The Top 20 Coolest Guitar Riffs
tags:
Stumble This20. Led Zeppelin - Kashmir
19. Dire Straits - Money For Nothing
18. Green Day - Brain Stew
17. Smashing Pumpkins - Zero
16. Marilyn Manson - Beautiful People
15. Deep Purple - Smoke on the Water
14. Guns 'n Roses - Sweet Child O' Mine
13. Black Sabbath - Iron Man
12. Derek and the Dominoes - Layla
11. AC/DC - Back In Black
10. Lenny Kravitz - Are You Gonna Go My Way?
9. Jimi Hendrix Experience - All Along the Watchtower
8. Van Halen - Mean Street
7. Rage Against the Machine - Bulls on Parade
6. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under the Bridge
5. Lynyrd Skynyrd - Sweet Home Alabama
4. Beatles - Day tripper
3. The Rolling Stones - Satisfaction
2. Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
1. Led Zeppelin - Stairway to Heaven
19. Dire Straits - Money For Nothing
18. Green Day - Brain Stew
17. Smashing Pumpkins - Zero
16. Marilyn Manson - Beautiful People
15. Deep Purple - Smoke on the Water
14. Guns 'n Roses - Sweet Child O' Mine
13. Black Sabbath - Iron Man
12. Derek and the Dominoes - Layla
11. AC/DC - Back In Black
10. Lenny Kravitz - Are You Gonna Go My Way?
9. Jimi Hendrix Experience - All Along the Watchtower
8. Van Halen - Mean Street
7. Rage Against the Machine - Bulls on Parade
6. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under the Bridge
5. Lynyrd Skynyrd - Sweet Home Alabama
4. Beatles - Day tripper
3. The Rolling Stones - Satisfaction
2. Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
1. Led Zeppelin - Stairway to Heaven
Yes, Roundabout
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1277403885782656251&q=yes+roundabout&total=190&start=0&num=50&so=0&type=search&plindex=4
I'd like to add a couple more classic riffs,
(1) Sunshine of your Love - Cream
(2) Heartbreaker- Led Zeppelin
(3) Aqualung- Jethro Tull
and a few more obscure
(1) Blood of the Sun - Mountain
(2) Nantucket Sleigh Ride (the bridge riff) - Mountain
(3) Siberian Khatru - Yes
Thanks again for a great post! Classic stuff.
For shame!
Another list i say!
Here's a few:
Slayer- Raining Blood
Metallica- Master of Puppets
Van Halen- Unchained(now thats a cool riff)
Black Sabbath- Black Sabbath(the darkest riff ever written and root to all metal. I swear that riff envokes the devil himself. Iron Mans cool but...)
AC/DC- I think Highway to Hell is a beter riff
Motorhead- Ace of Spades(bass riff)
Judas Priest- Electric Eye
Rush-YYZ or Limelight
Ted Nugent- Cat Scratch Fever of Stranglehold
Boston-Piece of Mind
Doobie Brothers- China Groove
Kanasas- Carry On....
I also agree with the Cream and Jethro Tull additions as well as Dire Straits, Deep Purple(though Highway Star is better), GnR, Layla, RATM, Skynard, Stones and Zep(and a dozen other Zep songs) from the original list. But I feel Stairway To Heaven is a tired worn out, overrated, boring song. GASP! There I said it, now let the angry posts begin!
save, you might find this interesting. You say about Black Sabbath, "I swear that riff invokes the devil himself." That's because it's built on the "tritone" interval. These are 2 notes, separated by 3 whole steps. In medieval times, the interval was generally banned.
From Wikipedia,
"Because of that original symbolic association with the devil and its avoidance, this interval came to be heard in Western cultural convention as suggesting an "evil" connotative meaning in music. Today the interval continues to suggest an "oppressive", "scary", or "evil" sound. However, suggestions that singers were excommunicated or otherwise punished by the Church for invoking this interval are likewise fanciful."
Amazing how music invokes images. You have a point about "Stairway to Heaven." The reason I said you shouldn't play it in a guitar store is this, it's easy to play. Beginners learn it, go shopping for a guitar and play those opening chords in the store. The staff of the store are so sick of that tune, they will give you dirty looks, no kidding.
Enjoy
I've always loved Wes Borland's work. The chaos and the funk and all the other influences that come out really make his stuff stand out as unique. But I suspect there are very few people who would agree with me on that.
So here's my list of the coolest guitar riffs.
