Rock Of Ages Guitar Lesson – Def Leppard


In this guitar lesson video, I will show you how to play Def Leppard's monster 80's hit "Rock Of Ages" note-for-note.

There are some really interesting riffs in this one, along with some chord voicings you may not have played before.

This Rock Of Ages guitar lesson will also cover the guitar solo in-depth. This solo by the great Phil Collen is full of 80's guitar pyrotechnics and is a lot of fun to play.

I will start with those classic guitar riffs however, and they are certainly a great study on how to create an incredible song with a multitude of rhythm guitar styles.

The opening riff requires some quick muting in order to get the rhythm to sound correct. You will also have a quick little single note fill at the very end of that riff that can be a little tricky to get under your fingers.

The guitar during the verse of "Rock Of Ages" is for the most part nonexistent expect for the 3rd verse where there is some guitar fills used to fill out the sound.

The pre-chorus is very simplistic and perfectly leads us into the chorus which is by far the most interesting riff of the song.

You will be playing a consistent 8th note riff that is just a repeated melody while the bass notes changes. There is also another guitar playing power chords here as well, so I make sure to point that out in the video lesson.

All-in-all this lesson would be a great one to learn for any fan of melodic rock no matter what era you prefer. The guys in Def Leppard certainly know what they are doing when it comes to writing timeless guitar riffs and memorable melodies. Enjoy!

Carl...

If these free lessons help you, please donate to keep new ones coming daily. Thanks!! 🙂

Donate to GuitarLessons365
Other Amount:

Rock Of Ages Guitar Lesson - Def Leppard

2 Comments

  1. Kristian Shaide on April 11, 2016 at 9:44 pm

    Loving the lessons covering Def Leppard! Though I would like to learn Demolition Man, but I can’t seem to find tab or lessons anywhere, I thought you could possibly help in this endeavor? Would be greatly appreciated!

  2. Rob Preston on April 19, 2020 at 2:35 pm

    Thank you for teaching this! I’ve been trying to get that riff and arpeggio since the 80’s

Leave a Comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.