80s Guitar Riffs: Top 5 era-defining songs
Killer rock riffs from the 1980s with TABs
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80s guitar riffs are just so cool! From shredding to synthesisers, there’s so much to learn. So grab your aviator sunglasses and let’s get playing…
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80s Guitar Riffs: Top 5 era-defining songs
The 1980s saw huge changes across pretty much every aspect of life. Whether it was what clothes we were wearing, or most importantly, what music we were listening to. Naturally, our music impacted our dress sense most of the time!
From big hair to big licks, some of the guitar work from the decade was, and still is, truly incredible. Compared to today, music production was in a huge state of innovation. Be that new recording techniques, effects pedals or technologies. Things were changing.
Stick around as we look at five 80s guitar riffs that are awesome when it comes to guitar playing. Some of them may be easier than others, but we’ve got the TABs to help you out.
You Give Love A Bad Name – Bon Jovi
Our first 80s guitar riff comes from the summer of 1986. Slap bang in the middle of the decade, Bon Jovi, the quintessential 80s rock band, gave us this absolute banger.
Right from the off, this intro riff uses techniques that are usually reserved for guitar solos. We’ve got a full step bend on the 10th fret of the G string, followed by a cool little run on some surrounding frets.
These bends are perfectly achievable, however it’s the vibrato at the top of the bend that could be potentially challenging. Furthermore, we want to listen out for the correct note when we bend. We’re moving the distance equivalent to two frets.
To really get into a riff like this, you want a guitar with humbucking pickups, a tremolo or floyd rose and a low action. Here are a few recommendations from *Thomann.
Crazy Train – Ozzy Osbourne
Our next weapon of a guitar riff was gifted to us by the legendary Randy Rhoads. Despite his tragic passing at just 25 years old, his hyper-speed guitar solos inspired many future generations of players.
Released at the start of the decade, Crazy Train kind of set the tone for what was to come. This 80s guitar riff in particular is at a moderate pace. You’ll benefit from using alternate picking to really get to grips with it.
Overall, we’re hovering around the 2nd and 4th frets on the low E and A strings. Personally, I play this with my first, third and fourth fingers. This allows for plenty of coverage and control.
Rhoads was known for playing a *Gibson Les Paul Custom, in addition to some *Flying V style guitars. You can just picture them now with the polka dot paintwork.
Pour Some Sugar On Me – Def Leppard
This next 80s guitar riff is one of those examples where musicians discover gold by mistake. Having missed the deadlines and blown the budget for the Hysteria album, Def Leppard came across this wicked riff almost by accident. It’s been a household favourite ever since.
Initially, lead vocalist Joe Elliot was jamming around what became the main hook for the song. Comprising of just three power chords, E, A and B. To accompany, lead guitarist Phil Collen conjured up the intro riff which returns throughout the song.
Essentially, the riff works up and down the C#m pentatonic scale, featuring plenty of ghost notes and vibrato. Overall, it can be fiddly, but so effective when you get it right. Watch out for the speed of it too! The track is only at 85bpm, however most of the riff is in semi-quavers, also known as sixteenth-notes. We can count each beat as 1e+a.
Despite mainly using his Super Strat for most of the record, Collen used a *Jackson Dinky for the opening riff of Pour Some Sugar On Me.
Every Breath You Take – The Police
Compared to our other 80s guitar riffs, this one is considerably more refined and sophisticated. However, we’ve also worked our way up the difficulty scale.
The Police were a powerhouse for releasing memorable hits throughout the late 70s and into the 80s. This number features a palm muted series of notes played by Andy Summers.
Mostly, this riff is a series of arpeggios. Meaning that we play the notes that form a chord. Here, we’re working through Aadd2, F#madd2, Dsus2 and Esus2. Like many popular hits, it’s a 4 chord song, but not in the way we’d usually look at them.
Known for using a *Telecaster, Andy Summers is a very underrated guitarist. His compositions contain so much precision and skill.
Beat It – Michael Jackson
Our final selection from a great decade of riffs is Beat It by Michael Jackson. Featuring Toto’s Steve Lukather and the late great Eddie Van Halen.
If you believe the legend, the solo of this track was gifted to Jackson by Mr. EVH himself. Featuring some mind bending Floyd Rose action and tremolo picking. For us mortals however, this 80s guitar riff is arguably the simplest in this list.
Working around some open strings and the opening frets on the neck, this is an ideal beginner guitar riff. It’s not overly fast, and gets players comfortable using more than one finger to play single note phrases.
This one is in the Eb guitar tuning. Therefore you’ll need to down tune your guitar if you want to play along to the record. Thankfully, *Thomann have a huge range of tuners to choose from.
80s Guitar Riffs: I Wanna Rock!
Quoting Twisted Sister is a great place to end. We hope that you enjoyed this pick of era-defining 80s guitar riffs. There are so many to choose from! However, each of these teaches a different lesson for guitarists to learn.
What’s your favourite 80s rock riff? Do be sure to let us know!
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