Classic Black Sabbath Riffs

In this lesson, you will learn some guitar riffs to such Black Sabbath songs as: Iron Man, The Wizard, Paranoid, and Sweet Leaf. Before we get to the riffs, I first want to explain some similarities with these riffs. Every riff we are learning uses power chords. I am sure many of you know what these are, but for those who don’t yet, they are moveable fingerings that consist of 2 notes played at the same time. Technically, they are not actually chords, because the definition of a chord is three or more notes ringing at the same time. However, this is the name they are commonly known as.

Take a look at these chord shapes below:

Power Chord Built off 6th StringPower Chord Built off 5th String

These chords are played with the first (index) and third (ring) fingers. Remember to mute the strings that have an “X” on them. The cool thing about power chords is as long as you keep the same fingering or “shape,” then you can move them anywhere on the guitar.

Another similarity that Paranoid and The Wizard have is the use of the pentatonic minor scale. These riffs use not only power chords, but also single notes that come from this scale. Play this scale, one note at a time, starting on the top string (left side). Be sure to use the correct fingering.

Pentatonic Minor Scale

Now that you have an idea where the chords and notes to the riffs come from, lets take a look at the main riff to Iron Man. With this riff, take the power chord built off the 6 th string and move it to the specified locations.

TAB and Lyrics not Available

The next riff to look at is Sweet Leaf. This riff uses power chords built on both the 6 th and 5 th strings.

Now we have two riffs that combine power chords and single notes found in the pentatonic minor scale. For the riff in Paranoid , the scale starting point will be the 12 th fret.

Finally, we have the main riff from The Wizard. This also combines power chords and single notes. This time, the starting point of the pentatonic scale will be the 5 th fret.

As you can see, there are always patterns and common elements found in music. It helps to identify these to be able to see the big picture when learning guitar. That way, notes found in songs will not seem randomly placed.

See if you can take this knowledge and compare some other song riffs you already know. Do any of the riffs use the power chord shapes or do any single note lines fall in the pentatonic minor scale?

Later.


Where Did The Guitar Tab Go?
On February 11, 2010 we received a letter from lawyers representing the NMPA and the MPA instructing us to remove guitar tab and lyrics from this page. You can read more about their complaint here. Alternatively, you can still find this complete article with tab and lyrics archived here.