Red Fang’s David Sullivan Plays His Favorite Riffs
Red Fang guitarist David Sullivan is the latest to delve into his musical education as part of Loudwire's Gear Factor series. The musician is self taught, but you can no doubt see the evolution of his playing within the song choices of his youth.
Sullivan tells us that his "light bulb" moment was first hearing the Creedence Clearwater Revival track "Up Around the Bend" as a 7-year-old. “I didn’t understand at the time that when you record a song you were hearing somebody playing guitar and the drums was making that sound and the bass was making that sound," says Sullivan. "But when I heard ‘Up Around the Bend,’ for some reason that intro riff made me realize that ‘Oh, that’s a guitar doing that.'”
From there a love affair was born, with the guitarist graduating to Black Sabbath's "Iron Man," the first riff he learned to play. “Because it could all be done on one string. I probably didn’t use multiple fingers like this,” admits the guitarist.
Other early favorites included AC/DC's "TNT," a track that Sullivan says is the first one he was able to pick up by ear and put it all together. He also counts "House of the Rising Sun" as a great song for a beginner to learn chords.
When it comes to Red Fang's own music, Sullivan thinks that "Reverse Thunder" was probably one of the first songs he wrote with the band. He also takes viewers through some of his other favorite riffs in "Wings of Fang" and "Hank Is Dead."
Finishing out this edition of Gear Factor, Sullivan chooses the riff from "Too High" as his favorite from their latest album, Arrows. That Arrows album is out now and you can visit this location to find the record in the format of your choosing. Check out the full Gear Factor episode with Red Fang's David Sullivan below.