Althouse: 100 famous guitar riffs...

July 10, 2012

100 famous guitar riffs...

... played in chronological order, in one take:

45 comments:

Curious George said...: I saw this a few days ago. For fun, close your eyes and see how many you know.; 7/10/12, 5:11 PM
chickelit said...: #10 is absent and should be "You Really Got Me" from 1964

Otherwise the damn thing plays like my chroned iTunes.

Bravo!; 7/10/12, 5:13 PM
edutcher said...: 3 - 9 do it for me.; 7/10/12, 5:34 PM
D. B. Light said...: With my eyes closed I couldn't have named any of them. By the thirties I had never heard many of the songs, by the sixties I had never heard of most of the groups. After 75 nothing..., nothing at all familiar.; 7/10/12, 5:51 PM
mtrobertsattorney said...: What Happened to "Free Bird"?; 7/10/12, 6:24 PM
Seeing Red said...: I thought the same thing, that Free Bird wasn't there.; 7/10/12, 6:35 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: I love than he threw a Smiths song in there.
Would have been cool to hear the intro to Heart's Crazy on you. But then, that stands on it's own and should never be cut off.; 7/10/12, 6:36 PM
chickelit said...: mtrobertsattorney said...
What Happened to "Free Bird"?

The Kinks had issues with organized labor and Skynyrd was from the non-union South. Maybe the guy had issues with both?; 7/10/12, 6:40 PM
edutcher said...: Dale Light said...

With my eyes closed I couldn't have named any of them.

I could never forget "Johnny B Goode", "Rumble", "Pipeline", or "Wipeout".

"Rumble", especially.; 7/10/12, 6:45 PM
DCS said...: What happened to "Sunshine of Your Love?"; 7/10/12, 6:54 PM
Icepick said...: "Pictures of Matchstick Men" was out of order. CvB's version was just a cover of a song from the 1960s. (I've never heard CvB's version, actually, but I know the original well.) Give Status Quo their due, man!

I knew the first 86, though not all of them by name, and a scattering of the rest.; 7/10/12, 7:01 PM
DCS said...: The last 25? Who ever heard of those guys? Posers, all.; 7/10/12, 7:05 PM
Icepick said...: Yeah, who ever heard of Sanatana....; 7/10/12, 7:10 PM
wyo sis said...: It made me smile.; 7/10/12, 7:10 PM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: Freebird doesn't have a riff. What most people key in when they hear the song start up is the organ part, if he'd played the chord progression I doubt most people would have recognized it as Freebird.

A few others that I'm surprised didn't make it:

Mississippi Queen - Mountain
Whole Lotta Love - Zep
Black Dog - Zep
Pretty Woman - Van Halen/Roy Orbison
Cocaine - Eric Clapton/JJ Cale; 7/10/12, 7:22 PM
Icepick said...: Also, where's "Ace of Spades"?; 7/10/12, 7:35 PM
Darleen said...: Excuse me .. but Creedence Clearwater Revival's bit (#20) was titled "Unfortunate SUN" on this video?

Someone needs a beating; 7/10/12, 8:08 PM
Darleen said...: see, I was so kerfuffled I confused myself finding it unfortunate that Fortunate Son was typoed in the vid.; 7/10/12, 8:17 PM
Mark said...: What about Stairway to Heaven? Oh, right, the "No Stairway" sign in the lobby....; 7/10/12, 8:48 PM
Mark said...: Tainted Love? (Seriously, riffing on the missed riffs is nearly as fun as the riffs.); 7/10/12, 8:49 PM
Bender said...: Remember --

This is a "history of", not a "best of" collection. If the last third was lousy, that is because the history of music the last 10-20 years has been pretty lousy.; 7/10/12, 9:34 PM
bagoh20 said...: I was impressed with the ability to change songs almost flawlessly 100 times. You would expect at least a few pauses to think for a moment: "how does that go again"?

Amazing, and deflating.

I smiled the whole way through, but kept thinking: "If I only could start over".

There are many things I would do different, but top of the list is learn to play well and start writing songs early.

Life is too damned short - I haven't had time to get good at anything yet.; 7/10/12, 9:43 PM
Patrick said...: Bagoh,

When I was 18, I was lamenting to a friend that I'd never learned guitar. He looked at me and said Dude, you're 18. It's not over."

I've found that applies even when I'm uh, ...no longer 18.

Buy a cheap guitar. Take lessons. You won't regret it.; 7/10/12, 9:49 PM
madAsHell said...: I'm teaching my son all the music I learned (from neighbor kids, and watching video) when I was young. He already knows most of it (youtube).

There will never be a golden oldies station for Snoop Dog, 50cent, et.al.; 7/10/12, 10:05 PM
pdug said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 7/10/12, 10:36 PM
pdug said...: Barracuda is the only one by a woman?; 7/10/12, 10:37 PM
traditionalguy said...: That blew me away. It was like going into an accident when your whole life flashes before your mind, but this time it was done in the guitar language of FM car radios.; 7/10/12, 10:50 PM
Steven said...: It appears that the main thoughts I had -- in particular, "No Stairway?", "No 'Crazy on You'? But I suppose that requires more than a couple of measures to really work," and "Camper van Beethoven instead of the Status Quo?" -- were already mentioned before I got here.

