When that dummy with a flare gun burned the place to the ground. What Frank Zappa said about Deep Purple’s “Smoke On The Water” So the last time I saw you was 1971 in Montreux, Switzerland. It packs so much harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic interest into such a short space that it sinks its hooks into you before you even know what’s going on.In an interview with Madhouse magazine back in 1988, Frank Zappa talked about the Deep Purple hit song and recalled that day at the Montreux Casino. But that simplicity is exactly what makes it work. According to Deep Purple’s guitarist Richie Blackmore, many friends of the band were not fans of the riff at the time of its release because they thought it was just too basic. Then the first phrase is repeated again, before descending back to the home base of G.
At the end of this second phrase, the blue note is inserted to allow this second phrase to end on a strong beat. The space between the first three notes in each pattern remains the same - the pattern is just shifted from strong beats to offbeats. The second time, however, we get the same pitches, but now they happen on the upbeats. The first three notes just go right up the scale, right on the beats. The riff is also rhythmically interesting, using syncopation to shift the timing of the theme within a couple measures. In particular, the D and G strings are a perfect fourth away from each other ( D, E, F, G) or ( 1, 2, 3, 4), so notes on these two strings at the same fret will also be a perfect fourth away from one another. The open strings of a standard tuned guitar are naturally built in 4ths, with the exception of the 2nd and 3rd strings. One common misconception is that this riff is harmonized in 5ths – also known as traditional Rock’n’Roll power chords – while in actuality it is played in 4ths. This is the scale that forms the basis of the “Smoke on the Water” riff, with particular emphasis on that blue note.
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