My personal choice is "Smoke on the Water" but I may be biased having just seen them. Once you've settled on a choice it will give endless distraction running through your mind.

Lynyrd Skynrd's Freebird, Eddie Van Halen's Eruption maybe?

hendrix - purple haze, pink floyd - money, comfortably numb

Hotel California............hard

Rolling Stone (I think) ran a survey several years ago to determine the most instantly recognizable opening riff. IIRC, "Jumping Jack Flash" won fairly comfortably.

Gotta be 'Satisfaction.' Anybody can play it. Three notes. Mindlessly simple.

Oops, yes, you're right. My bad.

my first thought was smoke on the water. gotta be easily the most eaily recignized. i can name that tune in 2 notes.

Purple Haze -- Hendrix

But a simple but effective one:

Blitzkrieg Bop -- Ramones

'Johnny B Goode' by


Chuck Willory

Hendrix Voodoo Chile, Led Zeppelin Kashmir and just about everything else they have ever done, also have to put Nirvana Smells Like Teen Spirit up there. Aerosmith Dream on, The Clash London Calling, and Muddy Waters Mannish Boy all deserve some mention as well.

Originally posted by racerdave
Purple Haze -- Hendrix

But a simple but effective one:

Blitzkrieg Bop -- Ramones

And every other Ramones song, since they used the same riff all the time, but damn I love the Ramones... They have been playing in my car cd player for the last two days.

Crazy Train, and I would say if you're going to mention the Stones Start me up is about their most recognizable.

Thoroughgood (sp?) - Bad to the Bone is a kickin' riff.

"Iron Man" is pretty easy to recognize.

Or Ted Nugent - Homebound

Originally posted by DemonRX-8
Or Ted Nugent - Homebound

Catch Scratch Fever

Originally posted by DemonRX-8
Thoroughgood (sp?) - Bad to the Bone is a kickin' riff.

Yep, but it's just Muddy Waters Mannish Boy :)

Jimmy Hendrix - Woodstock - Star Spangled Banner!!!

along with all the above, Eric Clapton - Layla

Originally posted by IkeWRX
Crazy Train, and I would say if you're going to mention the Stones Start me up is about their most recognizable.

Ah IKE, you stole my thunder! how about "pretty women"

Sweet Child of mine -GNR

"I Love Rock & Roll" Joan Jett
"Photograph" Def Leppard
"Machine Head" Bush

Van Halen - Non-Guitar Riffs
Drums: "Hot for Teacher"
Keyboards: "Jump"
Piano: "Right Now"

dag

looks like i'll be downloading a compilation of famous guitar riffs tonight!!!

Almost forgot Rush, How bout a little Tom Sawyer :) And the Who, there are a few of theirs that could be put up there.

Black Sabbath Paranoid or Iron Man

Jack Ely and the Kingsmen - "Louie Louie"

I'm gonna get flamed for this one... :p

Michael Jackson - Beat It

Originally posted by IkeWRX
Almost forgot Rush, How bout a little Tom Sawyer :) And the Who, there are a few of theirs that could be put up there.

Argh, Rush is awesome. Why'd you have to throw that in there, I'm trying my damnedest to dislike you.

Originally posted by IkeWRX
I'm gonna get flamed for this one... :p

Michael Jackson - Beat It

we're looking for GOOD riffs ike, not annoying ones :p

Tequila!

Originally posted by ZoomZoomH
we're looking for GOOD riffs ike, not annoying ones :p

Hey, I'm not a big fan either, but the thread is most Famous or Well Known, and I would say it qualifies. Besides, wasn't that Eddie Van Halen?

Ok, how bout something to redeem myself... Some newer, some older, and some obscure, but all damn good.

