"Play that Funky Music" Intro Riff

 

Lesson Goals:

♦ Learn proper fingering for the Intro Riff
♦ Review the "Hammer On" technique
♦ Practice single note picking

In preparation to play lead guitar licks and runs, it is important to develop your single note picking skills.

Rather than asking you to perform numerous mundane exercises to develop these skills, we have found it to be much more effective to show you pieces of actual songs to practice on.

By learning the licks of familiar music, you are more likely to absorb the material quickly and, at the same time, have fun learning it.

We will include a number of these "exercises" throughout the course starting with today's lesson in which we will show you how to play the Intro Riff for "Play the Funky Music" by Wild Cherry.

Let's take a look at the TAB below.

This is a fairly basic lick and you may be surprised at how simple it is to play. You will start by playing 2 notes on the open 6th (E) string, then play the note on the 2nd fret of the 4th string - followed by the open 4th string - followed by a return to the 2nd fret of the same string, then there are two hammer on's - one on the 5th string and an identical one on the 4th string.

Play all of the fretted notes using your 2nd finger. This is important to keep your fingers in the proper position. (more on "finger positions for playing lead" later)