8 Classic '90s Riffs To Pick & Strum

Guitar Riffs

8 Classic '90s Riffs
To Pick & Strum

Paul Andrews
July 10, 2019

Ah, the ’90s what a great decade for music. I think we can all remember where we were the first time we heard Barbie Girl by Aqua and the profound impact it had on our lives. Before which we were just MMMboping our way through life in our MC Hammer pants!

Thankfully as well as catchy throwaway Pop and cheesetastic boybands the ’90s did deliver some awesome music. Alternative rock kick-started a guitar revolution with bands like Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains and Pearl Jam leading the way. Soon after Pop Punk bands such as Green Day, Blink 182, The Offspring & NOFX got teenagers rocking while Marilyn Manson showed everyone its ok to look weird.

The UK had quite an impact on the decade with Britpop bands such as Blur, Suede, Pulp, Ash, Elastica, Supergrass, and Oasis. As well as the Post-Britpop bands like The Verve, Radiohead, Travis, Stereophonics, and Feeder.

To help celebrate this decade of music I have picked eight classic 90s songs from the Beginner Guitar Academy archives that are fun to play and sound cool. There are four single note riffs for the pickers and four chord based songs for the strummers, so hopefully something for everyone.

Song 1: Zombie

Zombie was recorded by the Irish rock band The Cranberries. It is a protest song written about the 1993 IRA bombing in Warrington, and in memory of two young victims, Johnathan Ball and Tim Parry. This is a great beginner song as it is essentially just four chords all the way through, Em, C, G & D.

Song 2: Wonderwall

This song is a 90’s classic, it only contains a few chords and you can keep two fingers down most of the way through but the strum pattern is quite difficult, so take your time and go slow.

Song 3: Lucky Man

The song itself only has a few chords but it is the 16th note strum pattern that makes it difficult.

Song 4: Runaway Train

This song contains just four simple open chords, C, G, Am & Em but does also contains the ‘F’ chord which is a more advanced chord.

Song 5: High and Dry

This song starts with a cool octave riff which means you are only holding down two strings, sounds easy but you also want to hear open strings so take care when placing fingers.

Song 6: Everlong

Everlong is one of my favourite songs. The song starts with a great riff played in Drop D so you will need to tune your low E string down to D.

Song 7: Smells Like Teen Spirit

This is another 90s classic and only consists of four chords. The strum pattern is a bit tricky but shouldn’t take too long to get down.

Song 8: Are You Gonna Go My Way

This riff uses the E Minor Pentatonic scale with bends and double stops. It is repetitive but it is also fast so may take awhile to get the speed.

There we have it a collection of 90s classics to help transport you back in time. What is your favourite 90s song? I would love to know, drop it in the comments below.

If you are a member of Beginner Guitar Academy check out the Song section of the site, where you will find plenty more 90s gems.

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