Why Is the Forbidden Riff Forbidden? You Still Can't Play It

June 2024 ยท 4 minute read

Why is the "forbidden" riff forbidden from being performed in guitar retail outlets? We smash down why the riff from "Stairway to Heaven" is still verboden.

Mustafa Gatollari - Author

It will have to be infuriating for individuals who work in track shops to peer people sit down on a drum set, play a keyboard, or grasp a guitar with out understanding what they are doing. The constant cacophony of discordant rhythms will have to power them to the brink of madness.

But even worse is when individuals who handiest know two riffs sit down on a six-string and play the identical thing again and again. There's even one riff that is absolutely forbidden. Why is it forbidden you ask?

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Seriously, why is the forbidden riff forbidden?

If you love the guitar then you almost definitely love Jimmy Page. The Led Zeppelin guitarist was once a god to rock devotees. From using violin bows to play his custom axes to the dual-neck guitar with different tunings, to dressed in wizard/dragon outfits together with his massive mop of black hair, Jimmy Page is the very definition of a guitar god.

He also championed one in all the greatest onerous rock ballads ever and a song that many of us argue is the largest track of all time. But that kind of heavy reward comes with a heavy worth: Everyone and their mother needs to play that great rock music. And many of us think that the music store is just the right position to do this.

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The tune in query, in fact, is "Stairway to Heaven." While many (and by way of many I imply me) would argue that it's Dolly Parton's song now, the opening riff of "Stairway" is one in every of the maximum iconic rock licks of all time. It's a soulful, stunning, shifting, transcendent piece of music that is responsible for a large number of irresponsible dreams and gratuitous crying when you're nine beers deep.

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It's additionally performed out to the level that you need to straight away press a "skip" button on the one who's enjoying it. It's perhaps no longer as bad as the dude on your school campus with an acoustic guitar who's constantly jamming out to "Wonderwall" and "Santeria" in the quad, but it's still pretty bad.

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So what makes the "Stairway to Heaven" riff the forbidden riff?

You can thank a brilliant '90s comedy for that: Wayne's World. One gag in the film sees Wayne talk over with his native tune store the place he eyes the crown jewel guitar of the establishment. He hunkers down with the beautiful guitar and is about to play the opening riff of "Stairway to Heaven" when the employee issues to an indication in the retailer that stops Wayne in his tracks.

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It was an inside funny story that any one who's hung out in a song store would right away perceive, however the explanation why why the riff is "forbidden" is in large part due to this gag in the film. It's simply tense to hear the same music over and over and over (and over) again, no matter how just right the music if truth be told is.

There are some other honorable mentions that YouTuber and badass guitarist Moonrunner Music claims are simply as egregious if performed in a song retailer. They include:

You can check out his video of enjoying riffs underneath and there are tablatures, you know, in case you've at all times dreamed of being kicked out of a music store.

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Or, you know, you may play them in the convenience of your judgment-freee home because you wish to experience yourself. Either works.

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