U of I Fighting Illini Fight Song

Ok as the college football season starts , I am getting deluged with ads promoting the U of I team, which has some new coach or something, I dunno doesn’t matter. All the commercials made me take a little trip down memory lane, remembering a song we used to do that was based off the illini fight song, so I decided to incorporate it into a lesson. The same riff can also pass for the Braves , FSU etc. fight songs as well, so it’s not exactly an Illinois only type of thing. So here we go:

There are two ways to play it, a mellower one played on the D and G strings, and a heavier version played on the E and A strings in dropped D tuning (the E string is tuned down to D)


mellow way

^ = pulloff
G--7-7-^-5—7-5--2-2---------------------------------|
D-------------------------------5-5-^-3—5-3--0-0----|
A---------------------------------------------------|
E---------------------------------------------------|


pretty simple and straight forward the only thing being tricky is getting the pulloffs between the 7 and 5 and 5 and 3 down and sounding right. I also slide back into the 2 from the 5, its not needed but just sounds good. The timing may give some of you a problem as first, but just run the song in your head over and over until you get it. I used this as the intro with the drums coming in as a build-up into the heavy part. Also the part just needs to really be played with your fingers to get the right sound.

heavy way in drop d

^ = pulloff
G-----------------------------------------------------|
D-----------------------------------------------------|
A--5-5-^-3--5-3--0-0----------------------------------|
D-------------------------------5-5-^-3--5-3--0-0-----|

pretty much same deal here only play it with a pick, and make sure you are in dropped D tuning. A little palm muting would probably tighten it up a bit as well, I probably did when we were playing the song, I’ll try and dig up an mp3 of the song to post to help give you some ideas…

Low Rider by War

Click here for complete tabs
Click here to listen for free via Rhapsody

For this lesson we are going to go south of the border, for War’s classic Low Rider, while this song has been in countless movies and tv shows, currently it is the theme to the ABC sitcom George Lopez. The riff while very simple looking requires razor sharp timing and sense of groove. Listen to the song a few times before attempting to play it, and make sure you have the groove locked into your head and can “sing” the line in your head, once you have that accomplished playing the riff becomes second hand.


G---------------------3h5-----
D-------------3---3h5---------
A-------1-3-5---5-------------
E--1-3------------------------


Extra Credit
This is a great riff to work on your slap technique. I have outlined 3 different methods below to use below, learn those and see if you can come up with some of your own variations.

1. Slap every note in the riff, take care and only hit the string that has the note you are playing, and not the string above and below it.
2. Play the riff normally with your fingers until you get to the 3h5’s , slap that little run of 4 notes out.
3. Slap out the whole riff except the 3h5’s , those you snap or pop with your fingers.

U Cant Touch This or Super Freak
click here to listen to U Cant Touch This
click here to listen to Super Freak

This one is just plain cheesy fun, you can use it to annoy anyone within earshot. For maximum cheeseball effect , play the riff while moving side to side ala hammer.
One can also utilize a variety of Dave Chappelle’s patented Rick James quotes.
Not too much to add about this one, its pretty straightforward, pay attention to the pauses inbetween the phrasings and that’s about it. Unless you spent the last 20-25 years under a rock you should know this groove by heart so playing it will be a snap.


G|----------------------------|
D|----------------------------|
A|--7--5----------------------|
E|--------8--5---5--3---8--5--|


No extra lessons for this one, is just for fun!!!!!!

My Girl - The Temptations
Click here for complete tabs
Click here to listen for free via Rhapsody

This is another one of those songs, that playing it while stammering out the lyrics will get you out of trouble with the significant other. You can substitute guy for girl or their name if it can fit. Don't worry if your singing isn't up to par, more often than not the worse the singing the better, it would take a very cold heart to not break down with a smile and forgiveness, after hearing a heartfelt off-key rendition of the chorus.

OK time for class to begin. The verse riff for this song is a perfect learning tool, it is fairly easy to pick up, involves all 4 strings and most of all is fun to play. To me it looks like it's based off a simple blues scale and has a bit of a 12 bar feel to it. But don't let the simple look fool you, there is a hard part to pick up on this song, only it isn't a note you play it the one you don't. Confused? One of the most important lessons you can learn as a musician is when not to play, sometimes silence speaks greater than a thousand notes and here is a prime example. The slight pause between the 8 and 10 on both strings, makes the groove, without it you are just playing ascale at practice. Try playing the run without the pause using the standard 1 2 3 4 tempo, now play it with the pause, big difference huh? You went from playing a boring old scale from a mel bay book, to one of the more recognized basslines in history just by adding a slight pause, pretty cool eh? Ok now run thru this main riff till its stuck in your head and then we can move on to the hook (lead-in to chorus)

main riff
verse and chorus

G|--------------------------7-10-|
D|-----------7-10------7-10------|
A|------7-10------8-10-----------|
E|-8-10--------------------------|


All right, do you have that pause beat into your head? If so let's move on to the hook, it's just a little run you do as you go from the verse to the chorus. The best way to play it, is to sing along while playing it, if you can sing the part you can't mess it up as the two are so interlinked. Listen to the song a few times and you will pick it right up. The trick comes when you go back into the main riff, putting that pause in the riff feels very unnatural to go back into, so alot of practice is going to be needed to execute the change without going offbeat. Have fun!!!!

