Greatest Guitar Riffs?

[cezanne]

Re: Greatest Guitar Riffs?

Not the greatest, but recognizable: "Iron Man" Black Sabbath

[tvguy]

Re: Greatest Guitar Riffs?

If we're talking orgins of where stuff came from, we gotta mention "Boogie Chillen" by John Lee Hooker as a very important place to start.

I can think of a few songs off the top of my head that derive from that riff;

Bad To The Bone - Geoerge Thorogood
Whole Lotta Rosie - AC/DC
La Grange - ZZ Top
Hot for Teacher - Van Halen
Rock and Roll - Led Zeppelin

[kimo55]

Re: Greatest Guitar Riffs?

much blossomed from da mastah; Robert Johnson.
crossroads/cream.
traveling riverside blues...
squeeze my lemon till...etc.



more sources and influences:

Babe I'm Gonna Leave You
folk song by Anne Bredon

Black Mountain Side
traditional folk tune Bert Jansch.

Bring It On Home
Willie Dixon

How Many More Times
Howlin' Wolf song / Albert King's "The Hunter."

In My Time Of Dying
traditional folk/blues song


The Lemon Song
Howlin' Wolf's "Killing Floor"


Nobody's Fault But Mine
Blind Willie Johnson



but of course, the riffs... the magical guitar work was all Pagey.

[LikaNui]

Re: Greatest Guitar Riffs?

Another great riff I don't recall seeing mentioned yet is on "Whipping Post" by the Allman Brothers Band in 1969.
Somebody parked in front of my home over the weekend and had that song cranked up... ah, the memories. (g)
Googled it just for fun and one website had these notes about it:

"Gregg Allman wrote this in Jacksonville in 1968, just after he returned from Los Angeles.
Gregg wrote this on an ironing board using burnt matches. He got the idea in the middle of the night and couldn't find a pen.
This became a staple of their live shows. They usually played it as an extended jam, often improvising so it did not sound the same twice.
This was the last song on the first Allman Brothers album.
Berry Oakley came up with the bass line, which the band worked around. Oakley died in a motorcycle accident in 1972.
A 22-minute live version appears on At Fillmore East. Since this took up almost an entire side, it became a double album. The band insisted on keeping the price close to that of a single album.
The chorus is written in 11/8 time, but the verses are written in 12/8."

[MadAzza]

Re: Greatest Guitar Riffs?

Another great riff I don't recall seeing mentioned yet is on "Whipping Post" by the Allman Brothers Band in 1969.

That's a good one. My favorite from them is "Jessica," which also has a pretty good riff, I think. Melodic and rhythmic at the same time. One of my favorites.

[mel]

Re: Greatest Guitar Riffs?

I went through all of these posts again, and I'll add to my earlier list, the opening riff to The Beatles' "Revolution". And from the top 40 oldies side of things, Johnny Rivers' "Secret Agent Man." Finally, may not be very well known, but Dick Dale's "Misrilou" also comes to mind. Great instrumental and used near the opening of the movie Pulp Fiction.

[AuntieNellieKulolo]

Re: Greatest Guitar Riffs?

How about Jethro Tull's 'Aqualung'? Slightly OT, but the worst synth riff has to be Europe's 'The Final Countdown'. Someone had it as their cellphone ringtone the other day and I felt like strangling them...

[kimo55]

Re: Greatest Guitar Riffs?

How about Jethro Tull's 'Aqualung'?

how about it?
can't see how that is a great guitar riff....
it is one o my fave songs...but a great guitar riff?

[cezanne]

Re: Greatest Guitar Riffs?

how about it?
can't see how that is a great guitar riff....
it is one o my fave songs...but a great guitar riff?

I think Auntie is talking about this part:
Duhduh duh duh duh duh duuuuuh, duhduh duh duh <repeat>

Not great but recognizable. Or maybe she was talking about a flute riff?

[Moto]

Re: Greatest Guitar Riffs?

Here's one that doesn't come to mind at first, but Herman's Hermits Silhouettes started with a great guitar rift. It was later reported that it was Jimmy Page (of Led Zepplin fame) that was playing that intro.

[kimo55]

Re: Greatest Guitar Riffs?

It was later reported that it was Jimmy Page (of Led Zepplin fame) that was playing that intro.

as opposed to the other... Jimmy Page.

[Moto]

Re: Greatest Guitar Riffs?

Yes, the Jimmy Page of the Yardbirds..

[kimo55]

Re: Greatest Guitar Riffs?

Yes, the Jimmy Page of the Yardbirds..

well, Jimmy had a few "incarnations" but he didn't do hermits stuff while in Yardbird's or Zepp;
In 1965 when he was a one of the most accomplished session musicians in Britain, he collaborated on some hermits stuff, as did John Paul Jones.
(Pagey was a much in demand session musician from 63 to 66 and beyond... and his work can be heard on many popular favorites that we grew up with or know today, much of it, uncredited)
Eric Clapton was guitarist for the yardbirds but left as he felt it going in too commercial a direction. Eric was replaced by the moody jeff beck, whose tantrums caused him a shortlived turn in the yardbirds, at which juncture, Jimmy page stepped in;
In June 1966, Pagey joins the yardbirds as bassplayer. in November of that year, Jeff Beck takes off, leaving Pagey in the lead guitar position.
(you can be witness to this pivotal moment in a good scene in Antonioni's 1966 "Blowup", wherein we have the obligatory spaced out swingin london hipsters at a rock event scene where they are gazing at keith relf and da boys on stage. The director wanted beck to do some Townsend/Who guitardestructo stuff, and beck obliged. Watch him get pissed at amp/cabinet feedback and pound it with a quickly splintering guitar)
http://tinyurl.com/co8mg
In 1967 Robert plant and John Bonham create a group called band of joy. August of 68, Pagey asks Plant to sing in the new yardbirds.
1968 Jimmy Page changed the name to "the new yardbirds" for contractural obligations and subsequently, this became Led Zeppelin.

[cezanne]

Re: Greatest Guitar Riffs?

well, Jimmy had a few "incarnations" but he didn't do hermits stuff while in Yardbird's or Zepp; In 1965 when he was a one of the most accomplished session musicians in Britain, he collaborated on some hermits stuff, as did John Paul Jones.
(Pagey was a much in demand session musician from 63 to 66 and beyond... and his work can be heard on many popular favorites that we grew up with or know today, much of it, uncredited)
Eric Clapton was guitarist for the yardbirds but left as he felt it going in too commercial a direction. Eric was replaced by the moody jeff beck, whose tantrums caused him a shortlived turn in the yardbirds, at which juncture, Jimmy page stepped in;
In June 1966, Pagey joins the yardbirds as bassplayer. in November of that year, Jeff Beck takes off, leaving Pagey in the lead guitar position.
(you can be witness to this pivotal moment in a good scene in Antonioni's 1966 "Blowup", wherein we have the obligatory spaced out swingin london hipsters at a rock event scene where they are gazing at keith relf and da boys on stage. The director wanted beck to do some Townsend/Who guitardestructo stuff, and beck obliged. Watch him get pissed at amp/cabinet feedback and pound it with a quickly splintering guitar)
http://tinyurl.com/co8mg
In 1967 Robert plant and John Bonham create a group called band of joy. August of 68, Pagey asks Plant to sing in the new yardbirds.
1968 Jimmy Page changed the name to "the new yardbirds" for contractural obligations and subsequently, this became Led Zeppelin.

Wow I didn't know that! Thanks!

[YoungNeil]

Re: Greatest Guitar Riffs?

Wow I didn't know that! Thanks!

And Keith Moon gave the band their name because he said they would "go down like a le(a)d zeppelin".