Learn a Classic Riff – Rock Bottom
It’s time to take a trip back to 1974 and learn a riff from one of the pioneers of heavy metal, UFO. This riff was played by guitarist Michael Schenker and is a great example of an early, fast riff that laid the groundwork for the heavy metal we know and love from the 1980s.
To get the tone for this riff you want plenty of attack and midrange punch so set your ISF all the way to the UK side and set your guitar to the bridge humbucker. Lots of volume will also help here to get that natural, power amp saturation.
The riff features some string skipping and some finger twisting movements. As a general rule, try to keep your index finger for any 5th fret notes, your middle finger for any 6th fret and ring finger for any 7th fret notes.
To get the urgency and immediacy of the original, you should aim to downpick the whole thing, but don’t worry if you can’t nail it at that speed with all downpicks, start with alternate picking and slowly build the speed up once each note is being played clearly.
This 4 bar riff is actually the same thing twice with a different note on the end, so once you’ve learnt the first half, the second half will fall into place.
The initial bar is straight eighth notes (two notes on a beat) except for the first open note, which lasts for a whole beat. This creates a feeling of urgency when playing the rest of the bar.
The thing to watch out for is the string movements, some parts you’ll be playing a single note before moving to another string, and other parts you’ll be doubling up on one string.
In the second bar (and the fourth bar) there is also a quick pull off that is quicker than the rest of the notes in the bar.
On the second time around, hit the 5th fret of the D string and give it a quarter tone bend instead of going back to the open E.
On the original, you’ll hear a lot of accidental pinch harmonics from Schenker. This is probably a result of fast, aggressive downpicking. If you can add these from time to time, it adds to the vibe of the riff, but it still sounds great without!
If you enjoyed this riff, check out the other Classic Riff lessons on the Blackstar Youtube channel.