Nita Strauss has shared the five guitar riffs that had a profound impact on her life, including a Randy Rhoads classic and some lesser-known heavy metal gems.
Strauss first rose to fame as a hired guitarist, alongside her time in the all-female tribute band The Iron Maidens, and later as the in-house guitarist for Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons’ arena football team, Los Angeles Kiss. She eventually became Alice Cooper’s lead guitarist and, in recent years, has begun to carve out a solo career, even though this has come at the cost of her touring duties with the shock rock icon.
However, before reaching these heights, Strauss reveals that Megadeth’s “Trust” from the band’s 1997 album Cryptic Writings was “the very first heavy metal riff that I ever heard.” The track stood out to her for several reasons.
“It’s such a musically interesting riff to play,” Strauss says. “You have the flat five and the flat six; really dark notes in an otherwise pretty straightforward riff. But when you get into the nitty-gritty of it, it’s actually really interesting.”
The track’s deceptive depth ignited her love for metal, but it was the riff from Randy Rhoads’s “Crazy Train” that gave Strauss her first taste of empowerment on the guitar.
“This was the first riff that I learned as a kid that made me feel like I was good at playing guitar,” Strauss says with a smile. “I would go into my local Guitar Center, or my local Sam Ash and sit down and play that riff and feel like, ‘Yeah, I’m doing it!’”
Strauss continues to play “Crazy Train” regularly during her performances with the LA Rams, where they incorporate a “heavy metal moment.” For Strauss, it’s the dynamic quality of Rhoads’s playing that makes the riff stand out.
“This riff is really dynamic; you have the palm-muted notes, and if you’re Zakk Wylde, the pinch harmonics. There are a lot of interesting note choices, and once again, it’s really, really fun to play.”
As Strauss delved deeper into the world of metal guitar, she discovered other players who would shape her playing style. One such moment was discovering the “dramatic chord shifts” and inverted power chords of In Flames’ “Bullet Ride”. Strauss refers to the band as “my Beatles,” highlighting their significant influence on her.
Her career has been full of full-circle moments, and one of the first came when she played with The Iron Maidens.
“You cannot talk about the Nita lore of riffs that changed my life without talking about Iron Maiden,” she says proudly. “I know how a lot of people first heard about me playing Iron Maiden songs with my girls in The Iron Maidens, and ‘The Trooper’ is one of the most fun to play.”
Performing “The Trooper” live was always a “pinch-me moment” for Strauss, as she often found herself in awe, thinking she was part of the actual Iron Maiden lineup. She also emphasizes how her own playing style shines through, especially with the added flair of a pinch harmonic.
And, of course, no list of life-changing riffs would be complete without an Alice Cooper classic. Strauss picked “Poison,” a venomous ’80s hit, as another key riff.
“It is the first Alice Cooper song that I learned, and I played it with cover bands long before I actually got to play it with the man himself,” she says. “Playing this song on stage with Alice was my rock star moment. I grew up learning these songs and looking up to Alice Cooper’s guitar players, and now here I am, standing onstage with him. So that is always going to be a very, very meaningful one for me.”
Beyond sentimentality, Strauss explains the musical intricacies of “Poison”’s riff.
“One really cool thing about this riff is how the melody notes interact with the pedal tone,” she says. “You’re really pedaling here, you have those string skips which are fun to play, and when you think about the chords that are going on underneath that riff, it really adds a lot of dimension to the riff.”
In other news, Strauss has recently opened up about her worst-ever live performance, recalling how “almost everybody in the club walked out,” though she found a silver lining in the experience. She also discussed how Steve Vai revolutionized her understanding of the electric guitar and expressed her hope that her success will inspire more women to pick up the instrument.
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