Riffology Of AC DC Learn to Play
Riffology Of AC DC Learn to Play
Now you can learn to play over 70 high voltage AC/DC riffs, including Back In Black, Hells Bells, Let There Be Rock, and Highway To Hell. Complete with hints and tips on how to create the AC/DC sound, plus band history and discography, this is a must for any fan!
User Ratings and Reviews
3 Stars Riffology = Just Intro’s, but no solos!!!
I have been completely against AMSCO tabs for years due to them not tabbing out AC/DC songs correctly. An old friend did a review here and answered some replies about the tabs being correct in this one. So I had to check it out.
When I got the book in the mail, I wondered why it felt so thin, seeing as how it’s supposed to have 70 songs in it.
Well, to my surprise, I opened it up, flicked to the first tab, and there is Back In Black’s intro, then a whole heap of writing and information. The next page showed the Chorus, and the boogie riff later in the song… so i turn the page, and it’s showing Ballbreaker… but wait, whats going on here? where is the solo to BIB?
Flicking through some more pages, I noticed there is no solo’s what so ever in this. Most of these song’s are just the intro and the main riff.
Although most of the tabs in it are correct, I see why this is called Riffology, as it’s only the opening riff and then your left to use the force to work out the rest of the song.
For someone like me who has been playing for over 10 years, it’s easy for me to work out the rest of the riffs (even tho I knew them already) but for a beginner guitar player, you are going to want to jam along to the song, and then coming out of the intro, you will be staring at the tab pages asking yourself, “is this right? where is that bit, that doesn’t sound right”
For someone who wants to just learn some party piece’s to play, this book is great. But for someone who wants to learn the song from start to finish, this is not the way to go.
For a beginner, it might be cool to learn a few intro riffs, and a more advanced player might be able to help you out with learning the rest. But this almost seems to me like AMSCO has said, “Ok, you have complained about us tabbing out song’s the wrong way for years, here is the bit’s we have messed up, there correct now, now you can buy our other books, and use these riffs to replace the parts you knew where wrong”
Like I said, they may have finally corrected some things, but these tabs are not complete.
# Back in black – only the intro, chorus, and boogie.
# Ballbreaker – intro, first main riff… does not continue onto pre chorus!
# Bad Boy Boogie – main riff only, nothing else!
# Beating Around The bush – intro only, well the part 2 bars after the intro that continues playing instead of the held note. It wouldn’t have been so difficult to write the main riff of D A G E would it?
# C.O.D – intro and main riff.
# Dirty Deeds – cut off the 1 shown on the e and it’s correct, but it’s only the intro and doesn’t show that Angus is using full power chords. Nor does it show the main riff or chorus which is not that hard. It shows a piece saying to tap something, for starters, if that is trying to show the solo trilling, it’s on the e string, not the b string, and it looks more like thunderstruck then Dirty Deeds, secondly, tapping was not even around in the 70’s when this song was written, and the only known time Angus has ever used a tapping method is on the solo of Who Made Who (and not the lead riff)
#Big Balls – i’d argue that it is a regular b5 chord, not a b7 as shown. Still, it’s still only the intro. The main riff should have been included.
#Dog Eat Dog – Main riff only, I suppose it’s not hard to work out you just don’t include the open e in between the notes and let them ring for the intro, but still, the pre-chorus is not tabbed here. And the solo is one of the easiest AC/DC riffs, why couldn’t they tab that?
#Down Payment Blues – I will argue that it is 2 note power chords, not just an open E. It’s just the intro.
#Flick Of The Switch – Another intro, only.
#For Those About To Rock – Finally AMSCO realized there is no 12 on the b string being played here. However, it still shows how to play the LIVE version, although it would not look a heck of a lot different, the timing of the notes is different for the recorded version that has a kind of pluck to plick bounce sound to it. Not just the full driving 11>11>11>11 sound to it that Angus uses for the live version — Also, again, it’s only the intro, does not even show the main riff.
#Get It Hot – intro/M riff only
#Given the dog a bone – looking at it, something seems off about it. However, it’s only the intro.
#hard as a rock – it seems it focus’ on the intros rhythm section and has a bit like, “oh by the way, this is what you mostly hear by Angus” — again, intro to it only.
