Dimebag Riffs

I promised some Dimebag so here it is. I am going to put some riffs down that I think are very helpful. Dimebag has a particular grove that most guitarist never achieve. If you do not know of Dimebag from Pantera then do yourself some justice and listen to him now. Even if you are not into metal you will appreciate how completely ahead of the curve Dimebag was.

For starters I we will look at the intro to "Shedding Skin" off of the "Far Beyond Driven" album. If you don't know or remember what the song sounds like here is a link to listen to it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_igViwDG_nw&feature=related

Click images to enlarge


The beat count is 72 and it is played 4 X's before the change. Mess around with how you pick the notes on the guitar. There are a lot of different styles of picking that would work. Down up down up is not always the answer. This lick will also help you with moving from string to string.

This next riff is the intro to "5 Minutes Alone" which is also off of the "Far Beyond Driven" album. Here is a link to the official video. Sorry about the youtube commercial just wait a few seconds and it will start.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7m7njvwB-Ks

This riff will help you learn how to slide a power chord both up and down the neck of the guitar. The little X marks on the tab mean that you don't really play a note. You instead hover your hand above and create a high pitch ringing sound instead. A type of sloppy harmonics if you will.

The end of the riff has a really great downward sliding scale that really puts a great ending to the opening riff. Just one of Dimes signature moves.

This next song is off of the "Vulgar Display of Power" album and it is called "This Love". Maybe one of the more popular mellow songs from Pantera. It is a nice easy mellow style that will help put more licks under your belt.

Here is the link to the official video for you
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tymWpEU8wpM

I know that these songs are not the most complicated for all people but even if you are a more advanced player it never hurts to revisit some older tunes.

This next song is on the 101 Proof Live album. It is called "Where you come from" and is one of two studio songs on the album. This song really shows Dimebags Texas Blues influence in his metal playing. Make sure you listen to this song if you never have. Here is a link for it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfKdgQ8kHPo

The song really is not as hard as it may first seem. There are a lot of hammer on and pull offs mixed with a lot of bends but when you get the rhythm of the song down you will get to where you want to be in no time. If you noticed the A.H. on the tab that means Artificial Harmonic. Artificial Harmonics are created by pinching your guitar pick very close to the edge and just barley hitting the string with it along with part of your thumb. This creates an artificial harmonic tone. These are not easy to do at first but try doing them all over the neck and on different strings. You will notice that some notes are much easier to pull this off than others.

In future posts I will focus on Dimebags soloing. Like Randy Rhoads he is a great composer of guitar and his solos are legendary. I hope you enjoyed learning some Dime and if you do not own the music you should remedy that problem now so you can continue to learn guitar from one of the greatest to ever play.

Rest in peace Dime.