Tim Henson has said learning Black Sabbath’s Paranoid by ear played a huge role in his development as an electric guitar player – and every beginner guitarist should take the time to study it.
The Polyphia string-botherer has turned the guitar world upside down with his brain-melting virtuosity and mind-blowing techniques, but he was once a young, inexperienced, and aspiring guitarist.
In a recent conversation with Avenged Sevenfold bass player Johnny Christ alongside Polyphia bandmate Scott LePage, Henson opened up on his early days as a guitar player, which were heavily influenced by Sabbath.
“My dad taught me the pentatonic scale and the G, C, D, A, B, and F chords – basic shapes,” he recalls (via Ultimate Guitar). “Then he pointed me in the direction of Black Sabbath and said, ‘Go learn by ear.’”
Henson and LePage then set about mastering the riff to Paranoid, which heralded from a larger record rich in riff royalty.
“Honestly, that record is such a wonderful thing for a beginner guitar player, because [it has] lots of cool-sounding riffs, and they’re easy to figure out. And there’s gratification [for] a new player there.”
For the pair of budding riffers, there was something accessible about Iommi’s riffs when it came to navigating their fretboards by ear. It also gave them a greater appreciation of his playing style.
“Those guitar parts are incredible and they’re cool as hell, and they make sense on the fretboard,” Henson goes on. “There’s a clear path to follow, in the way the fingers move in relation to the fretboard.
“Scott and I have all the respect for everything that Black Sabbath has done. We wanted to learn the music because it was sick. As a beginner guitar player… most of the riffs are pentatonic.
”I think it’s just a great starting point if you want to learn something by ear, and you’re just starting out with guitar. Paranoid is a great one to go with. Like, how many people’s first riff is Iron Man, right?”
Having tackled Iommi’s riffs, Henson then started to dissect the music to figure out what made them sound so good – and Iron Man was particularly scrutinized.
“Dude, the fifth from that power chord, it brings a sense of finality,” he beams. “It just locks it into the one and the five. [It’s] just awesome.”
Henson also gave an additional tip for guitarists starting out on their path. While learning to rely on his ear was a valuable exercise, so too was watching other players.
“YouTube really taught me how to play guitar,” the guitarist concludes. “I’d get on YouTube, look at people playing guitar, and mimic their movements. Prior to that, I don’t know what people did – you’d have to buy DVDs, right?”
In other Henson news, he recently guested on a new single from fingerstyle acoustic guitar virtuoso Marcin, contributing some fiery licks to Classical Dragon.
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