# have a drink on me – intro only 
#Heat Seeker – interesting transcription, but i will argue with this tab and still say it’s played
—————————|—————————|
—————————|—————————|
—————————|—————————|
—–5h–7–7–9—–7—–|–9–5h–7–7–9—–7—–|
—–5—L–5–5—–5—–|–5–5—L–5–5—–5—–|
–x–5—L——–5—–5–|—–5—L——–5—–5–|
angus clearly shows he is doing a 12 bar blues like pattern in the video and donnington performance.
#Hell Aint A Bad Place To Be – intro/main riff only
#Hells Bells – at long last amsco publishes the intro done correctly.. to bad it’s only the intro.
#High Voltage – they finally worked out it’s a A/C chord, and included the intro bit Angus does… and the main riff…. but thats all they show!
#Highway To Hell – I still argue this song is A5, not A… but anyway, they only show the intro/main riff here.
#If You Want Blood – intro only
#it’s a long way to the top – they finally got it right, but it’s the intro only.
# The Jack – apart from it being the main riff only, if there going to explain that there is a recorded version, and a live version, they should at least also tell you the changes made to the live version and show how it’s played.
#Jail Break – intro/chorus only. seems odd leaving out the pre chorus of A-D-D-D-A, B-E-E-E-B
#Let Me Put My Love Into You – intro
#Lets get it up – intro
#Let There Be Rock – finally, they show it how it’s played without that confusing A chords they used to have that was not in the song. It shows the intro, and the first solo… wow, it actually shows a solo! However that last bar that starts with 3 14’s, that ain’t correct.
#Love Hungry Man – seems a waste of space tabbing just the intro to this song. Plus, i dunno what the text is on about, it should just say, “tune down half a step”
#Night Prowler – main riff only, and I highly doubht it is played like that. Play just the above bass notes it shows.
#Overdose – intro/main riff
#problem Child – intro
#RNR aint noise pollution – intro, which is a shame, cause people really need to see how the riff is played by Malcolm & Angus to show how you get that sound with a B5 and a B-whatever that Angus uses.
#RNR Damnation – intro/main riff – why was the chorus so hard to print out?
#Riff Raff – intro to break down shown. and does not show the difference in what both guitars are doing during the riff.
#Rocker – euhh, seems ok.
#shake a leg – chorus only.
#shoot to thrill – intro, a riff only.
#shot down in flames – intro, main riff only.
#Shake Your Foundations – I really wanted to see if they had corrected themselves with this one, but they haven’t. It only shows the main riff.
#Sink The Pink – the intro is not quite right, but it makes sense. instead of a 3/5 slide, make it a 1/5. and the riff it shows, I’ve never seen it shown that way, but it sounds ok, maybe it is right, maybe it isnt. I don’t know, we’d have to ask Angus himself. The chorus is about right.
#sin city – no intro???? just the main riff??
# Stiff Upper Lip – that is not the intro of Stiff Upper Lip, it’s there, but you have to read the last two notes of the first bar then add it half way through the beginning of that bar again. In other words, start off with that bend. God knows what that 5 is doing in the first bar of the tab.
# TNT – intro only, and there is a slight bend supposed to be in that second 3.
#Thats the way I wanna RNR – *buzzer sound* get rid of that 7 and make it an 0, and there is no power chord in it.
#Touch Too Much – intro only
#Thunderstuck – Intro and intros rhythm only. They still have never corrected there chorus which had a D in it that they never included.
#Two’s Up – What the heck is this doing in here? As a fan, I like the song, but it’s hardly one people wanna tab to much… anyway, it seems ok for the amount of tab it does show for it.
#Whole Lotta Rosie – *buzzer sound* again, it’s wrong. Angus does not play power chords for that intro or main riff.
#Who Made Who – The song is finally in C, the Chorus is finally right, but the pre chorus riff should just be power chords, and what the hell is the lead riff showing????
try
–8–8\———————|——————-|——————-|
–8–8\———————|——————-|——————-|
—————————-|——————-|——————-|
———0-2-0-3-0-5-0-3-0–|——————-|——————-|
—————————-|–4-0-5-0-7-0-5-0–|–2-0-3-0-5-0-3-0–|
—————————-|——————-|——————-|
plus there original who made who solo was not even close, they have not even tried to show a solo for it here.
# You Shook Me All Night Long – at last they show the intro done properly. And shows the riff properly for both guitars.
Well, thats my opinion about this book by AMSCO. Hope it helps you make your decision about weather or not this is a worthy purchase.
5 Stars user friendly.
I gave this to my son as stocking stuffer – he has not stopped using it since Christmas – he is amazed that the book is easy to follow and user-friendly to someone like him who’s just beginning to learn guitar.
