How Dave Grohl His Drummer Skills To Write Guitar Riffs

Unlike others who have undergone special instruction in music, Dave Grohl isn’t a trained musician. He had to jump through hoops and imitate his heroes for him to succeed in the chosen path he took.

Grohl once revealed in his 2020 memoir, Dave’s True Stories, that he would spend hours locked up in his bedroom listening to Beatles’ recordings. He would then imitate the drums until “my hands literally bled,” he said.

Although Gohl had primarily been a drummer up until that year 1994, being a part of the iconic group Nirvana, as the leader of his newfound group Foo Fighters, he began to experiment with guitar, vocals, and whatever other instrument he would need. Foo Fighters was created post-Kurt Cobain’s death.

Over the course of three decades, Grohl has become not just one of the finest current frontmen, but also one of the greatest drummers in rock history because of his mastery of the guitar. In an interview with Guitarist from 2010, the Foo Fighters frontman discussed how his background in drumming influenced his guitar-playing approach.

“I like to play guitar like a drummer,” Grohl explained. “When I look at a guitar, I almost look at it like a drum set where your low E string is the kick drum, your A and D are the snares, and so when you’re writing riffs, I use the lower notes as kick and snare and the higher notes as cymbals.”

Grohl started using the guitar as an instrument for creating music. It only took him a few basic chord patterns to set the rhythm for his poems and turn it into songs.

Watch the interview below.