I figured this was an appropriate follow up to Yahtzee's Guitar Hero III review

While I don't agree with all of them, or the order, there is some great stuff in there .

I was so rockin out to this. I have to add one of my favorites.

Yes, Roundabout
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1277403885782656251&q=yes+roundabout&total=190&start=0&num=50&so=0&type=search&plindex=4

If I've got to give up my #1 spot let it be to this.

*requeue

Re-queueing this video for one more try; last queued Wednesday, December 12th, 2007 1:00pm PST - requeue requested by submitter Zifnab.

good stuff!

Very entertaining, thanks for the post. Although a riff can be any repeating motif, rock guitarists tend to think of them more in terms of repeating single note phrases. (Don't you hate know-it-alls.) Stairway to Heaven we would consider more arpeggios than a riff. Still, there's no doubt it's the most instantly recognizable set of arpeggios in rock music history, (although don't play it in a music store....that could get you shot, or, at least, dirty looks and a possible toss out the door.)
I'd like to add a couple more classic riffs,
(1) Sunshine of your Love - Cream
(2) Heartbreaker- Led Zeppelin
(3) Aqualung- Jethro Tull

and a few more obscure
(1) Blood of the Sun - Mountain
(2) Nantucket Sleigh Ride (the bridge riff) - Mountain
(3) Siberian Khatru - Yes

Thanks again for a great post! Classic stuff.

Very informative snoozedoctor. The YouTube post called them Licks but I thought Riff was more appropriate in this case.

Riffs definitely better than "licks."

Not to be a music snob, but I thought this was a pretty lame list.

This list was only "meh."

And yet you give no examples...

For shame!
Another list i say!

When I first saw this, I thought it was a "Rock" list. Nope. Then I will share my original opinion: awful.

ok, the list is about half right in my opinion. The first thing that struck me was the shameless lack of metal songs. Come on, you have Green Day and Smashing Pumpkins but no Metallica, Motorhead or Slayer? Whats up with that? You could do a top 20 list on those three alone.
Here's a few:
Slayer- Raining Blood
Metallica- Master of Puppets
Van Halen- Unchained(now thats a cool riff)
Black Sabbath- Black Sabbath(the darkest riff ever written and root to all metal. I swear that riff envokes the devil himself. Iron Mans cool but...)
AC/DC- I think Highway to Hell is a beter riff
Motorhead- Ace of Spades(bass riff)
Judas Priest- Electric Eye
Rush-YYZ or Limelight
Ted Nugent- Cat Scratch Fever of Stranglehold
Boston-Piece of Mind
Doobie Brothers- China Groove
Kanasas- Carry On....
I also agree with the Cream and Jethro Tull additions as well as Dire Straits, Deep Purple(though Highway Star is better), GnR, Layla, RATM, Skynard, Stones and Zep(and a dozen other Zep songs) from the original list. But I feel Stairway To Heaven is a tired worn out, overrated, boring song. GASP! There I said it, now let the angry posts begin!

No angry post here. savethecircle has added some good ones. I also forgot Zeppelin's Black Dog, and one of the very early, Iron Butterfly's In-a-gadda-da-vida.

save, you might find this interesting. You say about Black Sabbath, "I swear that riff invokes the devil himself." That's because it's built on the "tritone" interval. These are 2 notes, separated by 3 whole steps. In medieval times, the interval was generally banned.

From Wikipedia,

"Because of that original symbolic association with the devil and its avoidance, this interval came to be heard in Western cultural convention as suggesting an "evil" connotative meaning in music. Today the interval continues to suggest an "oppressive", "scary", or "evil" sound. However, suggestions that singers were excommunicated or otherwise punished by the Church for invoking this interval are likewise fanciful."

Amazing how music invokes images. You have a point about "Stairway to Heaven." The reason I said you shouldn't play it in a guitar store is this, it's easy to play. Beginners learn it, go shopping for a guitar and play those opening chords in the store. The staff of the store are so sick of that tune, they will give you dirty looks, no kidding.

There will never be consensus on a list like this, and that's one of the things I like about it. I like hearing other people's thoughts and especially examples of what they think should be on such a list. If you don't like this list then please don't just say "that sucks", include some examples of what you think belongs on the list.

Enjoy

Yeah, what Zifnab said. Because of that, I think a list like this would be far more interesting with some commentary to explain what the list-maker finds interesting or compelling about each selection. At least then we could say "I don't really like item X, but I see your point."

I've always loved Wes Borland's work. The chaos and the funk and all the other influences that come out really make his stuff stand out as unique. But I suspect there are very few people who would agree with me on that.

Very few of this are riffs and most of them certainly ain't cool.
So here's my list of the coolest guitar riffs.

