"Easy riffs"... not so easy

Im a newbie so this is how i'd do it. play in position 2nd finger plays all strings on the 9th fret, 3rd finger plays all strings on 10th fret, fourth finger plays all strings on the 11th fret and little finger plays all strings on the 12th fret. If youve only being playing chords its going to need some practice, usual thing caged scales with metronome. I think the intro to daytripper is probally an easier riff to try.

I think that when it comes to playing riffs like this, all you can do is practice it SLOWLY, over and over, and try to go faster when you have a handle on it.

Practicing scales is going to help, as playing riffs is more about your ability to have your fingers do as they are told, with having practiced for months to get it right (like when learning chords), and this kind of brain-finger cooperation comes only from lots and lots of practice.

In short: play it slow, get the rythm right, repeat, then speed up as much as you can WITHOUT losing the abllity to play it, and repeat the whole process..... <<<< This is the golden rule when learning ANYTHING on the guitar (at least it's my golden rule :))

Pete

I haven't tried it but this looks to be not so easy to me. Try the riff at the begninning of Redemption Song if you want easy. There's also CCR - Down On the Corner for easy and Daytripper. These you'll be able to play right away. And don't worry if you think a three year old can play them. You still need to know them because when you start playing with other people you'll find out that they all know a lot of easy songs and easy riffs. you don't want to be the one that doesn't know the easy stuff.

Thanks for all your answers already.

How about capos, do they help? From what I can understand of them, they make things a lot easier.

I don't think it is easy, but, here is how I would play it:

You need to construct 4 little chord shapes for your fingers to go into.

Each of the first 3 have 3 notes you pick, the next one has 4 due to the pull off.

| | | | | |
----------
| | | x | | 9th fr
----------
| | | | x |
----------
| | | | | |
----------
| | | | | x

| | | | | |
----------
| | | | x | 10th fr
----------
| | | | | |
----------
| | | x | x

| | | | | |
----------
| | | | x | 10th fr
----------
| | | x | |
----------
| | | | | x

| | | | | |
----------
| | | | x-x
----------
| | | x | x 9th fr

Thanks for your replies. I managed to get the hang of the riff, although I can only play it real slow. Daytripper is definitely easier. ;)

Thanks for your replies. I managed to get the hang of the riff, although I can only play it real slow. Daytripper is definitely easier. ;)

Hey Ulfy,

First off..... Welcome to GN.
Hey man its OK to play SLOW. My first guitar teacher's Mantra was.. "Better to play it slow and correctly, than Fast (at speed) and Wrong!"

That little saying has rung true in my head over the past 2+ years now.

Something else to think about. These artists that wrote these songs have two major advantages over you and I.

First they 'Wrote' the music...(at least back then) or they were an integral part of the creation process.
Secondly, they have played with, played on and around with <insert Riff/Song here> how many hundreds of times before they went in to record it? Now granted a lot of artists improvise a lot of material in the studio but...I'm sure they've at least 'noodled' the concepts beforehand... perhaps months, even years before hand.

So just be patient. We've all been there, I still get frustrated when learning new songs just stick with it. It will come. :wink: :) :D

And yeah.. Daytripper is a 'great' riff. One of the first ones I learned and I remember it being quite easy too and the rest of song isn't so hard to learn either. For me its one of the "Funner" (is that a word?) songs to play.

Keep up the goodness.

Day Tripper isn't as easy if you learned to play Hair of the Dog first. :shock: :lol:

If you start off with this shape...

G_B_ E
9 10 12
i__m_p

with your index finger across all three strins: as you pluck the top E string, move your index finger uo a fret...still covering all three strings and put your ring finger on the G string at the 12th without moving your pinky...

G__B__E
12 10 12
r___i__p

then play the G string at the 11th with your middle finger, still keeping the index finger across all 3 strings at the 10th....

G__B__E
11 10 12
m__i__p

slide your index finger and middle finger down a fret, keeping the same shape and use your ring finger to play the pull-off then play the B string with it....

E______10(r)_9(i)_____
B_______________10(r)
G 10(m)_____________

Your index finger is now in the correct place, so simply take off the middle and start again.....

That's the easiest way I can do it, anyway.....

:D :D :D

Vic

Day Tripper isn't as easy if you learned to play Hair of the Dog first. :shock: :lol:

LOL.... 'tis true.

Day Tripper, Hair Of The Dog, AND Pretty Woman share pretty much the same notes.....and You Got It is almost the same as Pretty Woman played backwards, if I remember rightly....

:D :D :D

Vic