with John Paul Jones where he talks about playing the _Whole Lotta Love_ riff using the open D string. But I had no idea Jimmy did this also. Even so, as a kid I used to tug that D note slightly because I could hear that he was warbling the sound of it somehow, and it wasn't a pedal as far as I could hear. Cool video btw too, all sorts of interesting tidbits.
Edit: The paranoid riff is "darker" on the 12th fret because the strings are thicker. This concept goes for using heavier gauge strings as well. Stevie Ray Vaughn is a perfect example.
Smoke on the Water was also the very first riff I taught myself. But I was doing it from memory and made the exact same mistake of getting the intervals correct, but playing it on the open E string. I'm also guessing Ritchie moved back down to the third fret as a bass friendly gesture, as the thinner strings would interfere less with the bass in the overall mix.
As a side note, the first song I learned to play correctly was shown to me by a friend whose father was a professional guitarist: Draw the Line by Aerosmith.
Brilliant! The simplest riff ever turns out not to be... but the genius of guitarists like Blackmore and Hendrix is that they keep throwing in little variations and rarely play the same song the same twice. These guys have musical brains operating ten times faster than us mortals!
About to buy my first real guitar from you guys at sweetwater for the first time, when I get back home from my deployment
Thanks for supporting the oil hungry US military!
@@Skiptracer1981 USA is now a net exporter of oil, so first off go educate yourself before opening your piehole, next don't be talking smack about the US servicemen/women. Freedom doesn't come for free.
Buy the epiphone Tony Iommi special. I got one for my brother and me and they are so great long sustain very powerful and it's just a beautiful guitar with the cross inlays. Or try the white fang model of George Thorogood this guitar sounds great plugged in our all by itself I just got it and haven't put it down.
Man thank you for your service to our country and don't pay attention to zen brother we stand by you all the way man.
3dsman 3dsman “Freedom”. Sorry, I live in Canada where we can see how the US really operates without the illusions your media likes to dream up.
Freedom to not have health care and to buy McDonalds and Apple products until your head explodes.
Freedom to back out of climate deals and freedom to start proxy wars on three continents.
Freedom to elect a raging monster who makes you all look like children.
Freedom.
Great stuff you’re selling.
I don’t need to educate myself. I am from a military family and worked as a translator.
All a common grunt is to the US brass is some meat to train into a sheep with a gun.
Red Zulu Zulu 009-6
Brilliant video - anything that promotes originality and authenticity in whatever genre of humanity should be embraced and this video is no exception. I can't top any of this only that on the Machine Head album Smoke on The Water is finger picked as follows: AD at 5th - DG at 3rd - DG at 5th - AD at 5th - DG at 3rd - DG at 6th - DG at 5th - AD at 5th - DG at 3rd - DG at 5th - DG at 3rd - AD at 5th.
As someone else said further down in the comments Blackmore would play any number of variations out of boredom and to confuse people - I've even seen him play this song barring the strings using just his thumb over the fretboard, bless him!
Really excellent video. Thank you!
Love your dedication to doing the research
Love seeing a fellow left hander playing rock on brother
They have just made this video because they are tired of people playing riffs wrong in their store
Notice that they didn't show you how to play Stairway to Heaven, 'cause ain't nobody got time for that!
Great video! Thank you so much for this
Thanks for watching, Brandon!
Thank you Nick...like so many others, I was playing these riffs incorrectly. Even though what I was playing was close enough for rock and roll, your demonstrations added back in those little nuances that really add more impact to the riffs and make the parts sound so much more cool. The truth is that even if the artists weren’t playing them the way that you demonstrated, what you were playing is something I will incorporate going forward. On that note (pun completely intended), I hope that you do more of these kinds of videos.
Thanks Nick for diving deep into the cesspit of RUclips and doing all the hard work for us!
That actually does make a difference with the Enter Sandman intro. We've all been playing the Wal Mart Great Value version.
yeah, I just make it easy and play it in open string eminor, let the G ring out every other time
Thank you for your painstaking research sir. Good demonstrations too.
