00:11Hey, I'm Joanne Shaw-Taylor and I'm here at Guitar World in New York City and today we're
00:15going to play some of my favorite riffs that I've written and we're going to start things
00:18off right now with I've Got To Stop Letting You Down off my new album Black and Gold.
00:35All right, that was the chorus for I've Got To Stop Letting You Let Me Down and here is the
00:39verse riff.
01:11The reason I really enjoy playing this riff for me is the really kind of muted but kind
01:15of scratchy rhythm which using the right hand to kind of palm a little bit at the time so
01:19that because I'm always playing the opening so to kind of tidy up and not make it too
01:26messy and make it more rhythmic I kind of move between muting the opening and also
01:32hitting the lower fifth string so that way you still get some of the rhythm but
01:46without too much noise from the opening. The other thing that makes this tiny bit more
01:51interesting for me is that little bit of string bend that I use just to make it it
02:00just makes it more funky. The other thing is adding vibrato sometimes to the riff to
02:03again kind of break it up a little bit.
02:17Next up is hell of a good time off my new album Black and Gold. This is the chorus.
02:39And now this is the verse.
03:09So there's a lot to unpack there.
03:11Again kind of using more of a choppy rhythm to make it funky.
03:20Using the hammer-on on the third string on the G and then going up to the 7 sharp 9
03:26right here.
03:34So again using hammer-ons particularly on the bottom E so that I can keep playing the opening like we
03:39did in
03:40the previous song to kind of create a more chunkier fatter rhythm than just playing
03:44the single root note. Instead I can go...
03:54Something else that plays into it is the up down rhythm part with the right hand.
03:59It tends to add a bit more chunkiness really to the rhythm guitar makes it that little bit fatter.
04:07All you're essentially doing is adding in sort of scratching sounds essentially as I call them
04:14just to again give the rhythm part a bit more body.
04:17The chorus part is kind of like an opening at the seventh fret and I go up to the D
04:22for a little hammer-on
04:23and I play it open from the G string down.
04:32And again using the G on the bottom E string to pull off to get back to the opening.
04:48So that that opening is still ringing out when I go back to doing the chord shape.
04:52And for that I'm going up to the E on the seventh fret playing an opening.
04:55I'm letting the strings ring from the D string down and then I'm doing a pull off on the D
05:01on the tenth fret.
05:12My third rhythm part I'm going to play you is off my first album, White Sugar.
05:16It's called Kiss the Ground Goodbye. And this is the sort of intro riff.
05:42So you notice that I go from the E down to the D down to the A and I use
05:47that to do some sort of
05:49embellishments to get back to the opening.
05:56And you can kind of do whatever you want to do there as long as it's within the scale.
06:00I just like doing that because it's a nice easy little rundown to get back, as I said, to the
06:04opening.
06:10Here it is, I'm going to play it slower for you.
06:36And the verse part of that song.
07:01So again starting on the E
07:05And then basically adding something that I stole for a lack of a better word off Jimi Hendrix who was
07:10a massive influence of mine
07:11I love quite busy rhythm parts and something Hendrix would do as opposed to just playing the root chord
07:17Would also add these sort of almost like lead add-ons that were busy enough but not too busy to
07:23not be considered still rhythm parts
07:25So I played slowly from the E
07:40So basically just adding in some little flourishes again
07:42You can pretty much do whatever you want there as long as it's not too busy
07:46Kind of mess around with it and have some fun with it
07:48Something you'll see a lot in my rhythm playing is what I refer to as raking
07:52Which a few guitar players for me I really picked it up off Steve Ray Vaughan
07:55Which is a way of hitting all the strings
07:58But only playing out
08:00Muting certain ones either with this palm with this thumb or some fingers
08:04So that you hit all six strings but you only hear the strings that you intend to play
08:08That way you get a bit more fullness
08:11Out of the rhythm part
08:12And it adds a bit more of a rhythmic sort of quality to it
08:15So as opposed to just
08:18I can go
08:22So on and so forth
08:24I'm going to mix things up a little bit now
08:25I'm going to play you
08:26This is the first song I ever wrote off my first album
08:28It's called Going Home
08:30And I was originally trained as a classical guitarist at school
08:35So when I transitioned from playing classical guitar to electric
08:37One of my biggest influences with Albert Collins
08:40So I still included a lot of using my fingers with my right hand
08:42To make the adjustment from acoustic
08:44How I'd learned on a nylon string guitar to an electric
08:47And so in the early days I still did a lot of my rhythm playing with my fingers
08:50So this is called Going Home
09:11So that's the first part
09:12And I'll play that slowly for you
09:13Because obviously it is a little more intricate than some other pieces
09:17So playing slowly
09:28So hammering on
09:30You'll notice I'm always keeping the open A
09:32Going as like a steady rhythm
09:38And then using the little pinky finger to be able to add in some bends
09:41To give it that kind of bluesy dark kind of feel that I love about blues music
