Possibly the most fascinating aspect about 'Let There Be Rock' is hearing Malcolm Young's isolated guitar track, which reveals the nuances of his playing and demonstrates how rock solid his rhythm really was.

Malcolm’s rhythm work became the definition of how powerful economy could be, and the sense of space he imbued around his driving right hand downpicking gave the band its trademark sound for Angus Young’s lighting fl ashes of lead to break over. Music was in the blood of the Young family; all the brothers played instruments. AC/DC celebrates the birth of rock ’n’ roll with a song that runs at the speed of punk. And all that happens before the flailing guitar solo.

Typical of the head-down way he approached his role, Malcolm gave very few interviews in his life. Malcolm Young was fond of this outlier in the AC/DC catalog — a rare foray into funk that swaggers before it blasts. “Rock bands don’t really swing.

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The old analogue sounds… so we try to keep that. "Can I Sit Next To You Girl," their first single, was later re-recorded with Bon Scott as their vocalist.

There was a problem. Literally so; stage right of the drums, head banging with a 1963 Gretsch Jet Firebird in hand, driving the engine room of AC/DC to become one of the most formidable live rock bands of all time. The Chuck Berry-style core of “High Voltage” gets taken apart, X-rayed, turned inside-out and weaponized in this extended live performance. Within two years of forming, AC/DC had released their first album High Voltage, and the band then embarked on one of the greatest album runs in rock ’n’ roll history with singer Bon Scott at the mic, brother George at the production desk and Angus and Malcolm co-writers for the likes of 1978’s Powerage and the following year’s Highway To Hell with South African producer Mutt Lange at the helm.

He’s doing something much more unique than what I do - with that raw, natural sound of his.”. Recorded in 1974 for AC/DC’s 1975 debut album, “Soul Stripper” has the Young brothers jamming their way into the song, goading one another for a full two minutes before the vocal arrives, then continuing to grapple all the way through. Sometimes, I look at Malcolm while he’s playing, and I’m completely awestruck by the sheer power of it. “Malcolm had an intensely powerful, percussive and economic style of playing that made him the greatest rhythm guitarist of all time,” said Anthrax’s Scott Ian, paying tribute on Instagram. Malcolm, job well done.”, Don't miss the latest deals, news, reviews, features and tutorials.

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But it was Malcolm who gave the band its architectural foundation, forging many of its best power-chorded riffs and cagily using his rhythm guitar to make AC/DC swing as much as it stomped. His infl uence is hard to surmise; AC/DC made so many want to play.

“He was a fantastic songwriter and he had a great work ethic too.”.

BT: "Synths like the Prophet-5 were built in Dave Smith’s garage over a period of weeks… now they’re just banged out in China.". If there was ever a song that made Malcolm the legend he is today, it'd have to be this banger. Of course, 'Thunderstruck' is all about Angus's jagged 16th note lead riff that powers through the song, which I'm sure all of us have butchered playing at least once in our lives while trying to impress someone. Even the other rhythm kings bow to Mal. What he means to me is unquantifiable. On November 18, 2017, Malcolm Young died at the age of 64, saluted by everyone from Eddie Van Halen to Tom Morello as hard rock’s greatest, and perhaps most criminally underrated, rhythm guitarist. I am a rhythm guitarist because of Malcolm Young, he lives with me always and I hope to honour the man and his legacy every time I play.”, Over the years it was his nod that they looked to for the changes on stage, his instincts that often led the band’s decisions, Slash was yet another guitar hero in the long list of those musicians who mourned his death and who was keen to credit Young, and not just for his playing.

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Here are 10 songs that reveal his essential role in the band.

Is there any room left around the perpetual-motion 16th notes that Angus Young plays to open “Thunderstruck”? Typical riffs in the style of the great rhythm player Malcolm Young ©

'Riff Raff' delivers a stop-start groove somewhat reminiscent of Led Zeppelin's 'Rock and Roll' or 'Black Dog', with Malcolm chugging out a classic 12 bar blues inspired progression drenched in distortion for his bandmates to soar atop of. When the band finally came around to recording the follow-up to that record (and their first album since the death of Bon Scott), Angus urged Malcolm to bring the idea forward to the other members, feeling it would be the appropriately energetic way to introduce Brian Jones while simultaneously upholding Scott's inimitable legacy. “Malcolm Young was one of the best ever rhythm guitarists in rock’n’roll,” he told Rolling Stone in tribute. Guitar Video Lesson by Guido Bungenstock.

Following the sudden death of Bon Scott in 1980, AC/DC picked themselves up, recruiting singer Brian Johnson and developing the rough scraps of songs they worked on with Scott to record the triumphant Back In Black with his Gateshead-born replacement. It would be 10 years later that his younger brothers formed the band in Sydney that would become an unstoppable force.

Malcolm was at the centre of that. And he was very clear about the rare entity AC/DC had become in 21st century guitar music.

So we really aim in an area that’s going back in time with the sound. Angus Young has credited Malcolm Young for the stop-start riff, with its gaping silences and sudden jolts, for the album that announced AC/DC would persevere following the death of its lead singer, Bon Scott.

“In fact, we thought a riff was a song. BA1 1UA. The energy on this track is second-to-none, and Malcolm's guitar tone - courtesy of a mangled Gretsch and cranked Marshall stack - is classic AC/DC.

Please refresh the page and try again. “He makes the band sound so full, and I couldn’t ask for a better rhythm player. “It is hard to express in words what he has meant to me during my life,” Angus said following the news of Malcolm’s passing, “the bond we had was unique and very special. A cloud of annunciatory noise gathers and then explodes into one of AC/DC’s fast and tricky ones. MusicRadar is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Over the years it was his nod that they looked to for the changes on stage, his instincts that often led the band’s decisions; especially their core sound that remained relatively unchanged. 'Let There Be Rock' sees Malcolm at his rhythmic best, smashing through the open chord changes in immaculate fashion throughout the song before cranking things up a notch for the face-melting finale of the track.

Malcolm Young of AC/DC: Listen to 10 Essential Songs.