Five Essential David Bowie Guitar Riffs, by Pete Farrugia BA (Hons), DipMus, DipLCM

While he’s not often regarded as a guitarist himself, David Bowie has always written songs with strong guitar riffs, and has always collaborated with a series of superb guitarists. One of these deserves particular attention, and that is Mick Ronson, who was Bowie’s lead guitarist throughout his Ziggy Stardust period. There are so many great Bowie guitar riffs to choose from, but here are five of my favourites.

Let’s start our five essential Bowie riffs with the one that kicks off the song Ziggy Stardust?

Ziggy Stardust (1971) – Guitarist: Mick Ronson

The song is in the key of G Major, and the version I’m going to play is from the original studio recording. This is a riff that lends itself to variation, and both Mick Ronson himself, as well as other Bowie guitarists over the years have added slight differences, and alternative fingerings.

Next, the riff that opens the Man Who Sold The World album, from the song The Width Of A Circle.

The Width Of A Circle (1970) – Guitarist: Mick Ronson

The riff was enhanced on the recording by overdubbed guitars playing harmonies, first octaves and then tenths. I’ve arranged it so that it can be played on a single guitar. Some of you may not have discovered tenths yet, so I’ll explain. The riff comes from the E Mixolydian modal scale. This contains the same notes as the E major scale except that the seventh is a semitone lower. If we play an E Mixolydian, and keep going for another two notes after we reach the second E, we come to the tenth note, G#. It’s like a third, but an octave higher.

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Our third Bowie riff is from the Hunky Dory album, which all true Bowie-fans love. It’s from the song Andy Warhol, in the key of E minor, and was played by Mick Ronson on an acoustic guitar.

Andy Warhol (1971) – Guitarist: Mick Ronson

Back to the Ziggy Stardust album now, and for many of us Bowie fans Starman single was the one that first brought him to our attention. The riff is a really simple singalong tune in F Major, and it goes like this…

Starman (1972) – Guitarist: Mick Ronson

On to the Diamond Dogs album, by which time Mick Ronson was pursuing a solo career. Bowie played a lot of the guitar on that album himself, but for the single Rebel Rebel, he brought in the session guitarist Alan Parker, one of the great unsung, and often uncredited heroes of the British music business.

Rebel Rebel (1974) – Guitarist: Alan Parker

This song is in the key of A Major, and the main riff outlines the chords Dsus2 and E.

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