Greatest Guitar Riffs
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Beatles came up with a musical blueprint unmatched in modern pop/rock n roll history
It changed, for many of us, how we listen and understand
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the guys listed so far (and there are many more) are all demigods ln thier own rights for sure...
but talk about riffs? my favorite is Phil Keaggy....
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A riff, by definition is a short repeated phrase.. It doesn't necessarily have to be complicated.. It can be "Smoke on the Water" simple. Zepplin's "Immigrant Song" simple Or "Crazy Train" semi complicated.. The best ones imo are always really simple.
Two relatively recent examples..
I don't know, I've done radio shows for a few different outlets and I try, despite my age, to stay riff current.. But I do believe "Smoke on the Water" is regularly voted as the greatest guitar riff of all time..
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like i said in an earlier post if you want to know what a riff is it can be a collection of chords that make up the structure of the song or it can be a collection of notes that is the hook of the song...perfect example is the repeated guitar in 'satisfaction' by the stones. i don't know how the voting in the OPs original contest is going but i would think that riff would be in the top 5 by the end.
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I can't even think of the solo of comfortably numb off the top of my head and even if I could it's not really a song that inspires me to air guitar. Note like take a bunch of xanax and stare at the wall.
I can't even think of the solo of comfortably numb off the top of my head and even if I could it's not really a song that inspires me to air guitar. Note like take a bunch of xanax and stare at the wall.
different era or influences i guess because 'the wall' to us HS kids when it came out was as iconic as the 'frampton comes alive' or the original 'kiss-alive'. might not like the music but they were HUGE sellers and big influences as far as concept albums and live recordings go.
i can hear every note of that solo as if it were playing in the background right now. wait?
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Well it is most certainly generational as to what music creeps into your soul and stays there throughout your life.
Those of us who came of age during the Beatles reign were fortunate, I believe, because the Beatles were exceptional talents and societal icons for a good long time.
Lots of artists can't sustain that level of influence.
Later things got more fragmented, more fraction alized as the availability of media provided a venue for so many different types of music for kids to grab onto.
WSS
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I know some of my favourite tunes, the ones I really put on to either kick back or get pumped, are from right around the time I was at high school/early university, like 2003-2006. Things like American Idiot, Mr Brightside etc. can't hold a candle to great guitar songs from Clapton, Hendrix, the Beatles and the rest, but because it's associated with such a fun partying time, those songs will always hold a special place in my heart.
I can listen to Day Tripper now (obviously I wasn't born when it was released), and admire the music, but it's not something I have any emotional attachment to. the nearest from those generations (because I'm a metal/punk kinda person) would be things like the kinks, breaking the law from Judas Priest, anything by Iron Maiden, and odd songs here and there from others, like a few black sabbath, pleasant valley sunday (outlier), Led Zep, things like that.
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Musical masturbation. Who wants to hear a 15 minute long solo.
Not quite 15 minutes....but essentially this fits the bill....and yes, I want to hear it:
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Maggot is a fun song but some really sloppy cheeseball guitar playing compared to other guys we've been talking about. Still I guess that opening riff food goes to route is pretty memorable!
WSS
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Maggot is a fun song but some really sloppy cheeseball guitar playing compared to other guys we've been talking about. Still I guess that opening riff food goes to route is pretty memorable!
WSS
Maggot is a fun song but some really sloppy cheeseball guitar playing compared to other guys we've been talking about. Still I guess that opening riff food goes to route is pretty memorable!
WSS
Are we talking just technical eptitude.....or about stuff we like to hear?
I mean I guess the likes of Hendrix and Page are wonderfully pure technical players.......but I might like to hear a song written by someone that can't match up, but yet writes better melodies.
Maybe there are bands out there with a Steve Simmons like guitarists.....yea, OK, not the greatest....but I certainly like songs written by Steve Simmons better than those written by Hendrix overall.
(do you write your stuff on a guitar, or on a keyboard, or both?)
