Where is this guitar riff from?

[dude8604]

The song is On The Way Down by Ryan Cabrera (don't worry, the song was on the radio). When I heard it, it reminded me of a guitar riff in a different song, but I'm not sure what that song is. Here's a link to a 10-second clip of that part of the song. Can you help me identify the other song? Mods, please let me know if it is a problem for me to be linking to this file.

 

[KingNothing]

That's hardly a riff...it's two pairs of notes repeated over and over.

 

[KillyKillall]

Every middle age musician trying to sell to the alternarock late twenties/early 30's bevery hills 90210 crowd?

 

[dude8604]

Originally posted by: KingNothing
That's hardly a riff...it's two pairs of notes repeated over and over.

Ok, well whatever you want to call it, it sounds very familiar.

 

[KingNothing]

Originally posted by: dude8604

Originally posted by: KingNothing
That's hardly a riff...it's two pairs of notes repeated over and over.

Ok, well whatever you want to call it, it sounds very familiar.

That's because it's so simple it could easily fit into just about anything.

 

[lozina]

maybe a Celine Dion song

 

[shimsham]

there could be a billion songs.

 

[Fritzo]

I just saw this thread, sorry for the late response.

The other posters are correct in saying this style was used in many different songs. I think it's a 5th/7th strum pattern where you take a note (for simplicity, we'll choose A) and then alternate it with a note 5 steps above it, so A-B-C-D-E.

Assuming this was played in 4/4, you could alternate A and E for three measures, then on the forth measure, you'd add a 7th in (A-B-C-D-E-F-G) to complete the count. This rhythm was standard from nearly ever 80's rock back, such as Def Leopard, Motley Crue, Poison, and even Van Halen (although to give Eddie credit, he spices this rhythm up so much you wouldn't recognize it).

And that's today's guitar lesson

 

[myusername]

well with the chorus, it kinda reminds me of joan osbourne "what if god was one of us"?

 

[Analog]

U2 in the name of love

 

[MX2]

Gay whiney white boys