3 days ago
The 30 greatest guitar riffs of all time
We're going to fall out about this, obviously. But here we go. Let's just start with the idea that a riff is a short, repeated musical figure that can be melodic or rhythmic. We've allowed for a bit of progression – let's call it prog – or we're going to have all sorts of trouble getting some great guitarists in here (looking at you, Brian May).
And we're going to demand that the riff is sort of the main hook of the song. We've tried to avoid bass riffs, unless they've clearly become the lead riff. And we've favoured electric guitar over acoustic guitar, with exceptions. It's strictly one entry per guitarist in this list, too. Apart from that, it's a bun fight. This could easily run to a hundred riffs – if your favourite isn't there, let us know in the comments section.
As far as methodology goes, this was always going to be subjective, but hours and hours have gone into it, from scouring guitar mags to dredging the depths of online forums, polling everyone I know, listening to dedicated playlists, putting things in, taking things out, leaving out lots of my own favourites, accepting that every genre of music and every set of fans has its own hierarchy for this stuff and will know that this list is plain wrong.
There may be also be a slight Anglocentric bias that will wind up Strokes, Fontaines and Aerosmith fans, equally. But above all, guitar riffs ultimately tell a remarkable story of ongoing musical evolution. So here goes… (or skip to the top 10)
30. Nutbush City Limits – Ike & Tina Turner (1973)
This could just as easily have been in the top 10 but we needed something great to kick us off. I've only moved it here because this crunchy, funk stomper is actually two guitars melded together. It's made more fun by the fact that there's a mystery about who played them. Rock legend would have it that Marc Bolan, of all people, played the fuzz rhythm and James Lewis, from Ike's backing band, the wah-wah that wreathes around it like a snake.
