The ShadowMusic Web Community

Time to vote!

http://bbc.in/R2RiffsVote

I'm torn...

...between The Beatles' Day Tripper riff and that grandaddy of all guitar riffs, The Rolling Stones' (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction.

Apache is not a riff and it doesn't contain any riffs.

Oh... and there's Oh Pretty Woman. Now THAT's a riff and a half...

But I've gone for George. Who else?

They can' t even use the original Apache.

1. Day Tripper

2. Don't Fear The Reaper

3. Smoke On The Water

4. Born To Be Wild

5. Layla


Andrew

There's a lot of my favourites in there and some rubbish too. I'm afraid I'll have to sit on the fence, it's all subjective.

What about Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" and "Black Dog"? Or The Kink's "You Really Got Me"? The Who's "I Can't Explain"?

... and Buddy Holly's, That'll Be The Day?

It's an impossible, subjective and pointless exercise.

You are probably right about it being pointless but it can be a bit of fun and cause debate as it has already. I quite like Sweet Home Alabama. The bit that goes dum dum da da dum dum da da. Is it a riff?

I think that's a good way to define "riff": name the song and just give the rhythm "dum dum da da dum dum da da". If every one knows immediately what you're talking about then it's definitely a riff!

DaveC

One of the best riffs of all time - Hank's "Living Doll." A mate once described it as "smooth as running water!"