Music Lesson: Quarter Notes Riff

So, as we said, we've got quarter notes to play. This riff consists of one note per beat.

Clapping Exercise

We're going to clap through this now. In all four bars, you can see the vertical lines coming down. The rhythm doesn't change; we have:

• Four notes in each bar, so clapping along the notes would sound like this:
  • 1, 2, 3, 4.
  • 1, 2, 3, four.
  • 1, 2, 3, Four.
  • 1, 2, 3, FOUR.

All even the whole way through.

Understanding the Tab

Looking at the tab, this will give us our pitches and where to play these notes on the neck.

• The open E string, the big low one, is on the B side of the tab, meaning bass.
• The lower notes include one open string followed by a G (which is the third fret). You can see that by the number 3 on that line.

After we play the third fret, we go back to the open string and play that twice.

Playing Technique

What we're going to be doing here is hovering our third finger above the third fret the whole time. When we see that fret number three, we're going to:

1. Push down on the string into the gap.
2. Take it back off to get the open string again.

This would look like this:

• Open, third fret, open, and open again.

We're going to be using down picking here with our picking hand, just playing down on the top E string.

• It's a rocky sound, and it sounds quite heavy and big, but that doesn't mean we need to pluck any harder.
• The amp and the distortion will be taking care of that for you.

Consistency in Practice

Keep it nice and smooth and just stroke that top E string. If we read through the line, you can see every bar is the same.

• We have a repeat of the first bar for the next three.

So all we need to do now is get those first four notes down and work on your stamina‚ being able to play it a further three more times.

Following the Riff

I'm going to play through that riff, and try and follow along. A nice, easy way to stay in time at home is to tap your foot.

• Keep in time with yourself: 1, 2, 3, 4.
• Make sure each tap is constant and an even distance apart.

Backing Track

We are now going to put this riff to the backing track, which will feel like you're playing with a band. We'll take it in turns:

• The first time, I'll play the riff, then you, then me, then you‚ just like a band situation, trading solos.

It might feel a little bit faster as we're playing at 90 beats per minute. Don't worry if you need to take some time before you get there.

Practice Tips

You can loop this video and go over it as many times as you need to feel comfortable. When I learn a new riff or a new song, I take it really, really slowly.

• I recommend playing this riff at a really slow tempo to begin with, something like this:

[Slow Tempo Example]

Gradually work on getting faster and faster. Remember, the backing track at 90 beats per minute is quite quick. So don't be worried if you take a few days working on this riff to get it up to that speed.