He couldn’t have known he was only then coming up with what would become their signature hit. Worst of all, he was fast approaching 30, surely over the hill for a rock’n’roll star. Whitesnake’s prospects didn’t look much rosier, with tensions rising to the point that within a year Coverdale would sack all his bandmates. Back in 1981 he was living in a rented villa on the Algarve and sleeping in a separate room from his first wife Julia as their relationship crumbled. “That’s not too shabby for a man of my dotage.”Ĭoverdale didn’t expect to still be squeezing himself into leather trousers at 70 because he thought it was all over four decades ago. “I have bluebirds flying out of every orifice,” he trills happily in a way that suggests the sensation is less painful than it sounds. “Reno-by-Sea!” he announces theatrically, then, “He wishes!” He’s in good spirits, despite having had his retirement plans pushed back. “It’s unbelievable to me that I’m still working and active at 70,” he tells me, his rich, sonorous tones singing down the line from Hook City, his home studio on the outskirts of Reno, about 20 minutes from Lake Tahoe. The flamboyant Whitesnake frontman, blessed with the voice of a golden god and the innuendo-laden sense of humour of a naughty schoolboy, has instead been forced by the pandemic to reschedule his band’s last stand until next spring. But, this change offered up some pretty cool guitar riffs that are a bit more playable for newer guitar players.David Coverdale wanted to retire from touring last year, when he was 69.
It was a bit more simplistic in song structure and rhythm than that of their previous albums. For longtime fans of the band, this song (and album) was a bit of a departure from their previous four. Riff #1: Enter Sandman – Metallicaįrom the 1991 album Metallica, Enter Sandman was the first single released. The riffs vary in degree of difficulty, so if you find some are too challenging for your current level of playing, learn the others and come back to these after. They span from metal, to rock, to grunge and even the oldies. The ten riffs below are easy enough for the beginner to learn, but they’re also fun to play regardless of playing level. Riffs can be a lot of fun to play and there are plenty of easy ones that are perfect for beginner guitarists, as you’ll see in the list below. The riff essentially forms the basis of the rhythm guitar track.
Of course this is because of my personal taste in music, but these bands have written a plethora of iconic riffs.īut what exactly is a guitar riff? Simply put, a guitar riff is a repeated pattern of music, whether it be a chord progression, melody or series of notes. For me, when I think of guitar riffs, bands like Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, and Deep Purple come to mind. Guitar riffs are the heart of rock n’ roll. Learning these easy riffs will keep your motivation high, make the guitar fun, and hopefully help prevent you from becoming part of the 90% of players who quit in their first year.īut before we hop into the riffs, let’s make sure we have a basic understanding of what a guitar riff actually is. So In this lesson, I’ve provided some easy guitar riffs for beginners to start learning and playing real music. After all, that’s why we start playing guitar in the first place, right? The key is finding learnable songs. With an estimated 90% of new guitar players quitting within the first year of playing, I think it’s important to start learning songs right away.