EPIC RIFFS | World's Most Iconic Riff - (I played it wrong)

Epic Riff time! The man who invented the Genre Surf Rock: Dick Dale. We analyse one of his most iconic riffs and learn why it's so hard to get it down correctly!

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Fender Stratocaster

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Hi, my name is Paul Davids! I am a guitar player, teacher, producer, and overall music enthusiast from the Netherlands! I try to inspire people from all over the world with my videos, here on YouTube.

Thank you for watching!
Paul

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[BrianWilson-cfre]

Dick Dale was a amazing man, a good guitarist, pilot, artist, studied martial arts and was a adventurer. People might not know but Dick played a lot of instruments besides guitar. Dick also helped Leo Fender in developing the guitar amplifier which we use today, in other words, Leo used Dick to experiment with his amplifiers.
Remember it was Leo Fender who developed the crossover.
I had a opportunity a few years ago to interview Dick Dale on my radio show. It was a amazing interview, it lasted about two hours. I learned a lot about him in that interview, he did more than just play guitar.
Rest in peace Dick Dale

[unck]

I was lucky enough to see Dick Dale live a few years ago before his passing. It was in a little bar in Salt Lake City called Liquid Joe’s, which has a surf tiki bar decor, and there were probably only fifty people there, and half of them just came for the bar, and not the show, but it was amazing, and being a guitar player, and loving Surf Rock, especially Miserlou, I was able to talk with Dick for about an hour, and he told me a lot of great stories, and where and when he learned to play the way he did. It was incredible. He is still the king of surf guitar. R.I.P. my friend!

[Zecrid.]

I was at one of his last concerts before he passed away, while his age definitely affected him as it would anyone at 81. He could still play Misirlou perfectly, absolute legend.

[thisisfrankie]

This type of scales and hammer-on/pull-offs are very common in almost every Bouzouki player in Greece. But to hear it on a strat with the spring reverb cranked up to 11 and in the 50's? That's very unique if you ask me.

[ShaneTheViking]

"Maybe you can clap along..."

Now, is my time to shine

[enjoywithpriyanshu]

The Double Harmonic Major Scale which is the base of this iconic riff is quite prevalent in Indian Classical Music where it is known as the "Bhairavi Raag." It is one such scale which forms the basis of so many iconic Indian songs.

These amazing contributions to the entirety of music from different culture really shows and enriches the musical experience for the entire population of the world.

[makius]

Got to see him play on his 70th birthday. He played for 3.5 hours straight and blew the roof off the place. Still the best show I've ever seen... R.I.P. Legend 🙏

[Shauny]

I absolutely love how musicians can be so enthusiastic about one riff and how you can tell it changed them and excites them.. awesome to see so much passion

[arieltools]

This guy is amazing. His gentle tone is unrivaled among Creators. Love how musical you are even when moving through video sections. Delightful!

[kamikaze]

I remember seeing a comment saying "it's a cover of a cover of a cover", and I ended up looking into it to find the original song. It's a song with more history behind it than the listener would expect, and be unaware of otherwise. Though I don't play, this is an incredible lesson all on its own. Thank you

[jimturner]

As a composer of advertising music in the 90's, post Pulp Fiction where it was heavily featured, this track was the bane of my life. Every ad exec wanted that twangy vibe on their ads (I'm not really a guitarist). Finding anyone who could play a similar riff at that speed was nigh on impossible. You did a great job...it's a lot harder than it looks!

[NewfieMan]

YOU TALK ABOUT THE RHYTHMIC PATTERNS!!! I'VE BEEN POINTING THIS OUT TO LITERALLY EVERYBODY!!! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE YOU RIGHT NOW! So many people do a "breakdown" of this riff and lessons and everything, but they miss that subtle rhythm! I felt like I was going crazy cause nobody else was actually pointing it out.

[RCSmiths]

The late Dick Dale was truly ahead of his time. I love this tune!

[Bacca]

To say that this riff is iconic is to undersell it massively. It's so thematic, so ridiculously cool and will always bring a smile to my face every time I hear it. Having it broken down and explained to me just makes me admire it more.

[erikliljenwall]

The thing about Dick Dale playing his guitar strung upside down that everyone overlooks, is that the neck pickup was mounted at the standard angle, which meant it was at the opposite angle relative to his strings. So the it was even closer to the bridge for the low strings, making them brighter, and further from the bridge on the high strings, which made them sound a little warmer and louder. That meant his volume and power was more consistent from the low E to the high E.

Also, he only used 15s in his speaker cabs, (The bass player used 10s, I think, or maybe 12s) and he had those fckers cranked. He had to hang his outboard spring reverb by a rope so the vibration of the stage didn't make it crash all through the set. . And then there were bridge cables he used for strings. Every choice he made about his gear was either to make his sound as louder and bigger, or managing the unwanted consequences of it being so loud. He was carrying entire songs on one string, 9s or 10s just ain't gonna do the job.

Standing in front of the stage at his shows was like standing behind a jet engine. True legend. His influence on music is enormous.

[nachogarcia]

Honestly this is probably the song “analysis” that I’ve enjoyed watching the most. I don’t know how you do it man but you always get me with the tiny details that nobody notices but really make the difference. Thanks for an awesome experience 🙌🏽

[AshenRJ]

Now that I listened back to it, the song sounds a lot more Middle Eastern than I initially thought. That sounds so incredible and I love it even more.

[diabeticmonkey]

It’s so cool how you can see his influence in metal. Dick Dale was an impressive guitarist

[arfer]

I saw Dick Dale live in london, it was an awesome concert. He did crazy stuff like playing the bass players bass with drumsticks while the bass player fretted the notes, a great showman 👍

[_hghlndr]

This is one of the first songs i "taught" myself to show off with in high school after hearing it on Guitar Hero. Needless to say, I was playing it wrong the whole time. Great video.