Whole Lotta Love - Led Zeppelin

I'm teaching you "Whole Lotta Love" - one of the greatest guitar riffs of all time. I'm playing on an Epiphone Les Paul budget version with a Seymour Duncan SH1 at the bridge which gives it that PAF-style pickup sound. I'm just on the lead guitar setting on the Boss Katana with no boost at all.

The Riff

This riff uses the E minor pentatonic scale which goes 0-3-5-7-5-7. We're using two notes from that - the B at seventh fret to five which is the D note, plus the open D string as well. If you want the more advanced way of playing this, give that first finger a bit of vibrato. It's hard to get that string four ringing out as well. Then we hit an E5 power chord.

Palm Muting Technique

Next comes string six palm muted - that's the outside of the palm of your hand just here on the bridge. Nice big bridge on Les Paul guitars makes this easier. This is a bit harder when you're not used to it on something like a Fender Stratocaster or Telecaster. Gibson or Epiphone style guitars have that big bridge you can lean your hand against. You're really just pivoting or flicking your wrist. That's definitely something you don't want any tension with - even when you're digging in, no tension, no forearm pain at all. Loose, loose, loose and probably less motion than you think. Let the guitar and the amp do the work.

Putting It Together

Recap over the riff: 7-5-7-5. When we hit five, we hit the open D string as well. Count it as one and two and three and four and. It goes through twice, then when the vocals kick in it's only one bar of the palm muted section.

Getting Up to Speed

Once you've got this riff, it's not too much more work to get something like "Communication Breakdown." This is a great riff for level one of intermediate electric. If the speed hasn't come yet, keep the motion smaller and relax. No excess movement or tension. Correct finger placement and speed will come, I promise you. Check out my intermediate electric course for more help with riffs like this.