[touron]

Top 20 greatest guitar riffs

[Ski]

silly Brits.... how can you make a list like that and overlook the inimitable Hubert Sumlin? (and yes, that is indeed Albert "Sunnyland Slim" Luandrew ticklin' the ivories.)

[Conrad]

Life in the Fast Lane is, of course...not there

[touron]

Sultans of Swing? How about Jet Airliner by Steve Miller?

[Chief Joseph]

Edgar Winter in the song Frankenstein.

[phillyjon]

"Freebird." The late Lynard Skynard band.

[ScottP]

[Ski]

/drift on I borrowed my older brother's brand new fancy-schmantzy camera for Edgar Winter's appearance here at the UPS Field House when I was in high school. My buddy Frank BS'ed somebody into believing we were somebody (having the big fancy camera and all) and we were escorted by security backstage to a rehearsal room where I got some damn good close-ups of Edgar and the other musicians warming up. We were then escorted up to the front of the stage, where I got more damn good shots of the band onstage performing "Frankenstein". One of the guys even made sure I wasn't jostled about too much by the crowd behind me. Years later, in a frenzied move which required reducing bulk, I tossed out those three boxes of slides. They'd probably be worth something now to some collector. Hindsight is always 20/20, ain't it? /drift off Did somebody say guitar?

[Chief Joseph]

Wish I'd have been there Ski, sounds like good times! Have to mention Johnny Cash playing guitar in Folsom Prison Blues.

[Schenk]

[GaliWalker]

My personal favorite is the riff in Robert Plant's Hurting Kind: ETA: I'm also partial to Zeplin's Whole lotta love, which is on the list.

[tmatlack]

Youtube has dozens of Top 10/20/100 guitar riffs. Someone should comb through all those lists and capture the 10 that made all the lists. Clapton's two solos on his cover of Robert Johnson's "Crossroads" needs to be on all lists, IMO. So fast, so clean, but with a melody! Notice Yngwie Malmsteem not on list...super fast, but very little soul. Same with Scorpion's Matthias Jabs. Tom

[Ski]

well... if you're talking "riff" as opposed to "solo" it's a different can of worms. "best" is all subjective anyway- a subject which can be debated to no end. there's pickers, and then there's pickers Clapton's solo from that Wheels of Fire live track seems to always make the "top" lists for solos, along with David Gilmour's work on "Time". But no matter how you formulate any "best" list, there will always be something out there that turns all lists upside-down.

[contour5]

Huh. Nearly all those riffs are borrowed or copied from earlier songs, mostly by 40s and 50s blues artists. Even Chuck Berry got most of his licks from T-Bone Walker... I've always thought that the originals were the best...

[touron]

But was T-Bone original? He may have gotten his riffs from some earlier guitarist, or maybe a riverboat banjo picker.