Ritchie Blackmore’s - Smoke On The Water - Guitar Tab

About Smoke On The Water

Few riffs in Hard Rock are as immediately recognisable as the four-note motif that opens "Smoke On The Water," and learning to play it well is a surprisingly nuanced task. Ritchie Blackmore's original uses parallel fourths played on two strings at once, so getting the interval shape under your fingers cleanly is the first real challenge. The Drop D tuning thickens the low end and makes those open-string punctuations ring with extra weight, so keep that in mind when you set up. At 112 BPM the riff sits at a medium-rock groove that feels comfortable until you try to lock it perfectly to the beat, at which point small timing slips become very obvious. Use the Practice Toolbar to loop the main riff slowed down and focus on letting each double-stop ring fully before moving to the next. The song is in G minor, so once you have the riff solid, exploring the pentatonic minor positions around it is a natural and rewarding next step.

• The signature riff is built from parallel fourths played as double-stops, so practise fretting both strings cleanly and evenly without muting either note.
• Drop D tuning is used here, which lowers the sixth string by a whole step and adds extra low-end weight to the open-string hits in the riff.
• At 112 BPM the groove is moderate, but precise timing between each double-stop is critical because even small rushes make the riff sound sloppy.