9 Levels of System of a Down Riffs - Easy to Hard

9 Levels of System of a Down riffs - easy to hard!
Time for some more levels of and this time it's some iconic riffs from Daron Malakian of SoaD.
What are your favourites and what do you find the hardest?
Gear - Dean Cadillac Select, String Source Emerald 11s, LTD B-254, UA-25EX interface, Logic X, , Steven Slate Drums, JBL305 monitors.
Full disclosure - the video and audio are done separately as it makes for a nicer video for all!
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#metal #riffs #levels

[@ashutoshJMJK]

Daron is my reminder that you don’t have to be complicated to sound good

[@renzoarriaran4313]

Totally

[@josebriancruzmeza3279]

Except cigaro

[@geologist5838]

Daron is the reason I grabbed the electric

[@mydeadsoul6663]

And Opeth are a reminder that you have to be complicated to sound good. Finding balance between both is not easy.

[@dodge5570]

Richard kruspe & Paul landers from rammstein for me

[@Zephr238]

Daron is that one guy who doesn't care if he sounds good he just loves to play

[@205iulian2]

But he still sounds good every time

[@purplenurple1801]

The scary part about daron is if he took more care of his tone with the riffs that man plays he would be in the numetal hall of fame where he belongs. Daron is so simple yet nuanced that I feel like his rhythm playing probably inspired a lot of the genre today. Without the weird factor system brought to the scene a lot the bands doing that today wouldn’t be here. Daron is a riff maestro

[@mason069]

@@purplenurple1801 this gets said about every other guitarist in popular bands

[@alexanderthered5603]

Aerials was one of the first songs I ever learned on guitar, to this day I still play it often. His riffs are absolutely memorable.

[@ShadowMantraSteve]

One of the first songs I learnt as well, SOAD was a great place to start learning guitar.

[@eulennachathen449]

​@@ShadowMantraSteveI'm learning Aerials on acoustic guitar right now. It seems quite accessible but epic at the same time.

[@blacknight7480]

Bro really looks like all soad member combine together

[@hebegebe123]

Lol

[@Grimblade4]

I was going to say something along those lines, glad someone else sees it

[@peddr.o]

he looks like none of them

[@constantyni4248]

Bro is Daron + John Dolmayan

[@arsenycvlra]

BANANA BANANA BANANA BANANA TERRACOTTA BANANA TERRACOTTA TERRACOTTA PIE

[@keegan7015]

i like how we measure dificulty with number of darons

[@eulennachathen449]

Now he should do a singing tutorial and measure it with Serjs.

[@keithrog73]

The fact that Marmalade was only level 3 really took the wind out of my sails

[@gibson8300]

100%

[@Laugk]

Yea i remember playing alot of system of a down stuff learning guitar. Marmelade is harder than Toxicity and Kill Rock n Roll

[@M-15-72-4]

@@Laugkdefinitely not harder then toxicity and not hard in general

[@Laugk]

@@M-15-72-4 To me it is. :)

[@MarcyRavenManji]

​@@M-15-72-4if you play it with all down strokes like how it was originally played, it can be quite tiring lol

[@Shnapps12]

Right from the start I knew that was gonna be level 9. Well done 😆

[@ShadowMantraSteve]

Welcome 🤘

[@vincentforest4522]

Way to ruin the suprise buddy guy

[@Shnapps12]

@@vincentforest4522 ah sh*t. Got too excited.

[@mackedeli]

I was expecting the solo to lonely day lol

[@davenlefever3575]

Daron is such an amazing riff writer

[@RickyBlaze2008]

😅

[@pat1u]

Take the tip out

[@Ashaliel]

Man, you always make everything look so smooth and effortless.

[@Mike-xj6pi]

Yeah bro I’m 44 he tricked me into thinking gojira riffs are easy

[@colinplanovsky8160]

vicinity of obscenity is so much more difficult than i thought it would be.

[@rick8961]

Yeaaa, it's hard to synchronise with other instruments, especially when playing it live (i did play that song and it was not that great haha). No wonder why Daron doesn't sing it live

[@andrewpappas9311]

This was awesome, Daron is one of my favourite guitarists and all the riffs he plays are just so damn good. I also won’t lie when I say that I was also singing along with some of these riffs, but all in all great vid dude

[@ShadowMantraSteve]

Thank you, glad you liked it!

