Your Favourite Riffs

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Darth Sabbathi
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Your Favourite Riffs

Post by Darth Sabbathi »

I am a riff enthusiast. There are lots of things I like about the electric guitar and rock music, but the thing I love most of all is the epicness of an epic riff.

There are many different reasons to love a riff - often it is the rhythmic pattern, sometimes it is the melodic phrasing, a lot of times it is just the sound of the guitar.

There are plenty of riffs that I reckon are magic, but I started thinking about which ones have had a real lasting influence on me. And I made a list. And now I am sharing that list with you... why not. It is a long list - sorry, I got carried away. :problem:

Anyway, what are you all time favourite riffs? Here are mine:

Jailbreak. Pure simplicity. This is mostly about how awesome Malcolm’s guitar sounds.


20th Century Boy. So much groove. The bends are perfect and the guitar sound is beyond cool.


Breadfan. This one I used to play pretty much every time I picked up a guitar. The rhythm is key I think.


2 Minutes to Midnight. The riff that made me want to play guitar in the first place.


No Class. This one almost seems too generic - it is basically identical to Tush, right? But that is kind of what makes it timeless. And the bass makes this way cooler than ZZ Top.


Negative Creep. The guitar sound is perfect. This thing blew my mind when it came out.


Twist of Cain. This one right here. This is probably the single biggest influence on me out of all of them. Even more than Iommi, this is what got me addicted to the devil’s interval, the diminished 5th.


The rest all kick in part way through the song, and I can't figure out how to embed with a specific start time. Hence links.

Battery. I had to put some Metallica on the list. This introduced me to the joys of palm muting. I still can’t get my head around how Hetfield manages to play and sing this at the same time...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=md3B3I7Nmvw&t=1m5s

In the Meantime. I love single chord riffs, and this is the king daddy of them.
https://youtu.be/mWwhdINdMs8?t=35s

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. One of the finest from the God of Riffs.
https://youtu.be/yuVmjv22Nqc?t=4m6s

In the Light. Love the kind of seasick rolling rhythm and the middle eastern phrasing.
https://youtu.be/pNo1nS_JV5k?t=3m00s

Rock n Roll Damnation. More essential Malcolm Young.
https://youtu.be/i__LRINO2oI?t=15s

Funeralopolis. Heavier than heavy. This song has three great great riffs, but this is the apex.
https://youtu.be/F-x6qqNy0mo?t=4m54s

Into the Void. Another song with multiple great riffs - the intro and the outro are also top shelf. But this one is the most fun to play.
https://youtu.be/xx6IwshTL6M?t=1m14s

Hunted Down. This was a big influence on me as a teenager, and that kind of chromatic run has stayed with me.
https://youtu.be/4WmKBvDHXaE?t=17s

Psychoholic Slag. More one chord magic. This whole album is full of epic riffs.
https://youtu.be/ANLPDFfdvrM?t=4m25s
Last edited by Darth Sabbathi on Sat Oct 10, 2020 12:59 pm, edited 3 times in total.

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Re: Your Favourite Riffs

Post by Molly »

Stand up and shout
Mob rules
Electric eye
Ain't talkin bout love

They're the first to mind

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Re: Your Favourite Riffs

Post by StrummersOfThunder »

Miserlou - Dick Dale
Memphis - Lonnie Mac
What your doing (glorious George Harrison Ric 12 string)
Band on the run intro riff - Lovely use of major 7ths and 6ths

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Re: Your Favourite Riffs

Post by Olderama »

Anthrax Madhouse


Slayer Mandatory Suicide



Exodus Toxic Waltz



Prong Beg To Differ



Slipknot Before I Forget



Ministry Thieves



More to come as my arms aching holding this iPad lol
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Re: Your Favourite Riffs

Post by Darth Sabbathi »

Oh yeah - Thieves! I should've had that on my list. That one made me want to get a new right hand...

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Re: Your Favourite Riffs

Post by Scooter13 »




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Re: Your Favourite Riffs

Post by Darth Sabbathi »

Those are both all time great riffs. Rock Bottom should've been on my list.

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Re: Your Favourite Riffs

Post by Molly »

StrummersOfThunder wrote:Miserlou - Dick Dale
Memphis - Lonnie Mac
What your doing (glorious George Harrison Ric 12 string)
Band on the run intro riff - Lovely use of major 7ths and 6ths
Had to look up a couple of those. I'll tuck away the Lonnie Mac one for my imaginary pub blues band. Band on the Run. That's a great track I'd completely forgotten about. :thumbup:

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Re: Your Favourite Riffs

Post by kwhelan »

Keef just pick one, any
don't even need to play the whole riff before people know it
Tumbling Dice is a classic

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Re: Your Favourite Riffs

Post by JHorner »

Don't think I can pick all time favourites. But here's a few I can't stop playing.

Catfish Blues


Travelling Riverside Blues


Just Got Paid


13 Steps to Nowhere

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Re: Your Favourite Riffs

Post by Clanger »

Back in the Village - Iron Maiden. The intro, verse (the chorus is also brilliant). Great use of pull-offs and hammer-ons, with a cheeky little squealy in there.

Supernaut - Black Sabbath. Intro/verse. Those big slide ups to open string, then big chords. I wanna reach out...

Walk All Over You - AC/DC. Pre verse. Simple E, G, D to A (with an Asus4) progression, but sounds great, especially when the little first lead and main solo is played over it.

Just 3 of about 50 I could list.
Make Music Great Again

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Re: Your Favourite Riffs

Post by Darth Sabbathi »

Just Got Paid is genius level.

I totally love Back in the Village - that intro rocks.

And Supernaut is massive. Could do a whole thread on best Iommi riffs... And Malcolm Young for that matter.

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Re: Your Favourite Riffs

Post by Olderama »

Darth Sabbathi wrote:Just Got Paid is genius level.

I totally love Back in the Village - that intro rocks.

And Supernaut is massive. Could do a whole thread on best Iommi riffs... And Malcolm Young for that matter.
Just their entire back catalogue then :)
:mental:

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Re: Your Favourite Riffs

Post by griff »

Great idea for a thread..
Riffs are king, but ya think I can write a decent one? Nope.

Everything Iommii does is incredible.
Addicted to chaos - Megadeth
Night Train - GnR
Heartbreaker -Zepp
La Grange - ZZ Top
Aenima - Tool
Bomber - Motorhead
The grip of a tyre fitters hand - Budgie

A few of my faves.

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Re: Your Favourite Riffs

Post by Aquila Rossa »

I have lots of favorites, but the one I like right now is the opening and closing riff in this one. I also like the chirpy Superlead tone of the chords in this one. I like mids and treble in rhythm guitar.


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