Six of the Most Memorable Guitar Riffs of All Time


wildwoman1313
Full Access
Joined: 11/17/08
Posts: 303
wildwoman1313
Full Access
Joined: 11/17/08
Posts: 303
07/19/2012 8:54 pm


Six of the Most Memorable Guitar Riffs of All Time


A guitar riff is defined as a series of notes, a chord pattern, or musical phrase that is repeated over and over again in a song, or heard only once, say, in a lead guitar solo. Riffs can be minor decorative elements or they can be the basis of an entire song. The best riffs are simple but immediately recognizable and are often enough to determine the tune's lasting appeal. Everyone knows a good riff when they hear it. The very best are timeless.

When choosing the songs that make up this list, I could've easily picked six Hendrix tunes right off the top of my head. Or six from Zeppelin. Just about everything and anything that emanates from Page's guitar would qualify—"Kashmir," "The Ocean," "The Immigrant Song," "Heartbreaker," "Stairway," and on and on. How to choose between Metallica's "Enter Sandman," "One," and "Master of Puppets?" Or The Beatles' "Day Tripper" and "Ticket to Ride?" Sabbath's "Paranoid," "Iron Man," and "Crazy Train?" So I've decided to forego knee-jerk responses ("Smoke on the Water," "Smells Like Teen Spirit," "Layla," "Sweet Child O' Mine," "Back in Black," "Satisfaction") and go for some deeper cuts instead. The riffs I've chosen to write on are probably not the first to leap to mind when you think of famous guitar riffs. They may not necessarily be all that memorable in your estimation, in comparison to others. My hope is that these six songs will elicit the same Oh, yeah from you as they did me. So here we go.

"Hotel California" by the Eagles

The dark underbelly of fame and fortune on the Eagles' 1976 album Hotel California emerges through certain guitar riffs, the most famous being the invitingly creepy title track. As the album's thematic centerpiece, "Hotel California" not only dominates the album itself but the whole of the Eagles' discography as well.

According to his book Heaven and Hell: My Life in the Eagles, guitarist Don Felder came up with the idea for "Hotel California" while hanging out at the beach. "I had just leased this house out on the beach at Malibu, I guess it was around '74 or '75. I remember sitting in the living room, with all the doors wide open on a spectacular July day. I had this acoustic 12-string and I started tinkling around with it, and those "Hotel California" chords just kind of oozed out. Every once in a while it seems like the cosmos part and something great just plops in your lap."

Felder, who was added to the band to help give the Eagles more of a rock 'n' roll edge, knew the song was unique but with its reggae vibe, didn't know if it was appropriate for the Eagles. He played the chord progressions and basic guitar tracks for Don Henley and Glenn Frey, and the two helped him finish the song, with Henley adding the lyrics.

"It’s funny," Felder says. "It doesn’t matter where in the world you are—what language or country you’re in—but when you start “Hotel California” and they hear that introduction, people explode with recognition and cheers of appreciation. And all you have to do is start the first bar and everyone knows the song. It’s a phenomenal feeling to have written something that has become so recognized and well-received worldwide."

"Bulls on Parade" by Rage Against the Machine

Rage Against the Machine is an inherently political band, and "Bulls on Parade" is one of their most popular songs. Released in 1996 on the band's second album, Evil Empire, the song's lyrics are a poetic, in-your-face political statement about war and social injustice. Musically, it's one of RATM's most rocking numbers, and one of the best showcases of Tom Morello's awesomeness.

Morello is considered to be a modern riff master, having written so many great ones throughout his career. From the get-go, his playing was a textbook of how to dish out riffs that are riveting and heavy as hell, like the opening riff in "Bulls on Parade" featuring Tim Commerford on bass. The song is also widely known for Morello's guitar solo where he affects a vinyl scratch by toggling between two pickups—one on and one off—while rubbing his hands on the strings over the pickups and using a wah-pedal.

"The story behind that sound starts with me going over to Ibanez one day," he told Guitar World. "They were making a guitar for a guy in another band, and it had a special feature on it that they wanted me to try out. So I tried it, and it didn't really seem to do much that was anything different from a normal guitar. But I noticed that when you set the toggle between the two pickup settings, there was a really peculiar, high-pitched noise, and you could manipulate the tone of it dramatically when you turned the tone knob. I asked them what the noise was, and they said it was just incidental, that the guitar had an internal pickup and it was picking up this weird noise that they were trying to get rid of. I said, 'Oh no, no—come here with that one.' I gave them an idea of what I thought was possible with that noise, and they were kind enough to custom build a guitar for me with that feature in it."

"Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd

"Wish You Were Here" is the title track off Pink Floyd's 1975 album of the same name. The record as a whole explores themes of absence and alienation. Like most of the songs on the album, "Wish You Were Here" refers to former Pink Floyd member Syd Barrett and his mental breakdown.

The main riff of the song came to David Gilmour at home, while playing on an acoustic guitar. He continued to play the riff in between takes at Abbey Road Studios, where it caught the attention of Roger Waters. The two men then collaborated to complete the song.

In the original album version, "Wish You Were Here" segues from "Have a Cigar" as if a radio had been tuned away from one station, through several others (including a radio play and one playing Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony), and finally to a new station where "Wish You Were Here" is beginning. The radio was recorded from Gilmour's car radio. Gilmour performed the intro on a twelve-string guitar, processed to sound like it was playing through an old transistor radio, and then overdubbed a fuller-sounding acoustic guitar solo. This passage was mixed to sound as though the guitarist was sitting in a room, playing along with the radio.

"Wish You Were Here's" intro riff is thread throughout the song. Gilmour reprises it for his solos with scat singing accompaniment and uses the riff to take us out of the song as the solo fades with the sound of wind effects reminiscent of "One of These Days" from the 1971 album Meddle.

"Slow Ride" by Foghat

"Slow Ride" was written by Foghat lead singer Lonesome Dave Peverett and recorded by the British blues-rock band for their fifth effort, Fool for the City. Released in 1975, it was the first Foghat album to go platinum. "Slow Ride" was the band's most successful single, and cemented Foghat's place as one of the world's top rock acts.

One can't help but get caught up in the song's simple, aggressive boogie-rock. The "stomp" that begins "Slow Ride" quickly gives way to the dual guitars of Rod Price and Peverett and the funky baseline of Nick Jameson. The classic riff, with its slightly dirty distortion, changes speed and builds throughout the song till it reaches a climax near the end, effectively simulating lovemaking.

"Slow Ride" is one of those songs that rocks from start to finish, and if you happen to be listening to the original LP version, that's a whopping 8 minutes and 14 seconds. With a riff that instantly grabs the listener, it is one of the few songs that never gets old. Once heard, "Slow Ride" is a hard song to forget.

"Spoonman" by Soundgarden

Soundgarden were thought by many to be the Seattle group that was going to open the floodgates for other so-called grunge bands to follow during the early 1990’s, but both Nirvana and Pearl Jam beat them to the punch. Although Soundgarden's 1991 release, Badmotorfinger, did an admirable job of introducing the band to a much wider audience when the album went gold, they needed that one special song to propel them to the next level. That song turned out to be “Spoonman.”

Originally written by frontman Chris Cornell as an acoustic number for the soundtrack to Cameron Crowe's 1992 film, Singles, the band began working up an electric version of "Spoonman" and recycled the song for their upcoming fourth studio album, Superunknown (1994). The song's title was inspired by Artis the Spoonman, a street performer from Santa Cruz, California, and later, Seattle, Washington, who plays music with a set of spoons. "Spoonman's" meaty and shifting guitar riff includes a breakdown section in the middle, which features Artis banging out clanking rhythms on his spoons while drummer Matt Cameron plays pots and pans.

"Spoonman" was the first single to be released from Superunknown. Bassist Ben Shepherd called it a "great first choice," adding that "it just jumps out at you instantly. You know how you listen to a record and there is one song that literally seems to leap out of the speakers," he says. "Well, 'Spoonman' did that to me." And Shepherd wasn't alone. "Spoonman" landed at the top of the charts and is often credited for having put Soundgarden on the mainstream map.

"Jack and Diane" by John Cougar

Back in 1982, singer-songwriter John Mellencamp, then performing as "John Cougar," had a major breakthrough with his sixth studio album, American Fool. The record's single, "Jack and Diane"—about a relationship he'd had with a girl named Diane who lived near his hometown of Seymour, Indiana—blew up for Mellencamp and gave him the biggest hit of his career. In 2001 the song earned a spot on RIAA's Songs of the Century list.

Much of the credit for the success of "Jack and Diane" lies in its catchy guitar riff and numerous hooks. Mellencamp told Classic Rock magazine that the song wouldn’t exist if it hadn't been for the late Mick Ronson, who’d worked primarily as a guitarist with David Bowie and Ian Hunter. Mellencamp had discarded “Jack and Diane” until Ronson suggested the baby-rattle-style percussion and the “let it rock, let it roll” chorus. And then there are those hand claps, which were originally used in the studio so the players could keep time but were wisely kept in the finished product to memorable effect.