1. Led Zeppelin - Whole lotta Love (Coolest riff ever, end of story forever and ever amen)
2. Jimi Hendrix - Foxy Lady (just plain damn cool)
3. The Troggs - Wild Thing (The Definition of cool guitar)
4. Jimi Hendrix - Purple Haze
5. Metallica - Enter Sandman
6. The Doors - Peace Frog (Rage against the Machine ripped this off for bulls on Parade)
7. The Beatles - Come Together (More a bass guitar riff but still damn cool)
8. Black Sabbath - Paranoid
9. Collective Soul - Where the river flows
10. Cream - Sunshine of your love
11. Creedence Clearwater Revival - I heard it through the grapevine
12. Fleetwood Mac - Oh Well
13. Kasabian - Club Foot
14. Oasis - Wonderwall
15. Queen - Now I'm Here (Who knew Queens could be cool?)
16. Radiohead - Paranoid Android (The best piece of music Radiohead ever made)
17. U2 - One
18. Led Zeppelin - Moby Dick
19. Metallica - Whisky in the Jar (I prefer it to the Thin Lizzy Version)
20. Deep Purple - Smoke on the water
my list would have to include Slayer - Raining Blood
Good job in stimulating some discussion. I am guilty of a negative reponse with no backup. I apologize. However, you have made me go back and look at my favorites. Thanks.
How the hell did Green Day, Marylin Manson, and Rage Against the Machine get on here?!
wow mlx.....you gwine to 2....wonderful bit of synchronicity! Rock on, geezer mom!!!
Did they manage to use all of the 4 chords they know?
Gilby Clarke - Cure Me...Or Kill Me... or Aerosmith - Eat the rich are my examples of a cool riff.
Or anything made by Clutch.
That having been said, I would also scrap Green Day, Smashing Pumpkins, Marilyn Manson, and Lynyrd Skynyryr from the list. Mr. I have too many ys in my name is a very very catchy riff, but DAMMIT that's not rock- it's country!!!
... what's that? Oh this isn't just for rock?
Shit, well that opens up a whole new bag of cats now doesn't it?
What about
Mason Williams - Classical Gas
Django Reinhardt - Minor Swing
Andres Segovia - "Asturias"
Or even programmed guitar- how about Ministry - TV II, or Nitzer Ebb - Murderous?
OK, so nobody will ever pick those, I agree. I'm just saying, if you want to have a list, you've got to pare it down SOMEHOW. Just rock, or just metal, or something.
But whatever, as was pointed out, nobody will ever agree with a list, and while there are GLARING deficiencies with this one (in my opinion), my strongest beef with with rage against the machine. That isn't a riff. It's a chord and a wah pedal. argh.
Other than that, the list needs Metallica (Enter Sandman or Master of Puppets), probably at least one more beatles (Come Together, or birthday), some CCR (Suzy Q), and some floyd (Another Brick in the Wall, the trippy trippy floaty guitar riff at the beginning of shine on you crazy diamond, money, any of a dozen more), and probably at least one doors and one santana track.
Then change the Jimi to Voodoo Chile (slight return), and AC/DC to highway to hell (or just get rid of ACDC altogether) and we'll have a much better list.
OK!
Nobody will ever make a better riff than the beginning of that song.
that solo!"
Song's like "Wild Thing" are just chord progressions, in this case I-IV-V-IV repeated over and over. Rock guitarists don't really consider those riffs, although, if you look it up in a dictionary, a "riff" can be a repeating set of chords too, so, technically, about everybody is right here.
In summary, rock guitarists think of riffs in terms of the following examples;
Led Zeppelin --(definitely one of the lords of riff), "Heartbreaker, Black Dog, The Ocean song, Misty Mountain Hop, Dazed and Confused, etc. etc.
Hendrix-- Manic Depression, The opening of Purple Haze, etc. etc.
Cream-- Sunshine of your love, Crossroads, etc.
Keep 'em coming, it's fun to hear what people like in riffs.
What makes a great riff? It's your interpretation. Either it grabs you, or it doesn't. What amazes me is how many different ways a few notes can be arranged. The more unique, the better as far as I'm concerned.
The riffs haven't disappeared over the last 10 years they just don't reside on the radio dial anymore. It's not hip hop(that was 20 years ago) that drove them into hiding it's "core" music. You know metalcore, mallcore, emocore, breakdowncore, whatever you want to call it. That coupled with corporate run radio have driving anything with heart deep down into the underground. So you have to look a little harder for it. It's there. Examples? Ok
From the last 10 years:
High On Fire-Hung,Drawn and Quarter(they also just put out a new album that is so rifftastic it's scarey)
Kylesa-Time will Fuse It's Worth(whole album)
Tragedy-The Point Of No Return(The acoustic part give way to the brutality)
Hellshock-Your World(awesome!)
Grand Magus, Fu Manchu, Down, Nebula all have a Sabbath like vibe to them and they are all current along with a literal ton of others in that vein. And they all have no shortage of riffs.
Not to mention the myriads of old bands still in service, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Morbid Angel, Entombed(total riff band), the new Voivod rules, ect.
It's there I promise you just have to accept the riffs they offer as your personal savior and all will be right. Now go in peace and don't forget to feel it when you listen because if you don't feel it then you are just wasting your time.
*storms out angrily, still obviously no better at handling Top lists*