10 Easy Guitar Riffs (That Don't Appear On Other Lists)

Continuing the heavy metal thread is "Electric Funeral" from Black Sabbath's stellar second album "Paranoid". The cheery subject matter of complete nuclear annihilation is matched quite well by the thundering drums, booming bass and eerily distorted guitars, as Ozzy Osbourne sings about a world ravaged by nuclear radiation. Although the choice of theme is quite typical of a Black Sabbath song, the overall instrumentation and feel beautifully compliments the doom and gloom of Cold War paranoia. On the whole, the song is quite the hidden gem that is quite overshadowed on an album that also contains some of the band's greatest hits.

Although "Iron Man" and "Paranoid" from the same album are often cited as good examples of easy to learn riffs, but "Electric Funeral" is never discussed in the same capacity, despite the fact that is also quite an easy song to learn and play. The main riff and verse passages are only comprised of few note riffs, and it is these two riffs that make up the large majority of the song. Unlike the breakdown/solo sections of "Iron Man" and "Paranoid", the breakdown of "Electric Funeral" is much easier, as the solo essentially just follows the vocal melody, which is satisfying to play along to once you get the hang of it.