Sevendust’s Clint Lowery Plays His Favorite Riffs

Sevendust guitarist Clint Lowery steps into the Gear Factor spotlight this week, showcasing some of the riffs and techniques that shaped him as a player.

Looking back on the early days, Lowery tells us, “My mom and dad were in bands and one of the first songs I remember hearing as a kid was called ‘Witch’s Brew.’ My dad really dug on Jimi Hendrix. It was real simple but it had that ‘Foxey Lady’ kind of [riff].”

As for a technique that troubled Lowery when he first started, the guitarist recalls, “I remember the first time I got a pinch harmonic and I was just goofing around at home. It was like a Dokken song. I remember just one day digging in with a pick and it just happened. I was like ‘Oh my God, that’s the thing.’ All day I was just hammering away on those."

Beyond Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" inspiring Lowery to pick up an axe, the Sevendust guitarist's love of Ozzy Osbourne carried over to Ozzy's solo career. He counts Diary of a Madman as one of the most formative records in his development.

"Randy [Rhoads] was incredible," he states. "It was one of those things where ‘Diary of a Madman’ itself was a clean channel part with this classical thing, so if you could learn that, you were the man in my neighborhood. I remember learning that and just thinking it was the most haunting thing in the world.” Along with revisiting “Diary of a Madman," he also pulls out a favorite riff from "Believer."

Finally, Lowery takes us to present day. Sharing his favorite riff from Sevendust's upcoming Blood & Stone album, he points to "Dying to Live."

“We always have this one song off each record that really has a simple groove element to it that's not really guitar acrobatics or anything. It’s just a really heavy groove and a simple riff. ‘Praise’ was the riff on Animosity and as we were writing on this new record we didn’t really have one of those yet, so [I said] let me try to find something. I was messing around with this and it kind of came up."

If you would like to hear "Dying to Live" and the rest of the Blood & Stone album, go ahead and get your orders in. The album drops Oct. 23. (As Amazon affiliates we earn on qualifying purchases) Watch Clint Lowery's full Gear Factor episode below.

Sevendust's Clint Lowery Plays His Favorite Riffs

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