This week’s riff is from the song PLUSH by STONE TEMPLE PILOTS. I’ve been having so much doing my “Riff Of The Month Series”, I decided to try it out weekly! I’m dedicated to helping you improve as a guitarist so now you will have a new riff each week to work on! How exciting is that?
This riff from the song PLUSH sounds awesome and is super easy to play. There’s even some jazz chords in there for an extra challenge. These riffs are fun exercises that sound great and are the perfect way to get your fingers moving around the fretboard. They’re a guaranteed way to help you improve as a guitarist. So grab your guitar, turn up your amp and lets dive in!
In this lesson you will learn:
Plush by Stone Temple Pilots video concepts
1. Some background info on the riff.
2. How to play the riff with proper fingerings.
3. Opportunity to play along as practice.
Chapters
1:07 Song info
1:38 How To Play The Riff
3:40 Play Along
ACTION STEPS
Be sure to watch the video again to make sure you get a handle on all of the concepts presented in this video!
Step 1: This is one of the biggest songs of the 1990’s and very interesting from a music composition standpoint. The song’s chord progression was inspired by Robert DeLeo’s love of ragtime music. You can read more about the song here. Listen to the riff and get a good feel for how it sounds and moves. You can listen it here.
Step 2: As I was saying in the video, the riff is quite simple and only really 4 chords with a “turn around” at the end. The riff is really fun to play with a real band because the chords sound so big and crunchy! The first chord is based off of a G major chord but only uses the three bottom strings, strings 1, 2, and 3. Your third finger is in the third fret, first string and your second finger is in the third fret, second string. Let the open “G” string ring. The next chord is a G diminished chord. Your third finger will act as an anchor finger and you can move your second finger up a string to the third string third fret. Your first finger goes to the second string second fret. Leave your anchor finger where it is in the third fret and slide your first and second fingers down one fret. This is a form of an Am7 chord. Then walk back up to the first chord just like I show in the video.
Step 3: Play along with me in the video as I rehearse the full riff at 3:40.
Hope you enjoyed this easy Riff Of The Week and have fun playing it!
Be sure to check out my last Riff video here!
Happy playing!