Tony Iommi created the Iron Man riff in a rehearsal room in 1969 — when drummer Bill Ward started pounding away, Iommi heard it as a monster creeping across the floor and the riff came out of him almost instantly. That image stuck. It’s in the feel of every note. In this lesson, Marty Schwartz breaks down the opening bend, the main power chord riff, the single-note variations, the bridge section, and both the mid-song and outro solos.
Before You Play: One Thing to Know About Tony Iommi
At 17, Iommi lost the tips of his right-hand middle and ring fingers in a sheet-metal factory accident. He plays left-handed, so those are his fretting fingers. He fashioned prosthetic tips from plastic bottle caps covered in leather, and later switched to rubber thimbles. Marty calls this out directly in the lesson — it explains why Tony’s hand position looks unusual in some parts of the riff. He also tuned his strings down to reduce tension, which is part of why Sabbath sits in such a dark, low register. Standard tuning works fine for this lesson.
The Opening Bend
The song doesn’t start with the riff. It starts with a slow, eerie sound that builds into it. Marty explains that you’re bending the low E string behind the nut — about a half step in pitch. Then you match that note up with the second fret of the D string. It starts dark and dissonant, and as you relax the bend the two notes slide into unison. Then the riff kicks in.
The Main Riff: Power Chords on the Low E
The whole main riff runs on two-finger power chords up the low E string. Here’s the shape you’ll use throughout:
The sequence starts on the 7th fret (B root), moves up to 10th, picks it again, then slides to 12 and picks again. Written out: 7, 10, 10, slide to 12, 12. Then up to the 15th fret, two slides from 15 down to 14, back up to 15, and all the way back down to 10. Then the D-string slide to 12 closes it out. Marty runs through it slowly so you can lock in the rhythm of when to pick versus when to let the chord ring.
The Single-Note Version
The riff has a second form — single notes instead of power chords, with pull-offs instead of two slides. Marty keeps it in one hand position: 7th fret on the low E, 5th fret on the A string. The same notes, just a different fingering choice. He thinks Iommi may have had his own position for practical reasons (those rubber thimbles), but on sheet music the notes are identical.
The pull-off sequence runs 7, 5, 7 on the E string, then three pull-offs between 5 and 4 on the D string, back to the 5th fret A string, and hammer back up to 7. It’s the same melodic shape as the power chord version, just with more articulation and movement in the fingers.
The G Riff and the Melodic Fill
After those two versions of the riff, Marty works through what he calls the G riff — still in that same hand position, using third and index fingers. The sequence hits: 7, 7, 5, 7 on the low E, then 7 on the E and 5 on the A string. That 5th fret A is a slight character bend — not a full half step, just a quarter-tone push for feel. Then a descending run: 7, 6, 5, then 5, 4, open low E, and back to two hits on the 5th fret. The riff then cycles back to the main version from the top.
The Bridge Section
The bridge opens with a power chord on the 12th fret E string (E5), steps down a whole step to the 10th fret, then moves into a new riff built around the A string. Marty breaks it as: two hits on the power chord at 7th fret A, then single notes at 7, 10, 7 on the A string, and then a chromatic climb — 7, 8, 9 on the A string, then 7, 8, 9 on the D string. It has a different character than the main riff, more tense and coiled.
At the end of the bridge, there’s a short turnaround lick. Marty identifies it as C# minor pentatonic with a blues note. It starts at the 11th fret of the D string: 11, 9, 11, 10, 9 on the A string, down to the 7th fret A, then hop to the 7th fret low E with a hammer. That phrase wraps the bridge and sends it back.
The Mid-Song Solo
Marty keeps the solo section brief and practical. It’s C# minor pentatonic — no blues note here, just the straight pentatonic shape. If you’re covering this in a band, he recommends going for your own improvised solo in that scale rather than trying to match every note. The C# minor pentatonic extended shape gives you more range up the neck. The priority is feel over note-for-note accuracy in this section.
The Final Section and Outro Solo
The ending brings back the opening bend — the same behind-the-nut technique — over a bass E drone. Then there’s a short tag riff and Marty moves into the outro solo, which is E minor pentatonic.
He walks through a specific run Tony played: 5, 7 on the low E, 5, 7 on the A, 5, 7 on the D string, slide to 9, then 7, 9 on the D. On the B string: 8, 10, slide to 12. Then 10, 12 on the high E. One of Iommi’s signature moves shows up here — bending the root note. The 9th fret low E is the root in this key. He also does it at the 12th fret high E. Lots of hammer-on pull-off pairs run through both the riff and the solo — it’s a consistent technique across Iommi’s playing and it gives Iron Man that slightly lurching, mechanical feel that fits the lyric perfectly.
Putting It Together
Iron Man isn’t a technically impossible song, but it rewards patience with its transitions. The same riff appears in multiple forms — power chords, single notes, with and without slides — and the song moves between three tonal centers: B minor for the main riff, C# minor for the bridge and mid solo, and E minor for the outro. Getting comfortable in each position separately, then connecting them, is the fastest path through it.
Marty has played this song for decades. The gray hairs he mentions in the lesson are honestly part of the credential. Watch the video, work through one section at a time, and you’ll have this one locked in.