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Maggot is a fun song but some really sloppy cheeseball guitar playing compared to other guys we've been talking about. Still I guess that opening riff food goes to route is pretty memorable!
WSS
Are we talking just technical eptitude.....or about stuff we like to hear?
I mean I guess the likes of Hendrix and Page are wonderfully pure technical players.......but I might like to hear a song written by someone that can't match up, but yet writes better melodies.
Maybe there are bands out there with a Steve Simmons like guitarists.....yea, OK, not the greatest....but I certainly like songs written by Steve Simmons better than those written by Hendrix overall.
(do you write your stuff on a guitar, or on a keyboard, or both?)
Are we talking just technical eptitude.....or about stuff we like to hear?
I mean I guess the likes of Hendrix and Page are wonderfully pure technical players.......but I might like to hear a song written by someone that can't match up, but yet writes better melodies.
Maybe there are bands out there with a Steve Simmons like guitarists.....yea, OK, not the greatest....but I certainly like songs written by Steve Simmons better than those written by Hendrix overall.
(do you write your stuff on a guitar, or on a keyboard, or both?)
Page was very good until about 1972 and started pumping heroin in his veins then he became a very sloppy picker....He can barely play these days.. But make no mistake.. Page is one of the masters when it comes to chord choices harmonically and penning great music for guitar or otherwise. As a producer. He's 2nd to none.
Heres a remake of Maggot brain I made back in 05..It's not without its recording flaws..I did it just for fun...
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Are we talking just technical eptitude.....or about stuff we like to hear?
I mean I guess the likes of Hendrix and Page are wonderfully pure technical players.......but I might like to hear a song written by someone that can't match up, but yet writes better melodies.
Maybe there are bands out there with a Steve Simmons like guitarists.....yea, OK, not the greatest....but I certainly like songs written by Steve Simmons better than those written by Hendrix overall.
(do you write your stuff on a guitar, or on a keyboard, or both?)
Page was very good until about 1972 and started pumping heroin in his veins then he became a very sloppy picker....He can barely play these days.. But make no mistake.. Page is one of the masters when it comes to chord choices harmonically and penning great music for guitar or otherwise. As a producer. He's 2nd to none.
Heres a remake of Maggot brain I made back in 05..It's not without its recording flaws..I did it just for fun...
Page was very good until about 1972 and started pumping heroin in his veins then he became a very sloppy picker....He can barely play these days.. But make no mistake.. Page is one of the masters when it comes to chord choices harmonically and penning great music for guitar or otherwise. As a producer. He's 2nd to none.
Heres a remake of Maggot brain I made back in 05..It's not without its recording flaws..I did it just for fun...
Let me just say this: I am not a musician, so, yes, I am not capable of evaluating the technical eptitude about picking or harmonic chord choices.
But, I know what I like, and I really am not all that into Led Zeppelin. Certainly there are songs I like, and certainly there is some good music for guitar that he put out.
But they just don't float my boat all that much.....so I am sitting low in the water with them.
And "what I like" is all that counts in music.....it really is.
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Maggot is a fun song but some really sloppy cheeseball guitar playing compared to other guys we've been talking about. Still I guess that opening riff food goes to route is pretty memorable!
WSS
Are we talking just technical eptitude.....or about stuff we like to hear?
I mean I guess the likes of Hendrix and Page are wonderfully pure technical players.......but I might like to hear a song written by someone that can't match up, but yet writes better melodies.
Maybe there are bands out there with a Steve Simmons like guitarists.....yea, OK, not the greatest....but I certainly like songs written by Steve Simmons better than those written by Hendrix overall.
(do you write your stuff on a guitar, or on a keyboard, or both?)
technical aptitude. I'm personally not a very good guitar player. Lots better than guys that can't play at all but you understand.Are we talking just technical eptitude.....or about stuff we like to hear?
