Riff Of The Month:

The Pretty Reckless – And so it went

And So It Went features on the latest Pretty Reckless album, Death By Rock And Roll. With the song’s lyrical themes of civil unrest, the addition of Tom Morello on an unmistakable Whammy pedal-infused solo makes perfect sense, after having a history of political commentary with his band Rage Against the Machine. Morello’s influence can also be heard in Ben Phillips’ main guitar riff shown in our video lesson. The ingredients of the classic RATM riff approach are there: big powerchords, a heavy groove, a repetitive hook, all based in the blues scale. And the riff sounds heavier thanks to the guitar’s drop C# tuning (C# G# C# F# A# D#) – perfect for the onefinger powerchord shapes played on the bass strings.

We’ve played slowly through the riff for you in our video, and the diagrams below will help you get to grips with the chords. Take it slowly at first, particularly during the offbeat change in bar 2 where it’s easy to make a mistake.

CHEAT SHEET…

Appears at: 0:25-0:35

Tempo: 92 bpm

Key/scale: C# blues scale

Main techniques: Drop C# tuning, powerchords

Chords don’t get much easier than these two-note shapes. There are some percussive muted strikes to contend with too. Muting the strings is easy (just lay a fretting finger across the strings) but practise slowly and take care with the timing. The mutes are on the first two eighth notes of the riff’s third bar. Simple enough in itself, however, the mutes give a slightly weird sense of de-emphasising beat 1 – usually the strongest beat in the bar.