What Are Your All-Time Favorite Guitar Riffs?

[GPeditor]

Hi Groovy Ernie Ball Peoples...

The next Top 40 list for GUITAR PLAYER's 40th Anniversary Year (to be published in the March 2007 issue) is "Greatest Guitar Riffs."

Please post your votes in this forum.

And, as always, thanks for playing!!

Happy Thanksgiving and Cheers,
Mike M
GP Editor Boy

 

[roburado]

Voodoo Chile (A Slight Return)
more to come...

 

[roburado]

These are in no order whatsoever, and I'm sure there are more than 40. I'm sure there are more that I haven't thought of that I just love.

Hendrix:
Spanish Castle Magic
Manic Depression
Wait Until Tomorrow
You Got Me Floatin'
Castles Made of Sand

Gilmour/Floyd:
Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2

Petrucci/Dream Theater:
A Change of Seasons
The Mirror
Scarred
Pull Me Under
Metropolis, Part I: The Miracle and The Sleeper
Under A Glass Moon
As I Am
This Dying Soul
Honor Thy Father
In The Name of God
The Root of All Evil
Raise The Knife

Petrucci/Liquid Tension Experiment:
Paradigm Shift
Acid Rain
When The Water Breaks

Lifeson/Rush:
YYZ
Limelight
The Spirit of Radio
Tom Sawyer
Red Barchetta

Page/LZ:
The Ocean
Communication Breakdown

Metallica:
Master of Puppets

Townshend/The Who:
Bargain
Baba O'Riley
I Can't Explain
Substitute
Happy Jack
I Can See For Miles
Pinball Wizard
Won't Get Fooled Again
Eminence Front

Steve Vai:
Erotic Nightmares
Elephant Gun
The Attitude Song
Bad Horsie

Van Halen:
Runnin' With The Devil
Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
Dance The Night Away
Women In Love
Beautiful Girls
Mean Street
Unchained
Dirty Movies
Hear About It Later
Drop Dead Legs
Panama
Hot For Teacher
House of Pain

The Edge/U2:
Pride (In The Name of Love)
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Where The Streets Have No Name
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
Bullet The Blue Sky

 

[roburado]

Red Hot Chili Peppers:
Backwoods
Higher Ground
Knock Me Down
Under The Bridge
Stone Cold Bush
Suck My Kiss
Give It Away
Blood Sugar Sex Magik
My Lovely Man
Sir Psycho Sexy
Californication


SRV:
Couldn't Stand The Weather
Scuttle Buttin'
Pride and Joy

 

[roburado]

Soundgarden:
Fell On Black Days
Black Hole Sun
Spoonman
Outshined

 

[jeffrey]

I can't possibly pick one, but I would like to submit:

Black Sabbath - Into the Void

 

[73h Nils]

JP/DT- This Dying Soul (the part re-used in Root of all Evil, at the beginning)
- Lie
- Glasgow Kiss
- In The Name of God
Jeff Loomis/Nevermore - This Godless Endeavor (OMG, most devastating riff ever)

Steve Vai - The Audience is Listening (Lead section)

Umm, Does For the Love of God count? There's no real riffs in there...

 

[robelinda2]

bloodsucking leeches

 

[Colin]

more to come...

you weren't kidding when you said more to come...

 

[mcvinyl]

Point 3 is a lie Colin!!!

 

[robelinda2]

settle down you too, take it outside!


anohter cool riff is Party In Simons Pants, GOLD!

 

[Colin]

Point 3 is a lie Colin!!!

 

[GPeditor]

Thanks!

Thanks tons for all the fabulous suggestions. I'm starting to compile the list, and there ARE some surprises. It's not entirely a list of the "obvious classics," and I thank everyone for making THAT possible by bringing in so many diverse artists.

Keep 'em comin'!

Cheers,
Mike

 

[Beth]

Hi Mike,

Welcome to the forum!

The first riff/solo that came into my head was from "Like A Stone" by Audioslave. Tom Morello freakin WORKS it!

-Beth

 

[roburado]

Thanks tons for all the fabulous suggestions. I'm starting to compile the list, and there ARE some surprises. It's not entirely a list of the "obvious classics," and I thank everyone for making THAT possible by bringing in so many diverse artists.

Keep 'em comin'!

Cheers,
Mike

I didn't want to load up on obvious classics, because I'm sick of so many of them.

 

[PocketGroove82]

pick pretty much any allen holdsworth lick and it will be surprising to have 1/2 the guitar players who read the mag. go "WHO!?"...and then die when they try to read the TAB for the lick. heeh

 

[wahwah666]

SO many different riffs with SO many different feels so:

For 80's rock

VH - Unchained, I'm The One
Ratt - Lay It Down, Right Between The Eyes
Ozzy - Bark At The Moon
Def Leppard - Photograph
AC/DC - Back In Black
Rush - Spirit Of Radio
Billy Idol - Rebel Yell

90's

Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
Soundgarden - Jesus Christ Pose
Mr Big - Addicted To That Rush
Alice In Chains - Would

00's

Bowling For Soup - Girl All The Bad Guys Want
Muse - Stockholm Syndrome
Kaiser Chiefs - I Predict A Riot
My Chemical Romance - I'm Not OK
Three Days Grace - I Hate Everything About You

Blues

SRV - Texas Flood, Lenny, Wham, Riviera Paradise
ZZ Top - Blue Jean Blues
Kelly Joe Phelps - Katy

...more as I think of them but would take me hours to list 'em!

 

[SteveB]

Black Sabbath - Electric Funeral

Judas Priest - Bloodstone, The Hellion/Electric Eye

Jimi Hendrix - Purple Haze

Ozzy - Crazy Train

Led Zep - Black Dog, Livin' Lovin' Maid

Blue Oyster Cult - Don't Fear the Reaper

Rush - Limelight

Robert Plant (Robbie Blount) - Big Log

SRV - Cold Shot

 

[kbaim]

Well, to each his own...but I hope Mike considers wahwah666's post breaking it down by decade. That makes a LOT of sense IMO as many readers of GP come from different eras.

 

[oz_the_drummer]

Here are some of mine:

Led Zeppelin: Black Dog, Achilles last stand, whole lotta love and Stairway
AC/DC: Back in black, Its a long way to the top (if you want to rock and roll) and Highway to hell
Jimi Hendrix: Purple Haze, Voodoo Child and Little wing
AudioSlave: Cochise
Black Sabbath: Paranoid, Fairies wear boots and Iron Man
The Darkness: I believe in a thing called love, Love is only a feeling
Deep Purple: Speed King, Hush and Smoke on the water ( come on, it had to appear sometime!)
Clappo: Layla, Cocaine, Sunshine of your love and Strange brew
Green day: Good riddance ( time of your life), Basketcase
Guns 'n' Roses: Sweet child o mine, November rain and Paradise city
Metallica: Enter Sandman, Sad but true and Nothing else matters
Nirvana: Smells like teen spirit, In Bloom, Lithium and Polly
Pink Floyd: Another brick in the wall (part 2), Marooned, Fletcher memorial home and Comfortably Numb
RHCP: Under the Bridge, Californication, Snow (hey oh) and Scar tissue
The Verve: The drugs don't work

Well, thats it!