1. Led Zeppelin - Whole lotta Love (Coolest riff ever, end of story forever and ever amen)

2. Jimi Hendrix - Foxy Lady (just plain damn cool)

3. The Troggs - Wild Thing (The Definition of cool guitar)

4. Jimi Hendrix - Purple Haze

5. Metallica - Enter Sandman

6. The Doors - Peace Frog (Rage against the Machine ripped this off for bulls on Parade)

7. The Beatles - Come Together (More a bass guitar riff but still damn cool)

8. Black Sabbath - Paranoid

9. Collective Soul - Where the river flows

10. Cream - Sunshine of your love

11. Creedence Clearwater Revival - I heard it through the grapevine

12. Fleetwood Mac - Oh Well

13. Kasabian - Club Foot

14. Oasis - Wonderwall

15. Queen - Now I'm Here (Who knew Queens could be cool?)

16. Radiohead - Paranoid Android (The best piece of music Radiohead ever made)

17. U2 - One

18. Led Zeppelin - Moby Dick

19. Metallica - Whisky in the Jar (I prefer it to the Thin Lizzy Version)

20. Deep Purple - Smoke on the water

no santana? no neil young? blaah

my list would have to include Slayer - Raining Blood

No Pink Floyd, "Have A Cigar"?

Zif,

Good job in stimulating some discussion. I am guilty of a negative reponse with no backup. I apologize. However, you have made me go back and look at my favorites. Thanks.

Yes, Iron Butterfly and I have though of a few more since I posted and I will probably think of many more. I think a best of list is very subjective to the list makers personal taste. I mean if you hate Nirvana, for example, you will not put Teen Spirit on a best of list. It doesn't make it any less of a good riff you just personally don't like Nirvana. Like choosing a favorite song. I would be hard pressed to pick one favorite song or one favorite band even because my moods change from week to week. This week it's death metal(Morbid Angel, Deicide, Suffocation ect.). Last week it was black metal(Venom, Mayhem, Darkthrone ect.). And next week it may be something else. Depending on which week you ask you may get an entirely different answer. I wrote about this condition one time and I coined the term "multiple music personality disorder" or m.m.p.d. for short. This is an affliction that render the person broke from trying to keep up with and collect so many different genres of music. I blame the internet for making all these obscure band readily available. Thanks for the background on the Black Sabbath riff. Oh that reminds me that riff in the middle of Chapel Of Ghouls(Morbid Angel) and Crazy Train(Ozzy) and Whiplash-Metallica,now thats a huge riff and Holy Diver(Dio) and The Trooper(Iron Maiden) and..........................................................

"Coolest" or "Most Wanking-est"?

No Spinal Tap - Big Bottom!?!?

I think these are definitely licks, not riffs.

How the hell did Green Day, Marylin Manson, and Rage Against the Machine get on here?!

Yea this list blows simply because it has no Metallica in it.

Green Day is pop shit.

savethecirclepit's and fade's lists are much more satisfying....

wow mlx.....you gwine to 2....wonderful bit of synchronicity! Rock on, geezer mom!!!

On what basis are green day included?
Did they manage to use all of the 4 chords they know?

Imo, most of what's in that list are Classic songs, and not "coolest" riffs.

Gilby Clarke - Cure Me...Or Kill Me... or Aerosmith - Eat the rich are my examples of a cool riff.

Or anything made by Clutch.

I am very strongly against the rage against the machine "riff" on this list. On the basis of the riff itself it's garbage. I am not familiar with the track, so maybe it is totally rockin'- but it's not rockin because of a so-cool-best-ever-omg-killer guitar riff. One chord and a wah-wah pedal do NOT a "riff" make.

That having been said, I would also scrap Green Day, Smashing Pumpkins, Marilyn Manson, and Lynyrd Skynyryr from the list. Mr. I have too many ys in my name is a very very catchy riff, but DAMMIT that's not rock- it's country!!!

... what's that? Oh this isn't just for rock?

Shit, well that opens up a whole new bag of cats now doesn't it?

What about
Mason Williams - Classical Gas
Django Reinhardt - Minor Swing
Andres Segovia - "Asturias"

Or even programmed guitar- how about Ministry - TV II, or Nitzer Ebb - Murderous?

OK, so nobody will ever pick those, I agree. I'm just saying, if you want to have a list, you've got to pare it down SOMEHOW. Just rock, or just metal, or something.

But whatever, as was pointed out, nobody will ever agree with a list, and while there are GLARING deficiencies with this one (in my opinion), my strongest beef with with rage against the machine. That isn't a riff. It's a chord and a wah pedal. argh.

Other than that, the list needs Metallica (Enter Sandman or Master of Puppets), probably at least one more beatles (Come Together, or birthday), some CCR (Suzy Q), and some floyd (Another Brick in the Wall, the trippy trippy floaty guitar riff at the beginning of shine on you crazy diamond, money, any of a dozen more), and probably at least one doors and one santana track.

Then change the Jimi to Voodoo Chile (slight return), and AC/DC to highway to hell (or just get rid of ACDC altogether) and we'll have a much better list.

