Top 20 guitar riffs of all time (?)

"Sweet Jane" Lou and the gang from "Loaded"

Chris

Your right.

But the Dick Wagner / Steve Hunter plus intro version from Rock n Roll Animal is bedder...

Bit Like Alice Cooper - Schools Out?

P

So, from reading the above, with just 1 or 2 exceptions, " great riff" = shit record?

My nomination: Cinnamon Girl, Neil Young w/ great 1 note guitar solo.

Kevin

Is there any wonder why the music room /naim forum died?

P

Sorry P, though thought the whole point here was to be obnoxious and opinionated. Me, I can't deal with any white boys play blues riffs stuff, which seems to be what great riffs means in this part of the world. Mind you, did pick up a copy of Split by the Groundhogs the other day. Nostalgia for my youth but still sounds great and I do dig out Argus and the occasional Steely Dan Little Feat record now and again. But, again for me, you want white blues there's either Captain Beefheart - and there you have some guitar to die for -or I dust of my C&W collection. Heaven for me? Beefheart,James Burton, Mark Ribot. I would probably confess under torture to having owned records by Focus, Clapton, Zeppelin.Under extreme duress Peter Frampton I even once saw the Pat Traver's Band, but i've always felt loving music is about the frisson between what you used to like - the teenage years - and what you find next. That said, whatever gives you what Ry Cooder once called the chicken skin feeling down the back of your neck is fine by me. I've just always had a personal preference to moving on and finding new thrills rather than just living with the old ones or things that remind me of them.

And if you want great riffs, Miles Davis when John McLaughlin was on board. Jack Johnson is the place to start, or Vernon Reid in Defunct. And Neil Young: so many!!!!

Opinionatedly ( a new word?!) yours

Kevin

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Originally posted by jayd:

9. Voodoo Child - Jimi Hendrix

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Uh, isn't that 'Voodoo Chile'?

Also, I hate to raise this one but wasn't the most air-played riff of the CD-mad late 1980's 'Money for Nothing'?

Finally, depends what qualifies as a riff but I'd like to nominate Johnny Marr's 'This Charming Man' and 'Still Ill'.

Matt.

quote:

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Uh, isn't that 'Voodoo Chile'?

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I posted a straight cut-and-paste; inaccuracies should be taken up with Total Guitar magazine.

(While you're at it, mention to them that 'Dominos' as used by Clapton et al. didn't have an 'e' in it.)

Anything by 'Status Quo'

GML

Whatever You Want
Caroline

to name 2

Nice One Tony, a lot of the riffs were the same.

The same can be said of AC/DC, but they have a lot of followers like Quo too.

Other Killer Riffs

Black Betty - Ram Jam
China Grove - The Doobie Brothers
Black Night - Deep purple

What are the rules here?

How long or short is a "Riff" to qualify?

There has been no mention of Jazz gutar improvisations. That list is endless.

From the great Wes Montgomery
through a very long list ...... to "Now"
when the likes of Larry carlton, Lee ritenour, Joe Pass, Chuck Loeb, Richard Smith and so on can be named.

DO they Not qualify for this thread? Am I opening up an exploding can here?

regards
GEOFF

A riff is just a riff - not a guitar solo.
Think Layla - that's a riff.
Sunshine of Your Love - that's a riff
Two or three bars repeating.

I've just watched Mountain's newish live DVD and there are some classics on that. Blood of the Sun, Never in My life, Mississippi Queen for example.

Surely a Riff is just the bass guitar or lead guitar playing the songs melody line eg, Sunshine of your love, purple haze etc.

Yours in Music

Syd

Some cool nominations! Would like to add "Stranger in Blue Suede Shoes" - Kevin Ayres

I heard some buskers play 'Whole Lotta Love' in Grafton Street, Dublin, today BUT it really reads a drummer. [But great fun anyway ...]

James

Rory Gallagher anyone? Say 'Railway and Gun'?

On the lighter side, 'Faron Young' Prefab Sprout.

For dessert, 'Eight Miles High' ffrom McGuinn and The Byrds.

Pleasant Valley Sunday - The Monkees. Great riff.

Any list of top guitar riffs that doesn't include Keith Richards (multiple times) and Chuck Berry is like a list of douche bags that doesn't include George W. Bush.
You have to have never played guitar...OR, you must hold most of your conversations in sign language if you don't get what Richards does.

"Day Tripper"
"Lark's Tongues In Aspic, Pt. II" King Crimson
"Do Ya", the Move

you would think Brian May would have an entry,he's no slouch with a guitar

Big Black, Kerosene

Richard Hell & the Voidoids, Love Comes in Spurts

Captain Beefheart, Big Eyed Beans From Venus

The Buzzcocks, Boredom

-- Ian

Can't do a top 20
but I've got No Quarter by Zeppo cranking in my head a present...a creepy riff

Dave

It was with No Quarter that I first heard a pair of SBL's.
Guess what I played first when I bought a pair years later!

quote:

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Two or three bars repeating.

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therefore anything from Status Quo WILL qualify !!