Earlier this month, a week after the release of their 11th studio album, Doom Crew Inc., Black Label Society's Zakk Wylde and Dario Lorina stopped by Guitar World HQ to teach you how to play the LP's opener, Set You Free.
And during the same visit, we asked the pair to give us a rundown of their all-time favorite guitar riffs. They proceeded to serve up 20 minutes' worth of killer six-string-slinging, along with some insight into how each riff is played, and we're thrilled to bring you the results of that session today in these two new exclusive videos.
Wylde and Lorina kick off proceedings by playing Destruction Overdrive, taken from Black Label Society's 2003 album The Blessed Hellride. On the track's pentatonic-flavored guitar licks, Wylde explains: “You can't go wrong with [the pentatonic scale] – that's why it's awesome.”
The BLS leader has made no secret of his love of the pentatonic scale. Earlier this year, during an appearance on The Guitar Villains podcast hosted by Music is Win’s Tyler Larson, he called the scale “the most lyrical”, and encouraged viewers to “just stick with the pentatonic!”
The pair then proceed to play a version of Overlord – from 2010's Order of the Black – that they currently play live, before giving a quick lesson on its simple-but-effective eighth-note main riff.
Next up, Wylde and Lorina play through A Love Unreal and Bleed For Me – from 2018's Grimmest Hits and 2002's 1919 Eternal, respectively – before tearing up the Sabbath-esque riffs of another Grimmest Hits cut, Trampled Down Below.
The latter is in C#, which Wylde describes as “the heaviest of all the tunings: the Sabbath tuning, the Lord Iommi tuning”. While relatively simple from a guitar perspective, the track was written with the “Smoke on the Water, Iron Man principle” of using limited strings to compose great riffs.
And if that Black Label Society itch hasn't been scratched, you'll be glad to hear Zakk Wylde and Dario Lorina are the cover stars of the January 2022 issue of Guitar World.
Inside the issue, Wylde walks us through 12 critical tracks from every corner of his over-30-year career, from his tenure with Ozzy Osbourne to collaborations with Dimebag Darrell, Black Label Society and Generation Axe. He also touches on the 30th anniversary of Ozzy's No More Tears.
To pick up a copy, head to Magazines Direct.