[@sutiszorny8039]

I already knew "Vicinity Of Obscenity" will be the hardest, lol.

[@bradg.726]

My man. Your timing is impeccable. I've recently moved on to learning how to smash some SOAD.

[@ShadowMantraSteve]

SoaD is always fun to play!

[@CarlosEduardo-xr8eu]

I'm so grad that you put marmelade on this list!

[@ShadowMantraSteve]

I really like quite a few of the tracks not on the main albums, metro is also great.

[@dominikweber4305]

@@ShadowMantraSteve yes metro is one of my favourite SOAD songs

[@Pan666]

@@dominikweber4305 Metro and Marmalade are one of my all time favorites...

[@deeeeniiiiss]

i was also really happy seeing it on here, songs that aren't in albums or that are colabs are so good it's sad they don't get the attention they deserve

[@FanaticDrummer]

The SG really is the signature sound for Daron. His rig is so simple that with a basic set up, its all in the tuning and guitar. Once you crank up a SG you’re like “holy shyt thats the sound” 😂

[@doomerius1300]

Don't forget the holy Iceman

[@FanaticDrummer]

@@doomerius1300 The Iceman had its moment for sure on the first albums, for his “nu-metal” riffs. But I think his writing style completely changed on Mesmerize with the SG/ Acoustic combo in studio. It just brought out an entirely new style for them. Even on Scars On Broadway, Daron and John really are SOAD.

[@vikosaur204]

I remember some years back i said lets learn byob today sounds simple enough.... after 5 minutes i let down the guitar and i didnt even look at it for a whole week.

[@hedekbass]

Great guitar playing Jason Newsted.

[@UncleHeatBand]

That dean guitar is a beauty and puts out a really decent sound. Great job 🔥

[@ShadowMantraSteve]

Glad you like it!

[@vendeta9393]

Please do more DOWN videos... they are back live and NOLA turned 25 this year. Keep rockin and be safe.

[@Skillanfg]

I’d have to agree with all of these. The last one I still can’t play. It’s like a tongue twister for your hands😂

[@Cameron97-89]

Great video! Love these "Level of" videos! Awesome playing! Always make me want to pick up my guitar haha. Keep it up mate!

[@twstdlzard9659]

That dean cadillac is GORGEOUS

[@ShadowMantraSteve]

Thank you 🤘

[@Thomas-ct3gu]

Excellent drums, just what I’m always looking for when I search for guitar riffs.

[@megaman7799]

I have literally never seen anyone play Mr Jack like that.

[@bradylibby4889]

I was thinking the same thing

[@martinkguitarcover4933]

Great Tone! Awesome riffs

[@ShadowMantraSteve]

Thank you 🤘

[@Rygabo]

Nice guitar, bro. I've got the same Dean in black. Great playing too!

[@ShadowMantraSteve]

Thanks, black caddies look really nice 👍

[@mgrocki]

Riffs for days!

[@mattgambardella3875]

That slide power chord riff in "cigaro" should've been considered.

[@Frederick0220]

This was incredible

[@GoldAndGrey]

A riff that’s actually easy but sounds hard is Sad Statue, learned it back in high school 🤘🏽

[@Samati1631]

Love your Cadillac btw

[@maximumroyal7954]

This band has this quality of making someone want to play their songs. Whatever the instrument.

[@armp1287]

Love the tone. Soad fucking slaps

[@JetUzer]

Lvl 8 wrote by Serjio, talented - 10/10 Lvl 9 wrote by Daronimo - not so popular, but very talented too, 12/10

[@black_c3t490]

I can play toxicity so youre telling me that i can play sugar?

[@huzzki3564]

love this as a blood fan of this band for so long! i've learned ALMOST all the songs except haven't really given 36 any tries at all ! but out of all of them due to the constant shift in the riff, i actually had the most difficullity with SOIL! Great video , subscribed

[@ShadowMantraSteve]

Thank you and welcome!

[@danjackson7402]

Honestly thought Prison Song would get a shout out. That intro is brutal.

[@saraehh1]

I enjoyed this video a LOT 😍 Nice on

[@supermot34]

Soil, Streamline and Question would have been good high level choices.

[@JackChurchill101]

In short, there's no soad song you shouldn't be able to play within a year or so or first picking up an electric Happy strumming.

