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Classic classic rock riffs


M_C_D

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I've written a song about a sell out classic rock band and I want to make it sound like traditional classic rock but with a bit of a weird twang to it like something sounding a bit out of place at parts. Outside of the twelve bar blues, any suggestions?

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That is a mighty open-ended question. ;)

 

Are you thinking about having a collection of classic rock riffs woven into it? I suspect there've been a few efforts in that direction but I can't think of any off the top of my head. That seems like it could be good for a few laughs.

 

I would suggest immersing yourself in a bunch of the kinds of songs you want to lampoon. Isolate as many characteristic elements as you can that identify the songs as being in the class you want to have fun with and then exaggerate them a bit -- or if it's hard to figure out how to do that, just stack the elements in one on top of another -- folks will get it, I suspect, if you do it right.

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Yeah I figured I would take riffs from major classics like stairway to heaven/black dog and that kind of thing and put them in at very evident places. But not being much of a classic rock fan myself I was looking to draw on the collective intelligence of harmony central.

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Think of it like drawing a caricature of someone -- you know, if they have a big nose, make it bigger... if they have bushy eyebrows, make them hedges... you know.

 

You might also listen to some parodists of bygone eras like, um, that Weird Al guy. (I find his stuff insufferably un-funny but, obviously, a lot of people think he's hilarious. Either way, you can learn something, I suspect.)

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Aqualung

 

Highway Star

 

Communication Breakdown

 

Iron Man

 

 

One common trait among at least three of those songs above is chromaticism. 5th to the flatted 5th, etc. It'd be fun to use that kind of info and create your own classic sounding riff without actually aping another.

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