Neil’s Top Acoustic Riff & Arpeggio Songs Volume 1

Lessons

• Lesson 1: Smoke On The Water

  Neil gives us a few different ways of playing one of the greatest riff tunes of all time- the caveman classic Smoke On The Water. Grab your guitar and play along, even if you have never played a single note!

• Lesson 2: My My Hey Hey Guitar Lesson - Neil Young

  My My Hey Hey (Out Of The Blue) was written by Neil Young around 1977 when he was playing with the Ducks, a Northern California club band. We have a simple set of chords in the key of A minor- Am7, Am, G, Fmaj7, F, C, and Em7. The use of minor 7 and major 7 chords helps give the song a soft, almost jazzy feel.

• Lesson 3: Ripple

  Ripple has been a favorite Grateful Dead song among Neil's students for quite some time. The basic accompaniment is pretty straightforward, almost a Campfire song. This lesson covers strumming through the progression and includes tab to a Chord Solo arrangement, similar to Neil's Play Through segment.

• Lesson 4: Down On The Corner

  This short lesson goes over the riff and and strumming pattern to a great beginner's song. Chords are C, G, and F, which can be played as a full bar or in its shortened form.

• Lesson 5: Money Guitar Lesson - Pink Floyd

  Dark Side Of The Moon is a landmark album on many fronts and Money sets the tone with an unusual time signature, a great Roger Waters riff, and dynamic singing and guitar work from David Gilmour. The lesson also goes into thoughts on singing a song with unusual timing.

• Lesson 6: Birthday - Guitar Lesson

  *Birthday*is a classic example of taking a simple riff, dropping it into a 12-bar blues format, adding some catchy vocals over a short chord progression, throwing in a little drum break and lead guitar fill, and creating great rock and roll in a matter of just a couple of days. Paul came up with the main riff and had most of the song done by the time the rest of the band was back in the studio. This lesson includes a Campfire Version, the way I like to have beginners learn the basics of the song, as well as a One-Man Band Version where the rhythm guitar and bass parts are combined into something a bit more challenging. The lead section includes some techniques more commonly done on an electric guitar, bends, slides, and quick hammer-on pull-off combinations.

• Lesson 7: Crazy Train (IRL)

  This lesson is part of our Intros, Riffs & Licks Package.

  Crazy Train was released in 1980 by Ozzy Osbourne on his first solo album Blizzard Of Oz. It is based on a simple riff that uses an alternating picking technique with power chords and a short scale-based run. This lesson is part of our Intros, Riffs and Licks Series, and really addresses only the opening riff.

• Lesson 8: Wish You Were Here Guitar Lesson - Pink Floyd

  Wish You Were Here is the title track from the 1975 release by Pink Floyd. The album was their follow-up to one of the greatest recordings in rock history, The Dark Side Of The Moon, which was released in 1973. This lesson looks at 3 different aspects of the guitar parts in Wish You Were Here; the rhythmic strumming accompaniment backing the vocals, the opening part played in the chord-melody style where a melody is picked out while strumming a couple of chords, and the single-note lead played over the chord-melody section.

• Lesson 9: All Day And All Of The Night

  All Day And All Of The Night was the second hit for the Kinks, on the heels of You Really Got Me. It also continues the 'Caveman' concept and takes it up a notch with the addition of some full barre chords, including some from the 'A' family, which really require 2 barres. The riff is a bit more complex as well.

• Lesson 10: Sunshine Of Your Love (Cream)

  This classic rock staple was done by Cream in 1967. This lesson shows a basic version, good for beginners, as well as an intermediate version very much like Eric Clapton's original guitar part.

• Lesson 11: Iron Man (IRL)

  This lesson is part of our Intros, Riffs & Licks Package.

  Iron Man is one of the most recognized riffs from the early Black Sabbath days. The opening riff consists mostly of moving power chords, including some slightly tricky descending slides.

• Lesson 12: Aqualung

  Aqualung was one of the first songs (and albums) to really bring attention to Jethro Tull and its fearless leader, Ian Anderson. This short lesson goes over the main riff and set of following power chords, as well as the acoustic guitar accompaniment to the middle section of the song.

• Lesson 13: Don't Fear The Reaper - Guitar Lesson

  Don’t Fear The Reaper was written by Blue Oyster Cult guitarist and singer Buck Dharma. It appeared on their 1976 album Agents Of Fortune and was their first big hit. This is a great song for guitar players of any level. I make just about all of my students learn the opening riff early in their guitar lives. The chords can all be played with just 2 fingers, many of which are just power chords. It is also a good way to learn the technique of placing your left fingers down one at a time, in the order you need to play them, rather than slapping the whole chord down at once.

• Lesson 14: I'd Love To Change The World Guitar Lesson - Ten Years After

  An obscure English blues rock band, the Jaybirds included members who, in 1966 renamed themselves Ten Years After, in honor of front man, Alvin Lee’s idol, Elvis Presley, who had his breakout year in 1956. After a few albums and moderate success in England they came to America to perform at the Newport Jazz Festival and Woodstock in 1969. Lee’s rendition of I’m Going Home in the movie launched them to stardom. The song opens with an arpeggio pattern followed by a chromatic bass run leading to the next chord, then a similar move on the next pair of chords, before landing on the dominant chord. The chord progression then picks up in intensity with a heavily accented series of the same chords.

• Lesson 15: Behind Blue Eyes Guitar Lesson - The Who

  As a follow-up to Tommy, Pete Townsend embarked on another opera-type project called Lifehouse. It never really materialized but some of the songs written for it appeared in 1971 on Who's Next. Behind Blue Eyes has some different parts that use a wide variety of techniques. It opens with arpeggiated picking over chords in the key of E minor, followed with some basic strumming through the chorus, then adds a short sample of Pete's signature double-time strum, before changing modes and rocking out a bit. This has been one of our most requested lessons for quite a while.