Top Black Sabbath Riffs YOU SHOULD KNOW!

Learn the essential Black Sabbath riffs you should be able to play on guitar. These riffs teach you power chords, minor pentatonic scale, and how to play heavy metal. Grab your guitar - ideally a Gibson SG - and let's learn some fantastic riffs.

War Pigs starts with the main riff - just two power chords, D5 to E5. Starting at fret 10 and 12, finishing at 12 and 14. Two quick strums, keeping the thumb in place at the back of the neck and pivoting the fingers around the thumb to move quickly. The chorus section moves around this same shape from root 10 to 12, then root note of fret 15, 14, 13, and 12. There's a little embellishment on 12th fret string three with vibrato - move your wrist not your fingers.

One thing I really admire about Tony Iommi is how much he keeps things simple and makes it all about the feeling you're trying to embody when you play rather than just technical ability. He said it brilliantly in the Guitar Star program - he likes something that plays from the soul as opposed to somebody learning every single note perfectly. It's got to come from within and show what you're capable of doing. I think technical ability and feeling go hand in hand, but a lot of people miss the feeling.

Iron Man starts with something I've never taught before - picking a string then pressing behind the nut to get that pitch bend effect. I'm using gauge nine strings which makes this easier. Tony Iommi uses thinner strings as well because of losing the tips of his fingers just before forming Black Sabbath on the last day of working in an industrial factory in Birmingham. Incredibly inspiring story - he wears plastic thimbles on the end of his fingers.

The main riff starts with a B power chord at fret seven. The important thing is sliding and never lifting your fingers from the strings - like an abacus, just slide your fingers across. From seven to ten, ten to twelve, then really quick from 15 to 14 three times. You only pick 15, the slide to 14 is the trick. The mutes are just as important as the notes you play. The verses use single notes from seven to five on the low strings, then five and four on string four using pick and flick off technique.

Paranoid mixes E minor pentatonic scale notes with power chords, which is the formula for Sabbath-style metal and rock. Key techniques include the hammer-on in the power chord - pick with the first finger at 12th fret of strings six and five, then hammer on that third finger just after you strum. Pick, hammer, pick, hammer. Plus palm muting technique with the outside of the palm right on the bridge.

If you want to learn the solos and improvise your own, check out my Tony Iommi Player Study with jam tracks and interactive tab.