Slash teaches you his fav riff

TOTAL GUITAR (mag) JUNE 2004 ISSUE 123

Slash
TEACHES YOU HOW TO PLAY HIS FAVOURITE RIFF
CONSIDERING HIS A-GRADE ROCK RIFFING CREDENTIALS, WE GOT SLASH TO TALK THROUGH HIS FAVOURITE RIFF OF ALL TIME ? JEFF BECK?S I AIN?T SUPERSTITIOUS.
WAH WAHS AT THE READY . . .
Photo credit: Ross Halfin/Idols

What is it about the riff from Jeff Beck?s I Ain?t Superstitious that captures your attention?
Slash: ?I like this riff because the sound of it is fuckin? awesome. Beck is one of the most amazing guitar players the world has seen when it just comes to rock and roll guitar. I think Jimmy Page put it best when he said, ?When he?s on, he?s the best there is.? When he really goes for it, Jeff has got so much control of the guitar it?s not even fuckin? funny.?

Have you ever met him?
Slash: ?Yeah, he came out and jammed with Guns N? Roses in France one time ? Aerosmith was also there and so was Lenny Kravitz. But Jeff Beck came to soundcheck and blew his ears out and didn?t actually do the gig that night. But it was still great just standing on stage with him and Joe Perry, playing and knocking out a couple of riffs.

?I?ve hung out with Jeff a bunch of times now and he?s a real organic player. That?s the thing about song, I Ain?t Superstitious, the sound he gets is not something where you go, ?Oh, this is done with this and that and the other.? You can put the equipment together and wire it all up but at the same time to get that fuckin? tone and just the nuances for every note? that?s a real great one.?

The original of this riff sounds mid-way between F and F#, but the open fourth strings in the verse lick give it away as being in F#. Fret the initial F# with your third finger, using your first finger for the quarter-tone bend and Jeff?s idiosyncratic fast vibrato. Fret the F# octaves with your first and third finger, being sure to damp the intervening 5th string with your first finger.

This is essentially a set of question-and answer-phrases based around a 12-bar blues, with the first guitar providing the questions and the wah guitar providing the answer phrases in the breakdowns. The wah guitar has been treated with delay of about 35ms, to create a big stereo spread. Play the high F#s in the last two bars with your second finger to facilitate the vibrato.