[@qpqpqp8497]

Ставлю этому видео 10 Даронов Малакянов из 10!

[@ShadowMantraSteve]

Спасибо!

[@juanjoramirez01]

Daron really became a better player with each album

[@geologist5838]

Daron is the reason I grabbed the electric 🤘

[@artgaes2474]

Wow so good! You're beast. ❤

[@floresaguilarcesarmanuel8577]

De hecho, yo siento más complicado marmalade que toxcity. 🤔 I feel more complicated play "marmalade" than "toxicity". 🤔

[@joaquinlezcano2372]

Tiene sentido

[@Nobodys.here.now.somehow]

Buen punto

[@leandrofod]

I also used to think it was super hard back when I was learning it. What made it easier for me was making a standard strumming pattern for the whole song: down, up, down, up. Even the solo can be played like that. Just the pre-chorus is different with eventual palm muttings, I do all downstrokes there. Once you get the rhythm right, you will love this song even more. It's probably my all time favorite to play, along with innervision, pluck and psycho

[@amirarsalanshokri2428]

Deer dance is hard to. But the song is great 🤩

[@tomas_nehyba]

I think the hardest 3 are Vicinity of Obscenity, Cigaro and Attack

[@tomas_nehyba]

I forgot Bounce (the palm muting riff is really fast with downpicking)

[@l0rd_breeigo-sama954]

Damn my 3 favorites on top. Nice

[@chupiconverge6034]

Great video

[@chriskan21]

how do you get this amazing tone man

[@ShadowMantraSteve]

All free plugins and apart from an SSL channel strip from waves. The guitar plugins i typically use are the TSE 808 into the Le456 and a mix of marshal and god's cab impulses. There is then some eq/compression/mixing as well.

[@atvena]

Honestly does Daron ever write a bad riff

[@JustForFun-dz7ob]

vicinity riff is so fucking sick and filthy

[@lieturm]

So cool ! Do you know the band orbit culture? I really want you to listen to the songs "saw", "north star of nija", "open eye". And if you like it please make a cover 🙃

[@ShadowMantraSteve]

I've listened to them a few times, need to really dig into their music a bit more!

[@kevongordon2675]

These riffs give me Kerry King and slayer vibes I love it

[@ShadowMantraSteve]

Quite possibly! I just enjoy down picking a lot

[@Kichaykin_poet]

Chic 'N' Stu and Psycho - the hardest soad riffs IMHO

[@pixelsandpistons1313]

Psycho really?

[@danielm94437]

@@pixelsandpistons1313 right

[@darrenpingüino]

Which riff of psycho?

[@jamthecat1011]

byob and vicinity of obscenity were the first songs i mastered when i picked up my first electric when i was 16 lol

[@RedonsDans15]

i don't want those daron face for whatsapp stickers... I NEED THEM btw did you forget about their first album? excellent video bro

[@ethanwarren2482]

Ddevil is from their first album my friend. Marmalade is a Demo track from 1994 I think. They also covered Snowblind (black sabbath) and did a great cover of the song "Metro" which was for the Dracula movie around the same time I think 🙂

[@andrewpappas9311]

DDevil, Sugar and I think Marmalade are all from their debut

[@apex115]

terracotta pie

[@cryptikkcries]

my personal one is still revenga with the 2 sets of triplets at 140 bpm. my picking hand literally started to seize up at the beginning

[@alexandertaub82]

So easy to medium basically

[@alexandertaub82]

Mostly agree but Daron has above zero skill lol… also he left out the hardest riffs - Soil, Question, and arguably songs like Forest too with the time changes in the bridge.

[@Maxshaitan]

Nice)Probably these are not all difficulty levels of SOAD. There are more difficult ones like lonely day for instance.

[@11bangbang69]

Ooh but what about Needles??

[@cesarellefsonto2087]

Is amazing tje sound of the Droop C#

[@Jck0632]

The kingdom of curvature

[@50jwicker]

Should’ve had the song Question!

[@sxy_agn]

Toxicity is a higher level than Marmalade? I don’t know how accurate that is cause I’m stuck on the second beginning part

[@Thebob6]

Needles

[@chwthomas09]

Were would Hypnotize and Revenga fall on this scale?

[@toniobolonio]

I imagine the solo on Lonely Day is the hardest soad guitar work?

