![smoke on the water riff smoke on the water riff](https://runvagabound.files.wordpress.com/2017/11/smoke-on-the-water-main-riff-870x341.png)
To work on material for their next album the band decamped to the small, lakeside town of Montreaux, Switzerland with the Rolling Stones’ Mobile Studio in tow-a portable recording studio referred to in the song as “the Rolling truck Stones thing” and used by Led Zeppelin, the Who, Dire Straits and many others.”
![smoke on the water riff smoke on the water riff](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/c1hZh4bXZa4/maxresdefault.jpg)
When Deep Purple began working on what would become 1972’s “Machine Head,” the group had already churned through a host of members and had coalesced into a successful, road-tested group with their fifth album, 1971’s “Fireball,” having reached the top of the album charts in their native U.K. The story behind the song’s origin unfolds in the lyrics.
#SMOKE ON THE WATER RIFF HOW TO#
I knew how to do ‘Smoke On The Water’ and ‘Sunshine Of Your Love’ and ‘In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida’.” Speaking to Goldmine in 1994, Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore recalled bands in his Connecticut high school playing the song, saying “f they were really hot, they’d cover Deep Purple. It proves that you can play three notes and still make it killer.”
![smoke on the water riff smoke on the water riff](https://d29ci68ykuu27r.cloudfront.net/items/19392635/cover_images/cover-large_file.png)
“I learned it on the E string, then my dad taught me a chord and I thought it was as heavy as shit. Pantera’s Dimebag Darryl, speaking to Guitar World in 1993, called it “the ultimate simple tune” and revealed it was the first song he ever learned. “The thick medieval groove Ritchie Blackmore summoned for Deep Purple’s massive 1973 hit, “Smoke on the Water,” has become synonymous with the word “riff”, and it’s possibly the first thing you ever learned to play. Adam Brent Houghtaling conducted an interview for Fender page where he’s got Ritchie Blackmore telling how he’s got into the most iconic of the iconic riffs ever “Smoke on the Water.” Take a look: