Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi:How To Fatten Up Riffs On Lead Guitar

I was reading a March 1998 article in Guitar World by Tony--who had a column at that time aptly named; Heaven and Hell. Tony talked at that time a bit about reuniting with the boys. But the gist of the March piece had to do with playing fatter,or heavier riffs on lead guitar playing like a bottom feeding bass player.

I realize this is easy stuff guys, but so many musicians don't play the way they want and have the feel
for playing "on the mark" fat riffs.

How to Use More Attack On Riffs:

This is all from Tony,and I'm paraphrasing big-time so I'm not copying the heavy riff master himself, Iommi. So lets get to the matter of mastering the heavy riff.

Remember, this is easy stuff guys,so don't say "I know I know." If you did you'd be using these techniques to master fat riffs. This is the first of just a few tips on this subject.

Use Downstrokes only. I'm not kidding. Think about your bass player and how they play. They naturally play fatter riffs to keep the foundation down for you.  And they use downstrokes at least
50% or more of the time. So why shouldn't you emulate their tapping  technique on creating fatter
riffs on lead guitar?

Think about the axe Tony uses. He uses a Gibson SG. It's more of a heavier guitar made for rock n'roll,and not so much blues or jazz. But, I'm not sure what pickups Tony uses. I'll have that when I include his rig in this article.

Tuning Down: This is another way to add more attack and more of a fatter bass like tone and feel.
Literally tune down your guitar so you're able to play fatter riffs,but not so down tuned that it changes
your tone,and puts your tone,way out of whack with your bass player and drummer.

You'll have to test this out.

Palm Muting: This is another great way from Tony on creating fatter riffs that blow you away,and your fans. Test it out at gigs and the local jam session where you live.

Palm mute with the heel of your hand just over the bridge and you'll notice the tone and riff becoming lower, or bottom feeder like,like a bass player.

I think this is a great lesson from Tony Iommi. Plaus it's stupid simple that even I could do it,and I don't play guitar!

Okay,here's Tony's rig which is also important to know. The pickups you use could also have an impact on how you implement those beautiful fat riffs.


Tony's Rig: Tony's Rig Finally:
Guitars--Mainly Gibson SG
             John Diggens Customized 75' SG Old Boy and no.1
             91' Gibson with Floyd Rose Vibrato--Built by JT Ribbloff
             97' Signature SG's--From Gibson Custom Shop

Pickups: Tony is well known for using a 1965 Gibson SG with these pickups on them.
Gibson P-90 at the bridge position,A custom wound John Birch Simplux in the middle--and
a P-90 single coil in the neck position.

Frankly I wasn't sure if he used singles at all, and he does.

Used a Dallas Range Master Treble Booster way back when. I always thought he played heavy, but with a very bluesy feel because of effects.

Strings--.008 to .0032 Light Guage Labella Strings
             .009 to .0042 For Heavier material

Picks--Dunlop Picks

Amps--ENG Powerball head preamp
           Laney GH 100TI heads with EL 34 tubes

Laney GS 412LA 4X12 Cabs and Celestion G12H Heritage speakers

Stomps and Pedals--Line 6 MM4 Modulation Modeler
                               Boss RCE 10 Chorus Ensemble
                               Boss OC 3 Super Octave
                               Chicago Iron Parachute Wah
                               MXR Flanger
                               SDD 1000 Delay
                               Roland SDE 3000 Digital Delay
                          

Wireless for those who care: Samson UHF Synth 5 System
                                            Sennheiser EW 500 G2 System

Power Units: Furman Rack Distribution--John Henry's Backroom Book Booster
                    Main Distribution