[@toniobolonio]

Nvm just looked up a cover and it’s not as hard as it sounds

[@marcoseduardofonseca147]

i thought the hardest one would be that slides in cigaro

[@ShadowMantraSteve]

Also a tough one to get accurate, for sure

[@pero4858]

Did not expect marmalade there cus im pretty bad and still know the song lol. Toxicity too but its easier for me so i kinda expected it.

[@alexeyalexeevich3215]

Suite-pee intro 10lvl, flagolet

[@GoDDamnHosTile]

Cigaro has to be one if their hardest to pull off clean. Also forest I find rhythmically challenging towards the end. Soil main riff is kind of gibberish, so is the fast part at the end of Mr Jack.

[@ShadowMantraSteve]

Definitely a few songs you get lulled into a false sense of 'this is easy!' then Daron rips out a weird riff to throw you off!

[@GoddamnYT]

Is it okay that i can play 8 and 9 almost flawlessly but absolute shit when playing other ones?

[@alena383]

beautiful)

[@KombuchaMushroomPeopleSociety]

I just hate how no one talks about Highway Song chorus riff.

[@eliapini1117]

BANANABANANABANANATERRACOTTABANANATERRACOTTATERRACOTTAPIE

[@nwarwick5905]

Questions! lvl10

[@itsyaboy3870]

Maybe level 5

[@Stanisslayer]

There is no drop C rifs?)

[@melleon._.1807]

I can play byob but not cigaro but I can play radio/video but not toxicity but I can play sugar but not chic-n-stu but I can rock ieaiaio and shred california dreaming by Hollywood undead..... Does this mean I have 8 Daron heads and 6.9 heads of Charles P. Scene???

[@melleon._.1807]

A month later and I can play cigaro, toxicity, question, violent pornography, and shred tf out of revenga. Edit, also working on vicinity of obscenity cause I remembered I can't play it good 😂😂😂

[@ShadowMantraSteve]

Awesome work 🤘

[@melleon._.1807]

@@ShadowMantraSteve thx bro, an update to that as well, I can play all of mezmerize except lost in hollywood and soldier side intro. Half of toxicity, some hypnotize and I'm nailing down some hollywold undead songs as well 😁😁😁 Also keep up the great vids!

[@Itznexu5]

Hey toxicity isnt that hard ive done it easily before, also good work dude!! 🔥🔥

[@royalmarine1011]

Crisp snare

[@luiscastro-vz7qv]

No se si sea la temática, pero falta Question y Suit pee

[@syntezjaofficial4240]

If you downtune guitar to drop B and play Cigaro it would be basically Slipknot

[@Peets2024]

Is that…. a Lesplorer?

[@p1tefeY]

Chopsey?

[@colonelyogurt08816]

Someone tell me what album "Marmalade" is from I cannot remember

[@ShadowMantraSteve]

Bonus track from the Japanese edition of the first album, but also shows up on a couple of the single releases.

[@colonelyogurt08816]

@@ShadowMantraSteve ah alr thanks

[@diovanidalmoro6634]

how did you get that guitar tone?

[@ShadowMantraSteve]

I mainly use the LePou Le456 and the Ignite Amps Emissary plugins a lot with GodsCab impulses. Then some eq and some other mixing plugins.

[@ankitysabha2577]

either chop suey riff is too easy for you or you still can’t play it. because it is the hardest and heaviest riff of soad🔥🔥

[@bigsmoke6805]

Chop suey is literally built like half of their riffs - semitones and 1/16s. Even those licks in Cigaro take more skill than Chop suey.

[@meinkon_8938]

My level is 5/9 Malakians

[@brendenalexander6178]

Scars of Broadway yoo!

[@mayleeanimations_00]

more soad please :D

[@hectoralonsogarcia7200]

Are you Steven Perronne?

[@gerula2014]

what pedal did you use?

[@Mike-xj6pi]

Hey steve what guitar is that

[@ShadowMantraSteve]

It's a Dean Cadillac Select from around 2009

[@Mike-xj6pi]

@@ShadowMantraSteve pretty slick steve I’m working on pentatonic scales steve you love made the guitar industry some money with eyebrow raise and smooth playing

[@AGUS-ff2sz]

Nivel 6 (por ahora)

[@escherpainting8622]

That is a very odd way to play Mr. Jack.

[@juanrincon4110]

Is there a perfect way of holding your baby?