OK!

Van Halen - Ain't Talking About Love

Nobody will ever make a better riff than the beginning of that song.

This is a great thread. People seem to still be arguing about what are riffs, licks, etc. Maybe some of you play rock guitar, I don't know. But, speaking as a rock guitarist, generally we consider a riff to be a repeating phrase that is played as single notes. Most rock riffs are built on the blue's scale, but they don't have to be. A "lick" is a non-repeated phrase, usually part of a guitar solo. Example, "Man, that was a mean lick you played in the middle of
that solo!"
Song's like "Wild Thing" are just chord progressions, in this case I-IV-V-IV repeated over and over. Rock guitarists don't really consider those riffs, although, if you look it up in a dictionary, a "riff" can be a repeating set of chords too, so, technically, about everybody is right here.
In summary, rock guitarists think of riffs in terms of the following examples;

Led Zeppelin --(definitely one of the lords of riff), "Heartbreaker, Black Dog, The Ocean song, Misty Mountain Hop, Dazed and Confused, etc. etc.
Hendrix-- Manic Depression, The opening of Purple Haze, etc. etc.
Cream-- Sunshine of your love, Crossroads, etc.

Keep 'em coming, it's fun to hear what people like in riffs.
What makes a great riff? It's your interpretation. Either it grabs you, or it doesn't. What amazes me is how many different ways a few notes can be arranged. The more unique, the better as far as I'm concerned.

Riff = ...

maybe i missed it but not a single song from the last 10 years? (since hip hop reared it's ugly head)

^ can you name a good rock band from the last 10 years.

My non technical definition of a "riff" would be anything piece or part of a song that digs into your skull and will not go away. It's the part of the song that when you hear it makes you say Hell Yea! and go scrambling for the volume knob.
The riffs haven't disappeared over the last 10 years they just don't reside on the radio dial anymore. It's not hip hop(that was 20 years ago) that drove them into hiding it's "core" music. You know metalcore, mallcore, emocore, breakdowncore, whatever you want to call it. That coupled with corporate run radio have driving anything with heart deep down into the underground. So you have to look a little harder for it. It's there. Examples? Ok
From the last 10 years:
High On Fire-Hung,Drawn and Quarter(they also just put out a new album that is so rifftastic it's scarey)
Kylesa-Time will Fuse It's Worth(whole album)
Tragedy-The Point Of No Return(The acoustic part give way to the brutality)
Hellshock-Your World(awesome!)
Grand Magus, Fu Manchu, Down, Nebula all have a Sabbath like vibe to them and they are all current along with a literal ton of others in that vein. And they all have no shortage of riffs.
Not to mention the myriads of old bands still in service, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Morbid Angel, Entombed(total riff band), the new Voivod rules, ect.
It's there I promise you just have to accept the riffs they offer as your personal savior and all will be right. Now go in peace and don't forget to feel it when you listen because if you don't feel it then you are just wasting your time.

Good job you knuckle-heads this is the most I have ever posted on any subject before. I think you struck a ...chord..Ha!. It's actually nice to debate something other than political crap for once. But I am pretty sure that Republicans try to kill all the good riffs on a daily basis.

Awesome, there was like 1 good choice. And Led Zepplin twice? hahahahahaha

What, no "Through The Fire and Flames" by DragonForce? Oh this list sucks! J/K It was a pretty good compilation. As mentioned by many above, while I may not agree on the order of the riffs I do agree most of them should be in the top 20. But I also agree with some of the members here in not mentioning any Metallica. Then again, maybe the video creator was afraid of being sued.

I have a lot of new music to get, to check out all these riffs. Someone mentioned "Oh well" by Fleetwood Mac. That's a great one. If you want to hear an unusual riff, go way back to King Crimson (1970's Wake of Poseidon), and the riff in "Pictures of a City." That's a really unique one.

I think the thing is, this isnt the coolest 20 riffs, this is the 20 most recognizable. Most of these riffs (in the video) are simplistic and fairly boring, with some notable exceptions, but really, Smells like Teen Spirit does not belong on a list of the "coolest" and neither does Beautiful People, let alone Brain Stew. These were popular, not necessarily good.

#'s 1-20 for me would start and end with Jimi Hendrix, Jimi Hendrix, and Jimi Hendrix. The list for mere mortals then begins...

I always take issue with top lists, and as a musician, this one provokes me doubly so. First thing I'd say is, is this top, or top well known? Sure there are some goodies on there, but there is better out there to be found apart from popular radio and the-usual-classics-even-your-granny-recognizes. But that is of course opinion. One thing is fact: any list that would include Teen Spirit, and in position #2(!) no less, instantly loses all credibility!

*storms out angrily, still obviously no better at handling Top lists*

eric3579: they are all from the nordic region

Norman Greenbaum - Spirit In The Sky

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