G|---------------------------------------------|
D|---------------------------------------------|
A|-------------8-8--10-10-----------12-10-8-10-|
E|-8-8--10-10--------------8-8--10-------------|


EXTRA CREDIT

The main riff offers up 3 extra lessons to help give you that added edge.

1. Play the entire riff only using your fretting hand. This will help build up speed stamina and power, plus it always looks
cool playing with just one hand.

2. This one is kinda fun but tough, we are going to do a little basic 2 hannded tapping.
(instructions are for right handed players, lefties just switch it around)
your left hand is going to play the 8's and 7's like you did when playing it one handed, but now the 10's are going to be played by your right hand. Place your right thumb on top of the neck between the 11th and 12th frets, using that as an anchor take your right index finger and hit the 10's with it. After a few tries you'll get it down no problem, and can be showing off in no time.

3.Now play the riff each time alternating which style you are using, and amaze your friends.....

click here for a basscrawler search of complete tabs for this lesson
click here to listen to this lesson free of charge courtesy of Rhapsody

okay tonite is one of those nites that makes me so glad basscrawler exists, during an episode of family guy, peter picks up a guitar and begins to play rock lobster. oh yeah i thought, that's a cool riff, i forgot about that song. so i pull up www.basscrawler.org type in rock lobster and then bam theres the tabs, 3 clicks and im looking at the tabs.
so i pick up my bass and start to learn it, right off i notice something, it feels weird trying to play this, it even took a few times to finally get it right. which is surprising since this riff looks real straightforward on paper. then it hit me, in a since i was moving backwards than i was used to, instead of going from say the 5th fret to the 7th, i was going going backwards say 5th to the 3rd.
which to me said i had been real narrow minded lately in my playing, if going one way or the other on the neck during a riff seems harder than another, you are obviously not working on it enough.
so while knowing this riff will do all the normal stuff playing riffs in this column will do, it's added benefit is to open up the rest of the fretboard, which will double the options you will have when playing....

G|---------------2-1-------|
D|----0-1-0----------------|
A|--3---------3------------|
E|-------------------------|


bonus lessons:
1. first learn and play it with a pick until it feels natural and you have it down
2. now play the riff with your index and middle fingers until it feels natural and you have it down.
3. now slap each note of the riff with your thumb, taking care to only hit the string containing the note you are playing and not nicking the open string above or below it,until it feels natural and you can play it cleanly.
4. now we put it all together, but now just slapping some notes and playing the others with your fingers, i wont give any examples as to not influence you, so be creative and try all sorts of combinations.

now take the way you came up to play the riff in #4, and listen to how it sounds when you play. pick up your pick and try to duplicate the sound using the pick. a quick upstroke on a string can make a really passable snap, as can a passable slap be made as well, experiment and see...

for the complete tabs of the song in this lesson click here
click here to listen to this lesson free of charge courtesy of Rhapsody

This is one of those basslines, that everyone should know. It can be used at parties to impress the opposite sex, at home to prove to your parents that buying you that new bass isnt a total waste of money, and on stage to cover for broken guitar strings etc.

like it says on the right over there, im not going to get deep into all the theory and background of the notes being played, the smarter writers take care of that, so that being said here we go

G|-------------------------------------------------|
D|--------------0h2-0-0----------------------------|
A|------0h2-3-3----------0h2--3-3-3-3--2-2-2-2-----|
E|--3-3--------------------------------------------|

just sing the bass line in your head for the timing

this is a great exercise for those working on playing with their fingers, start playing with just your index finger, when you get it down with that finger, add in your middle finger, using it to play every other note, your two fingers will be making a walking type of motion.

for more advanced players, take the riff and play it all the way thru using just your index finger, keep going till your finger fatigues out,now start over with just your middle finger, repeat this process with every finger on your picking hand, until that hand cant take it anymore, now switch to your fretting hand, and play the riff with just hammer ons and pull offs with that hand (hint: to hit the open notes, give the string a slight upward flick with your index finger, on the open d's you may need to go up to the 5th fret on the a string for a bit more natural sound) dont worry about it not sounding quite right, or being almost impossible to do, the main point is to build hand speed,strength and dexterity in both hands, that will pay off later on.