This is the type of crap I do if I'm playing correct notes and it just doesn't have the same feel as the original way I'm hearing it, I search through RUclips and try to zoom in on hands and see how they're positioned and moving. It has especially helped me with learning Pretenders songs, they have a specific way of playing jangly chords that don't sound anywhere near as good if you play them in another way.
Hey there Queefer, just being social graceful to my guitar- brethren. One advice I give is always figure out what kind of paraphernalia the player is exploiting.To wit: are they using a foot-pedal, are they in standard tuning or an odd-tuning, do they have a capo on the neck, is it one guitar or two guitars, I've even heard of some guitar players substituting the high E string with a banjo string!
The reason he changed smoke on the water is all venues and amp. If the amp is dark and mushy play the brighter position. If the amp is spikey play the darker position. If the song dictates the guitar stand out, play that position, or if it needs to sit down in the mix again change to adjust. Know chords and riffs all over the neck and you can adjust for changing conditions.
Brother you have to remember who you are talking about blackmore never wants his playing to be stale he always evolves his way of doing it a little different because it keeps the song from being boring to him. So with him playing it up or down it just depends on when or what he is going to do next to help him from becoming a drag down and frustrated with playing the same thing over and over and over every night
Just play Hendrix since he played it different every time there's really no wrong way.......
Exactly music is so universal....there is no right or wrong way to play...
Great point playing is all about expressing yourself afterall.
Mark Picente correct....and...incorrect. Written parts are always the exact notes written. BUT you can play the same “notes” on different strings and be the same song. Sometimes it’s personal opinion, but it can also be pretty subjective.
I don’t think there’s really a wrong way to play it, just the best way to play a riff, and sometimes if there’s multiple parts being played simultaneously, then they are the same part being played in different places to give separation and layers to the sound...in a nerd, I’ll see myself out
Music is art. In art, there is no right or wrong. Just be yourself. Play it your way. Knopler will never be Hendriks and vice versa. Never will be you and I be any of both. Don’t ever let people define you or your music!
Yeah!
Most of the beef in the Smoke On The Water riff (and most Purple riffs tbh) is the ORGAN. I think that's why people always wanna add that low root note in there because the record sounds much thicker than the guitar isolated.
Blackmore probably went from 8th position to 3rd position when the bass enters because it's brighter and more cutting and complements well with the low bass notes.
Thank you! Looking forward to the next installment, Nick!
Thank you for this @sweetwater ! I definitely needed this! 😊🎸
Ritchie plays it all over & since about '74 he's usually done the Dm intro. He almost never finger picks it except the intro, depending on his mood...if you listen he'll tell you the trick: you have to do up-strokes, you don't want to hit the 5th first. I've seen him pick one guitar with another, even doing it with his foot, since I've seen him at least a dozen times since '74, when I saw him twice. I know Iomi does his riff up high, as that is how he showed me...I used to be a photographer & have photos!
great video. Please do more of these.
Very entertaining! Great communicator! And good writing
It looked like you were playing it backwards. You have done the world a service and we will undoubtedly hear the improvement at our local Guitar Center
I've always played paranoid in the 12th position and someone dared tell me I was doing it wrong once. Lol
Always played at the 12th for the past 30+ years
I read an interview with Iommi ages ago. Because of his missing finger tips, he uses 8-gauge strings and tunes down a full step.
Same, I never considered playing it any other way.
Thank you so much! I started out playing it the same way when I was a kid. Very informative ! I look forward to more videos!
Too funny, glancing through comments and only saw last name, and went “ I didn’t reply on this video”. Then noticed first name difference! \w/
As far as "Smoke On the Water", knowing Blackmore he switched to the 3rd position when the bass came in specifically because it was brighter and wouldn't sound muddy against the bass.
Jimmy Page has admitted numerous times to playing his own stuff in the wrong position, if and whenever necesarry. That is, according to the natural flow of where ever, and in what direction, his hands are moving. His rationale?: "why struggle?"
This. Fact is the audience doesn't give a shit.
Nice to see another perfectionist player who won't stand for just "good enough."