John Mellencamp has never been entirely comfortable with the level of fame afforded him by "Jack and Diane." He has complained about never wanting to be a pop singer and has changed his name more than anybody but Prince. That ambivalence is probably because he always felt closer to the hardscrabble characters that populate his songs than he ever felt to stardom. Such authenticity, and that unforgettable guitar riff running through the song, are the reasons why “Jack And Diane” resonates so loud some 30 years after those two teenagers rock 'n' rolled off into the sunset.


Lists like this haunt me, not for what I've included, but for all that I'm forced to leave out. So have at it. What are some of the guitar riffs that have stuck with you over time? And to help jog your memory and get you thinking outside the Top 10 box, check out this link for a montage of the some of the best guitar riffs ever written.
# 1
gkoper
Registered User
Joined: 06/10/10
Posts: 5
gkoper
Registered User
Joined: 06/10/10
Posts: 5
07/20/2012 1:54 pm
Mick Jones (Foreigner) searing riffs on Juke box Hero.
# 2
dwillotree
Registered User
Joined: 07/30/11
Posts: 3
dwillotree
Registered User
Joined: 07/30/11
Posts: 3
07/20/2012 2:39 pm
REO 'Roll with the changes' ... even though I am not a big REO fan I still turn this one up and get out my air guitar when I hear it.
# 3
jgjones94
Registered User
Joined: 06/08/11
Posts: 3
jgjones94
Registered User
Joined: 06/08/11
Posts: 3
07/20/2012 3:20 pm
Sweet Child of Mine - Guns and Roses
# 4
SebastBerg
Full Access
Joined: 02/01/10
Posts: 421
SebastBerg
Full Access
Joined: 02/01/10
Posts: 421
07/20/2012 11:16 pm
Oh, yeah :)
# 5
7turns
Registered User
Joined: 01/29/12
Posts: 1
7turns
Registered User
Joined: 01/29/12
Posts: 1
07/21/2012 4:21 pm
Led by brother Duane Allman, the "First there is a mountain" rift is repeated over and over again, rotating among 1st guitar, 2nd guitar, bass, B3, percussion or combinations thereof, with the same but different sound expanding from but always coming back to the same basic rift for 30+ minutes.
# 6
compart1
Full Access
Joined: 06/27/09
Posts: 1,410
compart1
Full Access
Joined: 06/27/09
Posts: 1,410
07/22/2012 4:02 pm
Way cool pick 7turns..
Anyone want to here, check out "Mountain Jam" on Allna Brothers "Eat a Peach" Album

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNuNz2idDtY&feature=related

33 minutes long

There is also a version by Donovan from back in the day.. Like middle 60ties.. acoustic version

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37r07eg867Y
# 7
wildwoman1313
Full Access
Joined: 11/17/08
Posts: 303
wildwoman1313
Full Access
Joined: 11/17/08
Posts: 303
07/22/2012 7:26 pm
Check out The Allman Brothers' "Jessica" too!
# 8
Outx40
Registered User
Joined: 11/12/11
Posts: 69
Outx40
Registered User
Joined: 11/12/11
Posts: 69
07/24/2012 4:22 pm
Can't say there's a right or wrong answer to any suggestions but for me 2 come to mind. Might be my age or my chemical make up but;
Long Cool Woman (the Hollies) and Schools Out (Alice Cooper) grab onto me by the throat and are both difficult to ignore when they come on.
# 9
jackcirv
Registered User
Joined: 07/05/10
Posts: 2
jackcirv
Registered User
Joined: 07/05/10
Posts: 2
07/25/2012 11:31 pm
Richie Blackmore, Smoke on the Water, the opening riff is iconic, the solo is melodic and screaming...
# 10
Nomad2
Registered User
Joined: 09/10/12
Posts: 31
Nomad2
Registered User
Joined: 09/10/12
Posts: 31
11/04/2012 10:52 pm
Has to be Hotel California, also Sweet Home Alabama. They come on the radio and the volume goes up, gotta be done!
# 11
darkfrett
Registered User
Joined: 09/15/09
Posts: 66
darkfrett
Registered User
Joined: 09/15/09
Posts: 66
01/20/2013 11:36 am
The Eagles are awesome. Hotel California and Life in the Fast Lane, both, I consider among my favorites.

Foghat had a couple that stand out for me, Slow Ride and I Just Want To Make Love to You. I didn't really care for any of their other stuff.
# 12

Please register with a free account to post on the forum.