Open Guitar Riffs: Top 5 Rock Riffs in Open Tunings
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Open Guitar Riffs are a great way of shaking up the sound of your guitar and your playing. Here’s our selection of classic open-tuning riffs. From Keef to Terminator 2 these riffs will leave you bad to the bone…
Open Guitar Riffs: Top 5 Rock Riffs in Open Tunings
Guitar tunings are the core foundation of every rock riff you’ve ever heard. Whether it’s Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Stratocaster in Eb, Tom Morello’s Telecaster in Drop D, or George Harrison’s Gretsch in E standard. Tunings establish the rules and boundaries for a piece of music.
When referring to open guitar riffs, we’re talking about a riff that uses an open guitar tuning. But what are they? Standard tuning on guitar starts with an E note, followed by a series of intervals consisting of fourths and major thirds. E A D G B E. Contrastingly, an open tuning is where the strings of a guitar are tuned to the notes within a specific chord.
Open guitar riffs are unconventional to play, considering that most guitar players usually stick to E standard. Unlike in Eb where everything stays the same except the pitch, open tunings change not only the pitches of certain strings but the whereabouts of notes on the fretboard (compared to E standard).
Start Me Up – The Rolling Stones
Firstly, let’s take a look at some 60’s nostalgia from the 1980s. Start Me Up is a chart-topping open guitar riff.
The song starts with Keith Richards’ bright, reverb-driven Telecaster, accompanied by the Open G tuning. The riff is the foundation for most of the track, except where the guitar part changes in the chorus before returning for the following verses. But, I know what you’re thinking! How do we get into open G for this open guitar riff?
We need to start off in E standard and adjust a few select strings accordingly. Both low and high E strings must be lowered in pitch to a D note. We can do this by picking the D string, and down-tuning both strings until they’re also D notes. Furthermore, the A string needs to be the same as the G string. We now have, D, G, D, G, B, D.
Open Guitar Riffs – Start Me Up
Check out this TAB, showing how we’d go about playing Start Me Up. Why not also check out this Keith Richards style Blonde Telecaster from Harley Benton? A perfect way to get into some open G riffage!
Seven Nation Army – The White Stripes
Like me, I’m sure you’ve played this riff countless times. But, it never sounds quite right, does it?
So, what are we missing? First and foremost, the open guitar riff in Seven Nation Army is in an Open A tuning. Similar to before, we just need to change a few strings to achieve E, A, E, A, C#, E. Essentially, the D, G and B strings all need to be a tone higher.
Moreover, Jack White uses the Digitech Whammy set to an octave down; this gives his guitar the low and aggressive bass tones that we hear in the record. Of course, playing this riff in standard tuning works just fine, the open A tuning just gets you a bit closer to the original.
Open Guitar Riffs – Seven Nation Army
Even Flow – Pearl Jam
90s alternative rock was full of alternative tunings, and this classic from Pearl Jam is no exception!
On this occasion, we’re in Open D tuning which is common amongst slide guitar and blues players. Here though, the tuning is used for a subtly heavy riff in a killer track. The low lows of D and A contrast beautifully with the sweet combination of the higher strings.
To get the sound from Even Flow, we need to tune to D, A, D, F#, A, D. Simply tune the low E string to a lower octave D, the G string needs to drop one semi-tone, and the B and high E string need to be raised by a tone. Take a look at this TAB showing that legendary riff.
Open Guitar Riffs – Even Flow
If you want the guitar to go with the riff, then take a look at the Mike McCreedy strat… With its beaten-up finish, rosewood fingerboard and custom 60’s single coil pickups, you’ll look, feel, and sound awesome!
Stay With Me – Faces
Next up, with have a more challenging riff from another member of the Rolling Stones – Ronnie Wood.
Played on his trusty ‘Mighty Zematis‘ guitar, Stay With Me uses the Open E tuning. Making for a bright-sounding open guitar riff. But, with plenty of 70’s fuzz and distortion thrown in for good measure. Not only from Rod Stewart’s vocals…
As the name suggests, Open E tuning resembles an E major chord. The notes are, E, B, E, G#, B and E. We can see that the A and D strings have been raised by a tone, and the G string by a semi-tone. Overall, it makes for a pleasant-sounding guitar tone.
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If you want to take this open guitar riff a little further, you may wish to invest in this Andrea glass slide. From the eighth bar of the song, there’s a pretty cool slide guitar section. If you don’t have a slide already, this is a great place to start.
Bad To The Bone – George Thorogood
Concluding our pick of the top 5 open guitar riffs is this bad-ass rock n roll riff that chimes in as Arnie climbs onto his Harley in Terminator 2.
Again, we’re in Open G tuning, just like with Start Me Up. However, Bad To The Bone, uses some more conventional shapes. Moreover, you can also get by playing this riff in E Standard, but to do it justice Open G is recommended.
Here we’ve got the TAB. Look out for the slides, and the 12/8 time signature. Whereby, the bar is broken into four large beat sections that divide into three eighth notes, providing a swinging rhythm.
Open Guitar Riffs – Bad To The Bone
George Thorogood uses a copper guitar slide of his own making, helping him to glide effortlessly between phrases. This medium brass slide should fit snugly for most players and will aid in that authentic blues slide sound.
Open Guitar Riffs: Get Tuned Up!
There we have it! A brief rundown of some killer rock riffs, all of which use some of the lesser-known open tunings. Remember, open tunings contain the notes within certain chords, such as E, A and D. Whereas Drop D, for instance, just adds a low D to your sound.
If I were you, I’d grab myself a decent tuner so you don’t have to rely on a dodgy mobile app:
Alternatively, check out these quick tuning guides for each of the tunings we’ve looked at:
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