Iconic intros are what inspired us to become guitarists. Those first few notes are crucial for getting us hooked. Let’s look at a few guitar songs that really shook things up.
Top Iconic Intros: What makes a good intro?
A guitar intro sets the scene for any good guitar song. An iconic intro, however, gives future bands and artists a marker for how good they have to be to compete.
To achieve a reasonable intro, you need a musical idea, a riff, that gets people’s attention. This can be laced with fancy techniques such as hammer-ons, bends, and leggato. However, it’s often the most simple of ideas that survive the tests of time.
Stick around as we take a closer look at some of rock and roll’s most iconic intros. We’ll see what techniques they use, chuck in some TABs and look a little at what helped create the sounds we know and love.
Johnny B. Goode – Chuck Berry
Firstly, in our look at iconic intros, we’ve got the oldest in our line-up. Dating back to 1958, this track is a window into late 50s America.
Throughout the mid to late 50s, blues and early rock music was slowly becoming widely accepted on the radio. However, Johnny B. Goode was arguably one of the first breakthrough hits to have such a prominent guitar introduction.
Essentially, the riff just hops, skips and jumps between the Bb blues and major scale. Combined with some sharp bends and double-stops, it’s a must-have guitar riff.
Okay, so we’ve got some TAB, but to fully pull off this rockabilly rock riff, we need the guitar. A bucket list item for many, the *Gibson ES-335 was a revolutionary instrument back in its day. Still available today with those distinctive twin-humbuckers and cherry red finish.
(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction – The Rolling Stones
Moving on to the next decade, this iconic riff is perfect for beginners as it is played on just one string. Moreover, it’s as much of a British classic as afternoon tea.
Whereas Johnny B. Goode gives us a flavour of how exciting late 1950s America was, most British music from the same time was tasteless and bland by comparison. However, this iconic riff from The Rolling Stones injected some flavour and colour into the British radiowaves.
Keith Richards claims that this riff came to him in his sleep. Little did he know, back then, that it would sell in such quantities, but also inspire equally as many budding guitarists.
Although not the original Maestro unit, this Boss FZ-1W is a modern pedal to provide vintage fuzz tones. Moreover, you can also get your hands on a Les Paul Junior. Both are two pieces of gear used to help create this iconic intro.
Smoke On The Water – Deep Purple
Our third iconic riff is a staple amongst all guitar players. Or at least it should be anyway.
Moving into the next decade, the 1970s weren’t exactly short of killer guitar riffs. What with the likes of Mark Bolan and David Bowie chucking out era-defining songs on a regular basis.
However, Ritchie Blackmore’s perfect fifths throughout the Smoke On The Water intro have allowed guitarists to effortlessly play an all-time rock hit. Furthermore, you can easily layer this riff up with accompanying bass players and drummers. At least, that’s what The School Of Rock movie taught me anyway…
Iconic Intros: Life In The Fast Lane – The Eagles
Surprisingly, our next iconic riff has its status not only because of the way it sounds, but because of the way this riff made it into the recording studio.
Notably, throughout the 1970s Joe Walsh, like many others, would play a quick riff to warm his fingers up prior to playing a show. However, one night before a show whilst warming up, bandmate Glenn Frey mistook this exercise for a new song idea.
By 1976, the combination of hammer-ons and subtle bends became a hit song. For us, it’s not only a great coordination exercise but undoubtedly an iconic intro.
The iconic intro in question has that unmistakable 50s Stratocaster twang. Complete with 70th anniversary 50s style pickups, this Fender Anniversary Strat will give you all the bite you could ever want for a riff like this.
Message In A Bottle – The Police
Concluding our look at iconic intros is another 1970s guitar riff. Not to say that the 80s, 90s and 00s didn’t have any cool licks. Although, these ones just hit differently…
Written by Sting in the back of a van in Germany, Andy Summers executes this wonderful riff that is essentially a series of arpeggios across a few power chords. By definition, arpeggios are the notes within a chord. Therefore, giving this song a great sense of movement.
For beginners, this one can be fiddly as it requires a larger span of your fretting hand. However, you can never truly play this riff correctly on your own thanks to an additional layer of harmonies above the main riff. Overall, giving us the sound that we associate with this iconic intro.
As well as those harmonies on top of this riff, you’ll also need a Telecaster and a Marshall head to complete Andy Summers’ tone on this record. Realistically, any single coil bridge pickup will do!
Top 5 Iconic Intros: Notable Mentions
Our look at some cool riffs doesn’t have to end there! Although we’ve looked at what they’re all about, subtle techniques and how they came to air, there are more riffs out there that truly raised the bar for rock music. At the same time, inspiring future generations to play guitar.
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