Introduction to Rock riffs and melodies
With
Tommy WebbTommy Webb introduces rock guitar - riffs, melodies, and how to dial in a distorted tone using a pedal or your amp's overdrive channel.
What's in the course
47 lessons (1h 40m) · 1 free
01. Welcome to the Course
1:41
02. Meet Your Teacher
0:40
03. Guide to the Guitar
6:52
04. Sitting with Your Guitar (Acoustic)
3:29
05. Sitting with Your Guitar (Electric)
0:49
06. How to Tune Your Guitar
4:57
07. How to Use a Guitar Pick
2:49
08. Make Your First Sound on the Guitar
2:45
09. How to Strum a Guitar
2:02
10. How to Read Music - Tab
Free lesson1:52
11. How to Read Music - Notation
3:03
12. Note Values and Rhythm
5:08
01. Introduction to Rock riffs and melodies
You are here1:47
02. How to get a clean fretted sound
3:19
03. Riff using the E&G notes
3:30
04. Riff using the E&G notes (performance)
1:10
05. Riff accenting the strong note
1:34
06. Riff accenting the strong note (performance)
0:58
07. Riff using half notes
1:44
08. Riff using half notes (performance)
0:50
01. Intro to Rock pt2 and my Gibson Les Paul
1:10
02. Riff combining half notes & quarter notes
1:36
03. Riff combining half notes & quarter notes (performance)
0:56
04. Melody A combining 4 notes
4:00
05. Melody A combining 4 notes (performance)
0:57
06. Melody B combining 4 notes
2:32
07. Melody B combining 4 notes (performance)
0:55
08. Rock City - bars 3&4
2:18
09. Rock City - bars 3&4 (performance)
0:58
10. Well done on the Rock section
0:17
01. Intro to the pop section and rests
1:14
02. Riff with rest on beat 3
3:36
03. Riff with rest on beat 3 (performance)
1:04
04. Riff using F note with rests
2:53
05. Riff using F note with rests (performance)
1:05
06. Melody using C note and rests
4:59
07. Melody using C note and rests (performance)
0:54
08. Summary of Pop part 1
0:55
01. What is a Fender Telecaster
1:05
02. Melody with a D note
3:51
03. Melody with a D note (performance)
1:10
04. Melody using whole notes
2:34
05. Melody using whole notes (performance)
0:57
06. Riff combining note values
2:32
07. Riff combining note values (performance)
1:03
08. Party People bars 13-16
2:23
09. Party People bars 13-16 (performance)
1:22
Lesson transcript
Rock Guitar Examples
So, we're coming onto the rock examples! Possibly the most fun type of music we can play on the guitar.
Distorted Tone
We're going to use a distorted tone, which I'm going to explain to you now.
- With our amp, you may have a clean sound like this.
- But for rock, a key sound is having that distorted guitar, which is where the signal gets muffled and gives you that rocky sound that everyone's after.
Ways to Achieve Distortion
- We can do this by using a pedal, but if you don't have one, that's okay.
- We can achieve distortion on the amp as well.
Your amp will probably have two channels:
- Overdrive
- Rock channel
To get the distorted tone:
- Turn the switch on your amp that says overdrive or distortion.
- If your amp doesn't have one, it may have a gain knob, which you can turn all the way up to get that overdriven sound.
Acoustic Guitar
If you're playing an acoustic guitar, it's not the end of the world.
- We're still going to be able to learn these riffs; it's just not going to have that big, rocky sound we're looking for.
Famous Rock Bands and Riffs
Some famous rock bands like:
- Guns N' Roses
- AC/DC
- Metallica
These bands have riffs, which are short pieces of music that are repeated. We can hear that with riffs like this:
(You can hear these are quite short pieces of music that are played on the guitar and repeated round and round.)
Course Overview
In this course, we're going to look at some really cool riffs, get you playing in that rock style, and build up to some exciting pieces at the end of the course.
47 lessons
1h 40m of structured video lessons
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Meet your guru
Meet your guru
Tommy Webb is a London-based guitarist who completed a BA(Hons) Degree in guitar at the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford, studying under Sandy Beales (One Direction, Wheatus) and Nicolas Meier (Jeff Beck). His own playing moves freely across rock, pop, indie, hip-hop, country and metal - the exact ground his guitar methods cover.
Tommy has worked with a wide range of artists and bands across the country, including Jarki Monno and Indira May, sharing stages and sessions with guitarists Paul Murray (Jess Glynne, Zak Abel) and Adam Chetwood (Paolo Nutini, Mark Ronson), and drummers Alex Woodward (Black Honey), Luke Robinson and “Bambi Music” (N-Dubz, Lethal Bizzle, Wretch 32, Tinie Tempah).
On stage, he has performed at the Jazz Cafe opening for soul singer Jocelyn Brown, plus venues and festivals including Ronnie Scott's, Troy Bar, The Watford Colosseum, Camden Assembly, Kensington Roof Gardens, Notting Hill Arts Club, Meraki Festival and Sundown Festival.
On record and radio, Tommy has played live sessions for BBC Three Counties Introducing, Vibe FM and Pulse 88, with tracks featured on BBC Radio 1 and Radio 2. He has recorded at studios including South Lanes Brighton, Hempstead Road and Titan Studios with producers such as Steph Carter (Gallows, Lyoness) and TMS / Froe Barnes (Lewis Capaldi, Dua Lipa).
In his guitar methods, Tommy passes all of that working-musician know-how on to you - teaching the techniques, tones and feel behind real styles, from rock and pop to indie, hip-hop, country and metal, so you can play the music you actually love.