I recognized more of the last few than I would have expected. I probably recognized 80, but probably couldn't have named 40. There are a couple that I'll have to seek out longer excerpts of.; 7/10/12, 10:50 PM
bagoh20 said...: Patrick,

I have never taken lessons, but I have a few guitars, and a brand new Martin. I've been learning on my own for a few years, and just recently learned enough to play songs and even create a few. I have no talent, but it's incredibly fun anyway. I only wish I had really given it some effort early in life when it would have been extremely cool.

Of course, then I would have probably wasted my life on sex, drugs and rock n roll. Oh well, I did that anyway, but I could have done it much better with some ax skills. Regardless, I'm with you; it's still a great hobby at any age, with or without talent.

A few weeks back, a young guy in my company smashed his finger tips pretty bad in a machine. My first question was: "does he play an instrument"? Luckily he didn't. It's bad enough, but that would be devastating to me.; 7/10/12, 10:50 PM
AMDG said...: Too much geared toward the 90's and 2000's. Replace some of them with:

"Life in the Fast Lane"
"Whipping Post"
"All Along the Watch Tower"
"Sunshine of Your Love"
"Brown Sugar"
"Start Me Up"
"It Aint Nothing But a House Party"
"you Shook Me All Night Long"
"what I Like About You"
"Go All the Way"
"Bad Moon Rising"
"secret Agent Man"
"substitute"
"Paperback Writer"
"Roadrunner"; 7/10/12, 11:06 PM
Bender said...: There are a couple that I'll have to seek out longer excerpts of

Yes, there were a couple instances of "I can name that riff in one note."

But as for what should have been included, some of the other related youtube clips do have them.; 7/10/12, 11:56 PM
Revenant said...: Crediting "Crazy Train" to Ozzy seems a little weird.; 7/11/12, 12:16 AM
Kirk Parker said...: "Buy a cheap guitar."

Uffff. NOOOOOO.

Friends don't let friends buy cheap guitars. A decent, playable guitar doesn't have to be expen$ive, but you have to start with decent, playable as your first criteria and see if what you can find fits your affordability point.

Going cheap for its own sake, buying a "student" guitar, is just a setup for failure.; 7/11/12, 1:41 AM
momoffourandadog said...: I don't know how Born to Run misses the cut but Glory Days makes it. That's pretty inexplicable.; 7/11/12, 6:04 AM
Patrick said...: Kirk Parker said "Going cheap for its own sake, buying a "student" guitar, is just a setup for failure.

You are correct. I would revise and extend my advice to "buy a decent guitar that won't put you in the poorhouse."

My first guitar was cheap and difficult to play. Once I lowered the bridge and cut some off of the nut, it was much better.

Bagoh, if you've got a Martin, you should have no worries. Search Martyzsongs on youtube for a buch of excellent lessons if you haven't already discovered it.; 7/11/12, 7:11 AM
TMink said...: I can play most of those, but I cannot play them all in a row! Bravo!

Trey; 7/11/12, 8:05 AM
bagoh20 said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 7/11/12, 8:36 AM
MaggotAtBroad&Wall said...: Many included on the list were influenced by Robert Johnson (I'm thinking about Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Peter Green). He should have gone further back in history and started with Johnson.; 7/11/12, 8:39 AM
Luke Lea said...: After about 1972 I recognized almost none of them. Wish he had put the date on each riff.; 7/11/12, 9:15 AM
Anonymous said...: I know a number of these. Practising as I type on the ones I don't.; 7/11/12, 10:00 AM
Kevin said...: I loved this up till #72. Past Smells Like Teen Spirit only Weezer and Smashing Pumpkins even rang a bell. By definition this kind of thing is subjective but after the early 1990's this thing goes plummeting into subjectivity oblivion.

And seriously 1 riff by a woman? No PJ Harvey, Liz Phair, Sleater-Kinney, Bikini Kill, Go-Go's, X-Ray Spex, Patty Smith, Pat Benatar, nothing?; 7/11/12, 10:41 AM
Revenant said...: I don't know how Born to Run misses the cut but Glory Days makes it. That's pretty inexplicable.

"Glory Days" is one of the few well-known Springsteen songs where the guitar stands out from the rest of the music. "Born to Run" is much more of an ensemble piece.

IMO, anyway.; 7/11/12, 11:20 AM
bagoh20 said...: I'm not young, but the later riffs are just as iconic to younger people as the older ones are to the older...so far.

And they are iconic guitar riffs, not songs. It's surprising how many there are there AND missing, and how using mostly the same notes they are so distinguishable.; 7/11/12, 11:32 AM
MadisonMan said...: I would have had Green-Eyed Lady and Refugee in there.

@Kevin, Barracuda was in there.

Impressive to do in one take.

Glad it was annotated.; 7/11/12, 11:40 AM
Kevin said...: Yes, Barracuda was the 1 by a woman I was referring to. 1 out of 100.; 7/11/12, 11:59 AM