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Deep Purple - Smoke on the Water - Guitar Tab

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Key G minor
Deep Purple - Smoke on the Water guitar tab video
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Machine Head album cover
Machine Head
1972 5:42
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Deep Purple Hard Rock 1972 G minor
Capo Advisor 0 G minor · Original key

About Smoke on the Water

"Smoke on the Water" by Deep Purple is a rock classic released on the 1972 album Machine Head. Its lyrics document a real 1971 fire at the Montreux Casino in Switzerland, during which Deep Purple witnessed the venue burn down while they were preparing to record nearby. For electric guitarists, the song is a foundational study piece, built around one of the most recognized riffs in rock history, making it an essential milestone for players at any level.

  • The main riff uses parallel perfect fourths, an interval choice that gives it a distinctively raw, powerful sound on electric guitar.
  • The song runs approximately 5 minutes and 42 seconds, giving guitarists extended time with the riff and solo sections.
  • Deep Purple wrote the song about a real event they witnessed firsthand, making the lyrics an unusually direct eyewitness account.

How to Play Smoke on the Water

The song moves through: Intro, Verse, Chorus, Main Riff, Solo, Outro.

Key: G minor · Tempo: 114 BPM · Difficulty: Medium

The core challenge here is executing those parallel perfect-fourth dyads cleanly at 114 bpm in G minor: the shapes are moveable, but many beginners accidentally let adjacent strings ring or mute the wrong strings. Practice the main riff with deliberate right-hand muting before worrying about speed. The solo demands string bending and vibrato control in a bluesy minor-pentatonic context, so loop that section specifically if the bends feel imprecise. A common pitfall is rushing the riff's signature pause; keep a strict internal pulse so the space between phrases lands exactly where it should.

Use the section loop to isolate a passage, drop the speed below 100%, and set the metronome to 114 BPM to build it up to tempo.

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Fender Stratocaster

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Marshall JCM800

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Dunlop Cry Baby Wah

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