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Greatest Rock Guitar Riffs

A British guitar magazine recently polled it readers to compile a list of the greatest guitar riffs. Guns 'N Roses "Sweet Child of Mine" came in at the number spot. Here's a link to the poll results. As you can see the list is entirely metal oriented.

My list would include:

The Chuck Berry intro
The Chuck Berry rhythm
The Bo Diddley beat
Temptations - My Girl
Kinks - You Really Got Me
Steely Dan - Reelin' In the Years
Sam & Dave (Steve Cropper) - Soul Man
Stone Temple Pilots - Plish
Beatles - I Feel Fine intro
Jimi Hendrix - Purple Haze intro

Is it my fault that nearly all the great riffs are pre-1980?

What's on your list?
128x128onhwy61
martykl
3,578 posts
 
One of the "purest" riff songs ever is Fleetwood Mac's "Tusk". Built around a repeating three note riff - -and two other short riffs. For me, this is about as primal as music gets. It does bounce around -guitar/bass/accordian/marching band - whatever's on hand, so I'm not sure it technically qualifies here. Still, this is great riff rock IMO.

Marty

Gasm, good to see Matthew Sweet get a shout out here.
slaw's avatar
slaw
20,996 posts
 
Mapman, Love is Like Oxygen ends when it't just starting to jam! Robin Trower, "Too Rolling Stoned"
kclone's avatar
kclone
678 posts
 
Reptile by The Church. Google or YOUTUBE that song. Great riff.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,081 posts
 
yes, reptile is a good one!
i've seen the church do it live twice in recent years in a jazz club like venue. excellent!
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,081 posts
 
slaw,

yeah, it does kind of end prematurely.

oh well, still lots of fun while it lasts.

its nice hearing old am radio fare like that again on a good system to appreciate all that is going on that was not discernable then. nice audio candy!
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