The GREATEST Punk Riff Ever

[00:00:00]So, this is a super iconic punk riff, written by one of the most legendary punk bands of all time, The Germs. It's one of my favorite songs ever written and quite possibly the greatest punk riff of all time. But, this riff is tabbed out online incorrectly every time, including by me 3 years ago when I did a lesson on this very song. But, the thing is this isn't a very difficult riff to play. It can be a little tricky to memorize and you can get your fingers tied up a little bit. But, there's one really interesting quirk that seems to have stumped a lot of people trying to tab this out and I think I finally figured out the actual way it's played.

[00:00:29]So, if you haven't guessed by now, the song is Richie Dagger's Crime by The Germs. And the intro to the song and the main riff goes like this.

[00:00:38]>> [music] [music] >> And while it's not overly difficult to play, I think it's one of the coolest sounding, most unique, most interesting guitar riffs written in the early punk era. Plus, it's also super fun to play.

[00:01:00]So, bear with me for a couple minutes while I break this riff down a little bit and then we'll talk about how to properly play the part that stumped me and a bunch of other people for years.

[00:01:07]And so, the song is in the key of G and this chord progression that Pat Smear plays, yes, that's the same Pat Smear who was the second guitarist in Nirvana for a brief amount of time and is currently with the Foo Fighters, is a G to an A to a C to a D.

[00:01:21]And so, what's really cool about this riff is Pat Smear will play little segments of the major scale that corresponds with each chord. And so, the first three notes are within the G major scale which is being played over the G chord.

[00:01:34]Then we have a transitionary note at the fourth fret of the low E string.

[00:01:39]And this is kind of a moving note. So, we're moving through this note into the next scale, which is an A. So, as we move to the A chord, Pat Smear moves to an A major scale over the A chord. So, we're going G major over the G chord, transitionary note, which is also part of the A, moving into the A chord moving to the A root note at the fifth fret of the low E.

[00:02:01]>> [music] >> Then we move to the C chord.

[00:02:05]So we play that C root.

[00:02:07]And then once again Pat Smear is now going to play in the C major scale over the top of that C chord.

[00:02:13]So he plays third fret on the A string.

[00:02:14]Then he plays a double stop at the fifth fret of the D string and fifth fret of the G string.

[00:02:20]And then back to the third fret of the A string. And both of the notes within that double stop are in the C major scale.

[00:02:26]So we have G major, transitionary note into A major and then A major to C major.

[00:02:36]And then the next chord is going to be a D.

[00:02:39]But instead of just continuing it in that pattern and over the last chord, the D chord, playing a segment of the D major scale, Pat Smear makes an interesting choice. And now we come to the part that multiple online guitar tabbers have gotten wrong over the years, including myself. I'm not trying to shame anyone. I made the same mistake. But it's the end of the riff.

[00:02:55]It's this part right here that's been very tricky for people to figure out. So I've seen it tabbed out like this, which is kind of a bluesy phrasing. It's kind of close, but it doesn't quite sound right. I've also seen people claim that it's a unison bend, but that doesn't sound right at all. Or a double stop with some bends.

[00:03:14]But none of those sound right and none of those are right. So he decides to do a double note bend within the D major scale. So we have fifth fret at the B string, and then we have sixth fret of the G string.

[00:03:26]And both of these notes are within the major scale.

[00:03:29]And then what he does next is even more interesting because what he does is he bends both of those notes.

[00:03:36]But he bends the sixth fret of the G string up a half a step up to the seventh fret.

[00:03:45]But he only bends the fifth fret of the B string up a quarter of a step.

[00:03:51]So it's like an in-between note.

[00:03:54]And it gives it this kind of atonal in-key [music] and out-of-key quality at the same time as he bends.

[00:04:02]So, what he's going to do is he's going to play both notes at the same time, bend both, hit them twice bent up, then release the bend and bend up and down, and then hit them again as they come down.

[00:04:22]I was miraculously able to dig up some non-messed-up footage of the Germs actually playing this song where you could see Pat Smear's hands. And you can clearly see here he's in this position with his index finger at the fifth fret of the B string and middle finger at the sixth fret of the G string doing bends on both strings. So, that confirmed for me that the way I was playing it was correct. So, now the whole riff together.

[00:04:50]>> [music] >> So, that's it on how to play the greatest riff in the history of punk rock. Be sure to leave me a comment with your greatest punk rock riff ever. And let me know if you think I finally figured out how to play this riff properly. And lastly, check out my website. I have my beginner punk course up now. It's a multi-video course that shows you everything you need to know to play punk guitar in multiple styles.

[00:05:09]Everything from like the New York Dolls and Sex Pistols to Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, bands like that. And I'll see you guys next time.

[00:05:15]>> [music]