10 Insanely Fun 80s Riffs You Must Learn Now

[@MoviesNStuff]

Great Video! Too many great riffs! (Also, I sent that Email!)

[@jim3041]

Great video, as usual Mark. The orange, and white Rok-Loks look hot! Can't wait for the release of them. How a video of some surf guitar songs?

[@stankruger6823]

all of these riffs are undeniable classics. I wouldn't really call Who's Behind the Door intro a riff per se, but I love it so I'm not complaining.

[@8MinuteAxe]

sometimes I forget that they are supposed to be riffs in the classic sense. I have a broad definition of riff. :)

[@kenpullin4937]

Zebra kick ass

[@salvadorsepulveda6415]

Great riffs, and Every move you make is a finger stretcher 🎉

[@8MinuteAxe]

for sure. I was just talking about that with somebody. I should have used the shorter scale neck. :0

[@clemlabelle8740]

crazy train kicks ass. Every breath you take is a high point. I could never do the stretch it takes to get it clean

[@8MinuteAxe]

I was thinking that I should have used the shorter neck, funny.

[@amandadavidson6228]

best one yet!

[@8MinuteAxe]

not as good as the next one....

[@grievouserror]

I can't say yet how much fun they are to play but they're great to listen to. You look like *you're* having fun and it made for a great video. Thanks again, Mark, and excellent choices!

[@8MinuteAxe]

Thanks for always taking the time to watch and support. I really do appreciate it. Have a great week. Mark

[@bobshomewoodshop7996]

I was not listening to stations playing contemporary music in the '80s, but I have heard most of those songs at one time or another somewhere or another. Great demonstration, as always. I keep missing your new releases in time to get in on the chat. I need to make sure I am online next time.

[@8MinuteAxe]

No worries at all Bob. I was already off to a tough year with trying to get videos uploaded in time and then my brother got sick and died and it really threw me off. The shorts have provided a good stop gap but I haven't been consistent about my upload time with those either. Hopefully, the second half of the year will be more predictable. Thanks for always supporting the channel and being positive. Mark

[@bobshomewoodshop7996]

@@8MinuteAxe Mark, I am so sorry to hear about your brother. I thought maybe you had just gotten busy with other things and your video release schedule suffered because of it. I have come to think of you as a friend, so I try to follow you as closely as I can. I am over the 1K mark for subs, but not at the 4,000-hour mark yet. I'm not sweating it, when it happens, it happens. I am adding one or two videos every week. In the meantime. I purchased a CNC machine and have added learning CAD CAM software to my list of things to do.

[@MarthaKadas]

Loved this one for inspiration! Thanks, Mark!

[@8MinuteAxe]

That's great. By the 80s, guitar players were trying to figure out how to outdo each other. I tried to keep the technical stuff out of it. Thanks so much for always supporting. Mark

[@TheBluesman56]

Nice work Mark 👍😎🎶

[@8MinuteAxe]

Hey! Long time no talk. Thanks for always supporting. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Have a great week. Mark

[@CatchersCatch]

Excellent presentation.

[@gdkopinionator4356]

Super fun! I find that a lot of the top guitarists from the previous decades continued to do great work in the 80's. Gilmour did some amazing stuff, not only on the two Floyd LP's of the 80's, but as a guest (particularly on "No More Lonely Nights" by Paul McCartney). Alex Lifeson practically invented a school of rock guitar between "Moving Pictures" and "Hold Your Fire". Clapton did some fantastic pop hits on "August" and "Journeyman" (My fellow Ferrante disciple John Mayer, based his latest LP largely off of nostalgia for those tones). Genesis, though not known for guitar work after Hackett departed, did some amazing stuff w/ Rutherford on lead guitar between "Duke" and the Shapes album. It's difficult to be objective about the 80's, because my teen-angst and I were stuck in the heart of it. I find myself going back to a lot of pieces from that era because they hold some emotional weight for me. Some stuff, particularly the adult contemporary stuff, is so skillfully produced that it is absolutely essential study material for studio work.

[@8MinuteAxe]

I was just thinking about how many songs did I learn in real time. I believe the closest I ever came was learning (or trying to learn) New World Man during the premiere after having picked up the guitar 3 months earlier. I didn't know that Gilmour played on No More Lonely Nights. My musical life is neatly divided between 80 and 81. Everything from 80 and earlier (Back and Black, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath) was the distant past. Everything that's come out since 81 I still consider "new" music.

[@d-jake1667]

Thank you for the flashback. I know younger generations can learn from this video and keep that vib alive. Passion for music is in the soul. Creating a rode map for our younger musicians is a responsibility we should all take on. Thank you once again! #winaguitar.

[@garym5676]

Where can u get an orange Rok-Lok?

[@8MinuteAxe]

The orange ones that I'm using were actually an accident. They were supposed to be red. We are trying out a couple of colors with the next run (white, chrome, and purple I believe). If we get enough interest we will expand the line. Thanks Gary.

[@roklok9856]

Rok-loks lookin' good

[@8MinuteAxe]

always

[@hansvandermeulen5515]

"When I was living through it, I thought the music of the 80s sucked." I'm with you there. I grew up in the 80s in the Netherlands and apart from British heavy metal, underground hip hop and Kate Bush there wasn't much music I really liked.