I mean I guess the likes of Hendrix and Page are wonderfully pure technical players.......but I might like to hear a song written by someone that can't match up, but yet writes better melodies.
Maybe there are bands out there with a Steve Simmons like guitarists.....yea, OK, not the greatest....but I certainly like songs written by Steve Simmons better than those written by Hendrix overall.
(do you write your stuff on a guitar, or on a keyboard, or both?)
Nickers and Axe are well above average.
But it's pretty apparent when a guitar solo is sloppy even if it kind of sounds cool. That's all I meant to say. And whether I enjoy something or not personally has very little as to the proficiency required to play or sing a particular piece. My favorite vocalists or guitar players are not the most technically skilled.
Personal taste, like mentioning feel or touch or stuff like that, is an intangible often used like this:
Charlie is my favorite weightlifter of all time but Sam can lift more weight.
WSS
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and usually I write in my head then pick up the guitar since its handy and start putting the chords where I heard them.
I don't have the piano in the living room anymore but 1 of these days I will have a digital with weighted keys to play while I'm upstairs. I do have one in the studio. Sometimes the song I hear in my head is a piano song so I go work on it there.
but again I'm a vocalist who plays enough piano and guitar to hack through what needs to be done.
WSS
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and usually I write in my head then pick up the guitar since its handy and start putting the chords where I heard them.
I don't have the piano in the living room anymore but 1 of these days I will have a digital with weighted keys to play while I'm upstairs. I do have one in the studio. Sometimes the song I hear in my head is a piano song so I go work on it there.
but again I'm a vocalist who plays enough piano and guitar to hack through what needs to be done.
WSS
and usually I write in my head then pick up the guitar since its handy and start putting the chords where I heard them.
I don't have the piano in the living room anymore but 1 of these days I will have a digital with weighted keys to play while I'm upstairs. I do have one in the studio. Sometimes the song I hear in my head is a piano song so I go work on it there.
but again I'm a vocalist who plays enough piano and guitar to hack through what needs to be done.
WSS
By the way, I am coming to PIB on Friday with my wife and daughter. You can hack your way through a few songs in our presence!
See you then if not before. -
and usually I write in my head then pick up the guitar since its handy and start putting the chords where I heard them.
I don't have the piano in the living room anymore but 1 of these days I will have a digital with weighted keys to play while I'm upstairs. I do have one in the studio. Sometimes the song I hear in my head is a piano song so I go work on it there.
but again I'm a vocalist who plays enough piano and guitar to hack through what needs to be done.
WSS
By the way, I am coming to PIB on Friday with my wife and daughter. You can hack your way through a few songs in our presence!
See you then if not before.By the way, I am coming to PIB on Friday with my wife and daughter. You can hack your way through a few songs in our presence!
See you then if not before.Great.
Maybe the Philip Seymour Hoffman flick tomorrow?
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By the way, I am coming to PIB on Friday with my wife and daughter. You can hack your way through a few songs in our presence!
See you then if not before.Great.
Maybe the Philip Seymour Hoffman flick tomorrow?
Great.
Maybe the Philip Seymour Hoffman flick tomorrow?
It would have to be later in the day....4:00ish.
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Page is no Malmsteen but he's written/co wrote more classics. John Paul Jones did almost all the arranging.
There's an old joke in guitarist circles..
How many guitarists does it take to change a light bulb?
Six, one to actually do it and five to stand around and say "PPPHHHTTT!!! I could've done that shit better"
As a guitarist,, I TRY to remember to NOT think in terms of impressing other guitarists when I write. If you do that i think you are fucking up. And that's probably why the BEST riffs of all time are extremely simple riffs that you don't have to be well versed in modal theory to understand and feel..
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Jimmy Hendrix rocks! Nobody can play a guitar like him!
School and Solar Eclipse -
Meh on hendrix. I've never liked his stuff or been that impressed by him. I can't think of one hendrix tune that I hear and have to crank it up. Maybe "let me stand next to your fire"
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