09:57The other important thing which you've got that part is
10:00I am muting quite a bit with my palm
10:03It takes a little bit of getting used to
10:04But it just really means that it kind of softens up the part
10:07And it allows me to control it a bit more since it is so busy
10:20So I can kind of choose to use it when I want to
10:23To make it more subtle in parts
10:24And again if I want more of the
10:27If I want it to be slightly harder
10:29I can also loosen up on that to give it a bit more grip
10:32The other thing I'm doing is these little sort of mini bends
10:35To sort of give it a little bit of an attitude
10:40You know it's not a full
10:42It's just a little touch of a
10:48So again just a little way of sassing up some rhythm
10:51We're going to go with another one of my favourite riffs of mine right now
10:54Which is off a track called Just Another Word
10:56And it's a slightly more melodic pop song
10:59Again I'm a big fan of Hendrix style rhythm
11:01Where it's almost like a lead part
11:03But really does work as a rhythm
11:04So I'm going to play that right now
11:23The actual rhythm, main rhythm part
11:25That's more of the rhythm lead part to that
11:28It's actually over this
11:51So as you'll see the riff just kind of goes over those sort of changes
11:55And it includes a little bit of the chords
11:57With the
12:02Little flourishes
12:03Again using my palm to mute a lot of the time
12:05So that it's not too busy
12:07But still has that little bit of kind of choppy funkiness to it
12:09And then with the main part
12:11You can get a little bit busier again
12:13Like you've noticed me
12:14So I'm basically just playing a G chord
12:16But then using it to play almost a lead part in that chord
12:24Up to the B
12:26D
12:28Then when we get to the E
12:29You can kind of funk it up a little bit
12:31And do whatever you want really
12:38But again
12:39You've really got to dominate on your right palm hand for this one
12:42So that it doesn't get too busy and too heavy
12:44Because you still
12:45You want it to be
12:45Kind of have that lead part to it
12:47And have a bit of personality to it
12:49And a bit of attitude
12:50But you don't want it to be
12:51Turning into
12:53Too busy death metal song or something
12:56So one thing that you probably can't see on camera
12:58Is that my foot is always tapping the tempo of what I want for the song
13:01Which is actually really important
13:03When you're learning to play rhythm
13:04Before you get into playing with a live band and a drummer
13:07It's really helpful to kind of find your inner metronome
13:10And having that sort of discipline there
13:11Of telling me where I'm keeping my tempo
13:13Allows me particularly when I'm doing those embellishments
13:16To make sure I'm always getting the chord changes
13:19You know, spot on with the groove
13:21For example
13:33So my final riff for you is from a track called Sweet Little Lies
13:37Which is off my last album Heavy Soul
13:38And here it is
13:54So not the most complicated riff in the world
13:57But I like to showcase it
13:58Is that, you know, in comparison to some of the other things
14:01I've talked you through today
14:02Actually, sometimes just having a really catchy melody
14:05Something for the listener to latch on to
14:07Really helps elevate a song
14:08So I play that at the front of the song
14:10And then it appears again throughout the choruses
14:12And kind of doubling up the melody line of the vocal
14:14Really kind of helps catch the listener's ear
14:17It's also really easy to play
14:19Which is nice when you're in a two-hour set
14:21To have a little bit of a break
14:22And ease things up a little bit
14:24So I'm just going to play that slowly for you
14:26The key of the song is in B minor
14:28And it's just a little lead riff based on that
14:47So the most important thing really there for me
14:50Is the vibrato
14:51I've always loved a really good vibrato
14:53Paul Kossoff and Albert Collins
14:54Were my first two big loves
14:56And that's kind of really what makes the riff
14:57It's only a couple of notes
14:58But just having that little identity in there
15:01And you can mess around with it
15:03I have kind of a fast vibrato
15:04But if you want a slower one
15:05You can do that too
15:10I also bend up a little bit
15:12Just to add a bit more sass
15:17But yeah, it just gives it a bit more personality
15:20And it gives the ear something to latch on to
15:22And it's fun
15:24So when we talk about vibrato
15:25Your two options are
15:27And every guitar player differs
15:28You can either push up
15:31Or you can push down
15:33I tend to switch between both
15:35And to be quite honest
15:36Most of that depends on how sweaty my hands are
15:38Particularly in a gig
15:39Because I've got more room to control it
15:41By pushing up from the second string
15:43I've only got the bottom E string
15:44Keeping me on the fretboard
15:45So unless you're dealing with stage lights
15:48It's not something you have to worry about too much
15:50But you know
15:51On a hot sweaty gig
15:52When the stage lights have been on you
15:53For an hour and 45
15:55And elderly instruments
15:56Get a little bit more temperamental
15:58That's the main thing
15:59That decides whether I decide to go up and down
16:01So a little cheat sheet for you
16:03So those are a few of my favourite riffs of mine
16:06I hope you enjoy them
16:07Thank you to Guitar World for having me
16:08I'm Joanne Shaw Taylor
16:10And my new album Black and Gold is out now
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