[@vintagethrifter2114]

Good idea for a video. You can definitely do more on the subject matter. Wait on the one with Dire Straits Money for Nothing.

[@8MinuteAxe]

Thanks so much. I did Money for Nothing in the Enya review and it's tough to pull off exactly like the record. I felt like I set a reasonably high bar with the performances and my rendition of Money needed some work and I ran out of time so I bumped it for Every Breath. Money is certainly one of THE essential riffs of the era no doubt. Take care and have a great week. Mark

[@jrocket50]

Great stuff 8 Minute Axe keep up the good work.

[@maryannkarlvalois7597]

Very nice!!

[@donschenk429]

Thank you, Mark. That Rok-Lok looks great - exactly what I need so my arthritic hands won't need to deal with pulling a strap off the guitar. I just now ordered one.

[@freesk8]

Wow, man, great riffs! You inspired me to play White Room! :)

[@freesk8]

And I love my Rok-Lok! :)

[@8MinuteAxe]

It's awesome that what you took from it is how great of a song White Room is. 12 hours in a row of it. LOL. Mark

[@8MinuteAxe]

I'm glad you like it. It was a lot of work to bring to market and even more work now. I'm glad it actually makes life easier...in a small way...but still, easier and not harder. :)

[@iloveitall]

Music starts 2:42

[@michaelhogan7866]

Hard to believe you listened to all that Cream while this was going on! I had a buddy who listened to nothing but Aerosmith in the 80s. I introduced him to music and he’s now in an 80s cover band

[@8MinuteAxe]

Everything changed the day my brother brought home the blue and the red album (the two Beatles greatest hits albums)

[@yellowcat1310]

arghh i missed the live

[@liamfirebird6922]

Hey I thought I was the only one who hated 80s music back in the day! In the 80s I was heavy into 60s and 70s rock. CCR is still my favorite band, but like you I have grown to love 80s music now that I'm older. Great video! Keep em coming.

[@8MinuteAxe]

Hey Liam. Thanks for the positive comment. How about the 90s. I went to a ton of concerts in the 90s (thankfully). If I knew it was going to be the last decade of the Rock n' Roll era I would have gone to a show everyday. LOL. I appreciate your time and comment. Enjoy the rest of your week and take care. -Mark

[@liamfirebird6922]

@8MinuteAxe the 90s were cool. Went to a lot of shows back then. Everything from country (Reba, CDB, Travis Tritt) to Rock (Warrant, Jackel, Speedwagon) I still try to catch shows if it's an older band still touring. I would love to see Bob Segar (for instance). Take care and have a great week.

[@CthulhuInc]

oh, man, this was another great trip down memory lane, mark! my 20s were in the 80s, and there was lots of good stuff around, despite our b*tchin' that things weren't the same "as they useta be"! 😊

[@8MinuteAxe]

even the 90s were great considering what came after. :o

[@simonprice2845]

Is that a Taylor 424 koa on your wall?

[@luisalbertoalomarflores5161]

cool

[@JohnA000]

some of the tunings were different, just Eb or were there others. they were fun.

[@sandrataylor51]

It just goes to show that when you always thought that the 80s was almost as bad as the 90s, there was still some decent stuff being made Mark. You found a few good ones from that decade 🎸🎸🎸🙂

[@officialWWM]

Almost as bad? wtf? There was some awesome music being made in the 80s and 90s!

[@Domn879]

*Almost as good as the 90s.

[@sandrataylor51]

@@officialWWM Nowhere near as many excellent or even as good as the ones in the 60s since about 1972 and it seems to be continuing to deteriorate since the imposition of rap, drill and other strange forms of noise that its “performers” claim to be musical but has no resemblance to classical or any other genre of real music before to around the start of this century.

[@officialWWM]

@@sandrataylor51 😂😂You sound so old! You do realise not everyone has the same taster, right? 😂

[@JSaltyfabricator]

Lady, this has to be the most ignorant comments I have ever read.

[@baddatesandstupidworkstori4653]

Fully expected "Moving in Stereo" by the Cars based on that thumbnail

[@yellowcat1310]

Sweet Child o' Mine is deceptively harder than it looks to play. i get the notes. but they just don't sound right. more practice...

[@stankruger6823]

muting is the key. start with a clean sound and add more gain as you feel more comfortable about how clean you're actually playing the riff. Watch the direction of your picking too.

[@8MinuteAxe]

I think you got excellent advice about the muting. I'm actually teaching it to one of my students now and he's having a tough time muting. Take it slowly is the most important thing. And for sure watch your picking. Be consistent with it and try to upstroke the first string notes.

[@Dreyno]

Always sounds better when you pick pretty hard. With a fairly heavy pick (something around 1mm).

[@yellowcat1310]

thanks, i'll be trying it watching the picking direction closer and muting.

[@twangjow4877]

What movie is the girl in thumbnail from?

[@JN-wg1nl]

Starts at 2:45

[@jennifermyslajek6015]

Hey :)

[@vincentlussier8264]

So what does the chick in the picture have to do with guitar?

[@8MinuteAxe]

It's Phoebe Cates in the classic scene from Fast Times. It's an iconic image from a movie and soundtrack that represents the 80s as well as anything. I could have used leg warmers, a DeLorean, or Molly Ringwald but judging by the 8k views out of the gate, I think it resonates well.