# The one song (guitar riff) that must never be played in a guitar store?



## Amity Island (May 12, 2022)

Can you guess what it is?


----------



## ColinUK (May 12, 2022)

Without giving the game away… 
I’m imagining it’s something to do with this.


----------



## Eddy Edson (May 12, 2022)

ColinUK said:


> Without giving the game away…
> I’m imagining it’s something to do with this. View attachment 20973


Nice one!


----------



## Chris Hobson (May 13, 2022)

It made me think of the Tim Minchin song Rock And Roll Nerd.

You see the problem is, he always dreamed of being a star, but he learned piano instead of guitar, which in the nineties didn't get you very far.
So while the other kids were learning Stairway, he was the piano to their forte...

At the end of the song he plays the famous riff on the piano.


----------



## ColinUK (May 14, 2022)

Chris Hobson said:


> It made me think of the Tim Minchin song Rock And Roll Nerd.
> 
> You see the problem is, he always dreamed of being a star, but he learned piano instead of guitar, which in the nineties didn't get you very far.
> So while the other kids were learning Stairway, he was the piano to their forte...
> ...


To be fair he is a rather talented pianist.


----------



## Chris Hobson (May 14, 2022)

"To be fair he is a rather talented pianist."

Yes. He wrote the song Rock And Roll Nerd when he wasn't really very famous. The first time I heard it I gradually picked up that it was autobiographical as it went along. It eventually gets to the bit:

He knows that his music lacks depth but it just can't be helped. He has nothing interesting to say so he writes about himself. But he doesn't want to seem self obsessed so he writes in third person. In an attempt to seem more rock and roll but he suspects it's not working.


----------



## mikeyB (May 17, 2022)

It’s the opening riff that opens Stairway to Heaven, and it’s forbidden because every guitar player learns how to play it, and always play it in public guitar stores to show off ( though I’ve never done it). Drives guitar storemen crazy, as you might imagine. Nothing more sinister than that.


----------



## Chris Hobson (May 17, 2022)

Sorry, I didn't think that I needed to spell it out as I thought that it was obvious. Presumably it's only obvious to dinosaur rock fans like me. I've actually ordered a piano arrangement of stairway, I think that it might be amusing to see if I can get thrown out of a music shop for playing the forbidden riff on the piano.


----------



## mikeyB (May 19, 2022)

Aye, it's only obvious to us oldies. Ive got a T-Shirt that reads "I may be old, but at least I got to see all the great bands".


----------



## khskel (May 20, 2022)

Smoke on the water was also forbidden at a music shop I used to frequent.


----------



## harbottle (May 20, 2022)

Aqualung!


----------



## Chris Hobson (May 23, 2022)

I got my piano arrangement of Stairway in the post a couple of days ago and I've started to practice it. It is a really simple arrangement but my sight reading skills are so rusty that I had to start by picking it out in slow motion. Still, it's coming along and I've got plenty of time to work on it so it's not a problem.


----------



## Amity Island (Aug 10, 2022)

In contrast, 8 guitar riffs that guitar stores like to hear!


----------