I constantly learn from recordings on Howard's show. My Hero by Foo Fighters was played solo by Dave and it is amazing.
I used to play _Paranoid_ in my old metal band, The Uninvited. I remember playing the E5 power chord at the 12th fret.
Re: Smoke On The Water, it would make sense that he would shift to the lower frets, and a more cutting tone, when the bass line kicks in.
Wow! A lefthanded Jackson Stratocaster with a Dimebag sticker on it. Now, how many laws is that guitar brakeing exactly? 😂
Also, when the bass comes in, he propably moves to the 4-position to cut through more. That's my guess...
There is a Richie Blackmore interview video where he shows the actual Gibson 335 he played on Machine Head's Smoke On The Water. He played the riff with A and D string 5th fret. On one live recording he is playing the riff starting with D and G string open, and twangs the open D/G with the tremelo bar. My opinion is that Blackmore is too creative to keep playing the same lick exactly the same way, over and over.
mark peotter Exactly. He probably gets bored and mixes it up. If I had his talent I'd do that too.
It's a very simple riff (that sounds killer) that begs to be played all over the neck, it's just to easy not too. Generally guys who get it done focus on the big picture, don't worry about the "tone wood" on their fretboard, and the guys sitting in their living room focus on insignificant details. To each their own, I suppose.
Great video ! Had no idea. Thanks for posting.
Awesome analysis. Thanks.
Maybe Blackmore changes position because once the bass and drums come in, the riff cuts through the mix better, being brighter as it's played on the higher strings
I think Mr. Blackmore just plays the riffs wherever because it's more challenging and just less boring to him. I do that a lot. Idrk why
I'd love to see a drum version of this series!
You could do 68768463541687 drum versions of this series and still not cover all of the things I've seen that are just wrong.
Not that I'm innocent. ;-)
Blackmore is the most unpredictable of the lot. He plays it any way he feels like at the time. That’s why he is the most exciting to watch.
I agree. The harmonic at the end of the 12th, makes it sound more natural. In regards to the, "Smoke on the water," that listening to the song, in the past, I always envisioned, that it was either two different guitar players or two different guitars, but I always noticed the tone change, but wrote it off. But, your explanation makes sense. Plus, it adds some contrast the the riff. If he just played it at the same place, it could have been dull. But by moving it around, it made the same riff, have some contextual quality. Great video.
Enter Sandman timing sounded odd.
I'm sure Blackmore plays some things differently out of pure boredom and other times just to mess people around.
A bit further on down the song Smoke on the Water, for the chorus, the correct chord is a C major bar chord at the 3d fret ( ..".Smo-oke... on the ... " ) then an A flat maj ("....water...") I had figured it out, took me awhile... and when I was chatting with Ritchie about it, ( I'm fortunate enough to know him as a friend.. )he told me he had always thought it was a C minor !! but he stated was always asking his bandmates what chord it was..he told me" oh well, I was only playing the bottom A and D and G strings on the bar chord," which turns out to be no different from a C major.
Great job, Nick! Loved the video. Lots of great info.
If I am not mistaken, Nick Bowcott used to be with Grim Reaper. Anyways on the Classic Albums series featuring Machine Head, Blackmore showed how he plays the Smoke On The Water riff.
Interesting video. I have used RUclips videos to figure out where guitarists are playing the riffs. Also, a friend of mine was the original guitarist for a famous rock band. One time we were in a bar and the DJ played one of his tunes, knowing he was present at the bar. He told me the current guitarist in his old band plays the riff wrong. And he ought to know since he wrote it.
little known trivia the main licks for both 'BURN' and 'MAN ON THE SILVER MOUNTAIN' are actually just variations on the main lick for 'SMOKE ON THE WATER' RICHIE admitted as such himself in an interview. i decided to check it out for myself and sure enough all 3 are in the same basic position in 'G'.
another tune it seems no one plays right is 'ALRIGHT NOW' by 'FREE'. the reason being that it's actually two similar but separate riffs blended together in the mix to sound like one lick. that's why the infamous 'isle of wight' footage of 'FREE' the riff sounds slightly different to the recording. and btw, PAUL KOSSOF didn't even come up with that riff it was actually PAUL RODGERS that wrote that one.
Thanks Nick! I knew all of these except for Enter Sandman. About time where people know the correct way!
Ritchie Blackmore has also played it on the G and D strings starting in open position. It's on video.
Inverted power chords are your ticket to deep, dark, undertone distortion glorious goodness (and BADness!!!)
I use them ALL the time.
Couldn't agree more!
It's really just a barre chord though isn't it? Tricks the ear into sounding like a 7 string
@@THRASHMETALFUNRIFFS No. Instead of playing a note on the first fret 6th string with 3rd fret 5th string, it is inverted. 3rd fret 6th string, 1st fret 5th string. You're probably thinking about 1st fret 6th and 5th string.
@@7James77 Standard 3 string power chords have that inverted power chord in them, because of the octave note, so Imagine you had another string lower playing inverted power chord on the E string, you're index would make a power chord on that invisible string... so let's say ur playing a standard power chord on the A string 5th fret, simply add that index finger to the 5th fret E string, now it's a barre chord that sounds like ur playing Drop D but it's also an "inverted" power chord right there on the E & A... so an inverted power chord is really just a 2 finger barre chord if you want to keep adding in notes to play it across all 6 strings, super simple.
@@7James77 In my Sepultura-We Who are not as Others video. It's an "inverted" power chord making that low sound, tricking the ear into sounding like it's in 7 string range even though the guitars are in E flat, if I was only strumming the top 2 strings, but you see it's really just a barre chord where I'm strumming like 4 strings for even thicker presence.
That was both informative and entertaining at the same time. Hopefully there's a Part 2 in the future. :)
I learned Enter Sandman from the official tab book that came out just after the black album was originally released and the way it was tabbed in the book is how you played it the first time. I always felt it wasn't quite right but never figured out why. Trouble is, I've played it that way for so long that trying to learn the right way is like learning from scratch all over again.
Very cool video, thanks.
There's a few clips of Blackmore playing the riff to Smoke with his thumb over the top of the fretboard.
The subtly of that Whole Lotta Love.......so cool.
Three of these were news to me. But then again .. these were like the first riffs I learned , and likely by ear. So I'm not surprised.
If you are playing the Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath) version of Paranoid you want to use the E5 chord on the E and A strings. If you want the Randy Rhoda’s/Jake E Lee/Brad Gillis version you want to use the E5 chord in the A and D. The 80s version is more rhythmic and has bass note lead in to the D Chord when you are playing the verse.
That's what I said not nearly as technically and let's remember Tony plays fatter strings I still think it's heavier at the 7th with the open E
IIRC I think Brad Gillis played it with the open e whereas Randy and Jake played it as 2 string (Root/5th) E chord. Music is art so I don’t see anything wrong with taking liberties with an often played song. With the exception of Tony Iommi, the solo on Paranoid is always different when played live. If it works and and sounds good why not!
Cool vid, thank ya! Every time I play the intro riff to the old Stones song, "This Could Be The Last Time," I can feel the ghost of Brian Jones throwing things at me, saying "you're playing it wrong!" (Which is true; he played it up on fatter strings for different tone, I punk out and just run it from the Am position.)
Great inside info, Nick!
There are a few vids on Whole Lotta that explain the bend on the A string and hitting the open D at the same time. But from what i've seen, and i'm just learning it most get it wrong! Thankfully right from the go i learned it correctly, Thanks James James!
You can imagine how often these guys change the way they play songs after years of touring.
Class video really enjoyed this !!
Thank you for giving a great lesson!
Loved it, looking forward to more videos like this!
The video was cool "by definition", looking forward for more, the guys at Sweetwater are awesome!!
😎👍
Great video, thanks
Best example of Enter Sandman is from a show a couple of years ago in new New York, starts off with Hetfield showing the crowd his pick for some reason with the camera zoomed in, then he plays the intro and it's still zoomed in pretty well.
I've found that if I play the open G and 5th fret D together, it sounds a little more like the record
Sweet water should have candy for sale and you get a free guitar for every order