The guitar might not be the first instrument you’d associate with the sample-heavy sound of Hip Hop, but its use pops up throughout the history of beatmaking much more often than you'd expect.
From simple, jazzy strums in the background to full on, distorted riffing up front and centre of the mix, Hip Hop producers from across the decades have found the guitar’s extreme versatility a potent weapon in the studio.
Today, I’d like to run through my 6 absolute favourite guitar samples in Hip Hop, taking in vintage classics from the Golden Era right through to recent beats-based flavours, in a bid to show you just how diverse and expressive a tool the sound of a trusty 6-string axe can be for your music. At the end of our sampling tour, I'll whip up a quick beat using some of our loops and samples to demonstrate how you can use the guitar in your own tracks.
If you agree, why not check out our recent Guitar Bundle 2 after you've finished reading, which is jammed full of guitar samples and loops that you can use directly in your music productions, completely royalty-free? Finally, I want to give a shout-out to Who Sampled, the exhaustive directory of sampling sources, which I've called upon extensively below. Let’s get strumming!
1. The Pharcyde - Runnin’
First up, we have an absolute gem from the mid 90s, when Hip Hop was taking over the charts and first establishing itself as the dominant global force it is today. The Pharcyde perhaps don't get quite the props they deserve as one of the early greats of the genre, though Runnin' is a track that still gets a semi-regular spin on radios across the world even today.
A breezy, Latin or more specifically Samba-flavoured acoustic guitar riff gets the track going and is its central melodic element, taken from Saudade Vem Correndo by Stan Getz and Luiz Bonfá. The mellow, subtly melancholic vibe of this picked loop sets the tone perfectly for The Pharcyde's lyricists to wax lyrical over.
Runnin' is a perfect example of a music production formula that we'll see repeated throughout this list, namely taking a drum break sample and adding a guitar loop over it to create the essential backdrop for rapping. It's simple, yet effective and, to our ears at least, pretty unbeatable!
2. Gang Starr - Full Clip
We're moving roughly chronologically here, so next up we have a tune from Gang Starr's 90s compilation record, Full Clip. The backbone of the title track is a classic DJ Premier-programmed drum loop plus a choppy, staccato electric guitar riff, also given the MPC treatment from Premo.
Listening to the original source track, Cal Tjader's Walk On By, quickly reveals how much work DJ Premier has done in cutting up and resequencing the guitar loop, taking the raw chords and making them his own. Join us in exploring his production methods and legacy in our article here.
We also took a deep dive into how this slicing technique works in a tutorial specifically exploring Bonobo's sample chopping in his productions, which is in turn inspired by the likes of DJ Premier and the first wave of beatmaking masters.
3. The Roots - Dynamite!
Rolling onwards in time, let's now turn our focus to a song from 1999's seminal release from The Roots, Things Fall Apart. Dynamite! is my favourite track on the album, not least because of the ultra smooth, jazzy guitar chords the production lifts from Zoot Sims' song Indiana (Questlove's tight drum groove might be another factor, of course!).
The original sample is played much faster, so slowing the tempo down as The Roots have done here naturally lowers the pitch of the guitar part, giving it a baritone-like sound and allowing plenty of space in the mix for vocals to flow over.
4. Amerie - 1 Thing
We now have what might be my favourite guitar sample in the entire list, as featured in Amerie's chart-smashing 1 Thing from 2005. Producer Rich Harrison put on a sampling masterclass when he put this track's backbeat together, essentially simply chopping up entire slabs of The Meters' Oh, Calcutta! to create a new sequence of drums, bass and guitar for Amerie to sing over.
This breakdown video of how Rich Harrison put the beat together is a must-see glimpse behind the curtain for any aspiring Hip Hop producer:
Rarely has sampling be used to such pure effect, with pretty much all the elements of the track's underlying beat coming from the very same sections of the very same tune. Genius!
5. J Dilla - So Far to Go
Drifting just one year on but sadly after the passing of the record's creator, 2006 saw the posthumous release of J Dilla's The Shining, a classic album from, arguably, the greatest and most influential beatmaker to ever walk the Earth!
The standout track from the album is So Far to Go, a tune which features an astonishing array of Hip Hop's best and brightest, from D'Angelo and Common on the mic through to the legendary Karriem Riggins on drums. The tune's accompanying melodic parts, most notably synth and guitar lines, are lifted from one of the most sampled groups in the history of recorded music, The Isley Brothers, sped up and used to airy, lilting effect by J Dilla.
6. Action Bronson - Terry
I'd like to end my list with something a bit more recent, taking you now to 2015's Mr. Wonderful, the second release from NYC MC Action Bronson. Produced by sampling mastermind The Alchemist, Terry is my favourite tune on the record, and is a typical mix of vinyl crackle, soulful melodies and subtly off-kilter sampled drums.
Another smooth, jazzy guitar lick is the undoubted star of the beat here, taken from Asha Puthli's 1973 track Let Me In Your Life, which swoons in chromatic fashion up the neck of the guitar before falling to a beautiful harmonic resolution. Add some drums, let Mr. Bronson do his thing and really, you don't need anything else!
Using Guitar Samples In Your Own Music
Taking inspiration from what we've heard above, here's a quick Hip Hop beat I've cooked up using drum samples from our Boombox - Hardware Drum Samples pack, plus a guitar loop from Open Sky - Chilled Guitar Loops.
The guitar is heard first just as it was originally recorded, then chopped up using Logic's Quick Sampler in the 2nd half of the beat, all done in a matter of seconds:
