The guitar riff in “Werewolves of London” started as a little figure LeRoy Marinell had been noodling for months — Waddy Wachtel recognized it, told him to play it, and it became one of the most iconic three-chord vamps in rock history. It appeared on Warren Zevon’s 1978 album Excitable Boy, and the whole thing runs on D–C–G, the same three chords as “Sweet Home Alabama.” In this lesson, Marty Schwartz breaks down the riff, the chord shapes, the sixth-interval technique that gives the part its piano-style sparkle, and how to solo over the track.
The Three Chords
The song never leaves D–C–G. That loop repeats all the way through — verse, chorus, everywhere. If you can play clean bar chords or power chords for those three, you already have the foundation. The pattern is straightforward:
D – D – C – C – G – G – G – G
Two hits on D, two on C, four on G. Then right back to the top. Marty points out that a bass player or a second guitarist can cover the low end, which frees you to stay up the neck and cut through the mix — more on that in a moment.
Here are the open-position shapes. These work well for rhythm parts and for getting the chord changes in your hands first.
The Riff: Playing a Piano Part on Guitar
Here’s where it gets interesting. The studio recording has that main vamp played on piano — but Marty shows you how to pull the same sound out of the guitar using a technique built around sixth intervals.
For the D chord, Marty starts from a D major bar chord shape at the 10th fret. He strips it down to just the top three strings — the high e, B, and G. The shape that’s left looks like an F barre chord fragment. From there, he ditches the G string too and works with just the top two strings: middle finger on the 11th fret of the G string, index finger covering the 10th fret of both B and high e.
That gives the hand a lot of freedom. The index and middle are planted, which leaves the pinky available to reach up a whole step on the B string. That move — jumping a whole step on the B string — is what creates the sixth interval. It’s the sound that makes the riff shimmer like a piano.
Marty runs through each chord the same way. For D, the action is up around the 10th fret. For C, he drops down a whole step. For G, the shape lands right at the open G chord position. The riff logic stays identical across all three — same finger shape, same whole-step movement on the B string, just relocated.
One Riff, Two Options
Marty gives you a practical choice about whether to include that low root note below the riff.
If you play in a full band — with a bass player covering the low end — leave the root out. The high, trimmed-down riff cuts through the mix better on its own. It sits in the upper register and pokes out even with a busy low end underneath it.
If you play in a power trio, or you’re the only guitar with no bass, add the root back with your pinky. You can also throw in a thumb-over-the-neck bass note if that’s comfortable for you. It fills out the sound when there’s nobody else holding down the bottom.
Neither option is wrong. It just depends on who else is in the room.
Soloing Over the Track
This is the part a lot of players get wrong — including Marty’s note here, which is genuinely useful.
The song opens on D, so it’s tempting to think of D as home base and solo in D. It isn’t. The progression is D–C–G, and it resolves to G. That makes G the tonic. The whole thing is a I–IV–V in the key of G: G is the I, C is the IV, D is the V.
So when the guitar solo arrives, you’re playing in G. G major pentatonic or G blues scale. That’s the framework Waddy Wachtel used on the recording — and he knocked it out in one take, then declared it done without ever opening the bottle of vodka he’d set out for moral support.
For soloing, Marty points you to the G blues scale in open position.
Start there, get that sound in your ear against the backing track, and you’re in the right neighborhood.
Putting It Together
The song rewards clean execution over flash. The riff itself isn’t technically hard — but it has to feel relaxed and locked in, because it repeats the whole way through. If it’s tense or rushed, you’ll hear it. Play it slow until the hand position feels natural, then bring the tempo up.
Once the riff is comfortable, try mixing it with full bar chords or power chords on the low strings. That’s how two guitars can share the part — one takes the high riff, one takes the low rhythm — and the sound gets big fast.
The D–C–G loop is one of the most reusable progressions in rock. Getting it under your fingers here means it shows up again in a dozen other songs you’ll want to learn. That’s a good deal for one lesson.