Patti Smith - Horses
Aerosmith - Walk This Way
Audioslave - Show Me How To Live
Jeff Beck -I ain't superstitious
Smashing Pumpkins - Today
Gram Parsons - Hickory Wind
Sex Pistols - God Save the Queen
Stones - Paint it Black, Honkeytonk Women
Pearljam - Alive
Alice in Chains - Would
Bad Brains - House of Suffering
Tripping Daisy - Mu Umbrella
David Bowie- Fame, Young Americans,
White Stripes - Fell in Love..
Nirvana - Lithium, Symphony no. 9, Heartshaped Box, etc etc etc
Robert Johnson - Crossroad Blues
Interpol - Hands Away
Talking Heads - Psycho Killer
Peter Gabriel - Solisbury Hill
The Yard Birds - Stroll On
Radiohead - Creep, Paranoid Android, National Anthem
Rage Against the Machine -Pocket Full of Shells, Renegades of Funk (Tom Morello is a guitar god)
Queens of the Stoneage - Go with the Flow
Pixies - Where is My Mind, Numrods Son
Soggy Bottom Boys - Man of Constant Sorrow
CCR too many to list
U2 - Kite, Sunday Bloody Sunday
Bob Dylan - Like a Rolling stone, Things Have to Change
Sly & the family Stone - I Want to Take You Higher
Joni Mitchell - California
Beatles - Revolution, Twist and Shout, and on and on and on
Gram Parsons - Hickory Wind
Stevie Wonder - Superstition
REM - Radio Free Europe
Chili Peppers - High Ground
AC/DC Highway to Hell, Back in Black
Cheap Trick - Surrender
Pavement - anything from Slanted and Enchanted 89
Social D - Ball and Chain
Big Star - I'm in Love with a Girl
Marley -Redemtion Song
Bo Diddley - Bring it Jerome
Roxymusic Love is the Drug


I could do this all night, but time for bed, now get to downloading, and I want a copy! :D

"We Will Rock You" - Queen.

The Beatles went through that riffy period in the mid-60's - several of their songs were based on killer riffs:

Day Tripper
Taxman
Ticket To Ride
Paperback Writer

Iron Maiden - 2 Minutes 2 Midnight, Evil That Men Do, Powerslave, Bring Your Daughter...To The Slaughter...best of ALL Wasted Years...one of the bands i was in, in college used to play it and that would turn the crowd absolutely NUTS!!!..best/easiest intro riff ever but copied and spinned-off like a SOB!!...

Gotta give my props to Pink Floyd, there isn't one song Syd Barrett or David Gilmore didn't have fantastic melodic development in...i love playing their stuff..

Rush...anyone can pick out Rush...Red Barchetta is a cool song to play...

and Heart - Barracuda and Crazy on You...i have actually met and gotten to sit down and play with Nancy Wilson...she is an awesome musician...met her in a blues bar in Nashville....

Prince is also a fantastic guitar player as well...Purple Rain and well anything on that album...

Tom Morello - someone gave him props somewhere up there..he is a GOD also..very creative and intuitive...doesn't matter which band RATM or Audioslave you know his sound when you hear it...

Nirvana - nope sorry...Kurt was an awesome lyracist but NOT a guitarist...he even admitted to that..

Joe Satriani/Steve Vai/Eric Johnson/Yngwie Malmsteen - all these guys will blow the socks off any guitarist...if you are into guitars and play GO SEE THESE GUYS...there is absolutely nothing like it...talk about some killer riffs...you'll know it when you hear them....

Randy Rhoads/Zack Wilde - the 2 prominent metal guitarists for the anti-christ i mean Ozzy...sadly RR has left this world like many accomplished musicians but nothing they wrote goes unsurpassed..

Michael Hedges - another guitar tragedy..if you love experimental acoustic guitar...Michaels riffs will calm your soul and make you strive to explore the guitar 'zen'....

god there are so many more/...hendrix, vaughn, etc...i could go on...i have played guitar for 17 years and am a musicoholic (except country..hate it)....there is just so much to listen to and so little time...

oh yeh..if you love jazz and BASS guitar...check out Jaco Pastorius...phenominal Bass Jazz guitarist and is incredible...

I know I'll get laughed at for this, but the most recognizable guitar rift in the world must be Tracy Chapmans "Fast Car".

Pink Floyd rules. This is the group that I have the largest collection of above all else. My preference, though, is for pre-Wall Pink Floyd. IMO, there are no albums better than Meddle, Wish You Were Here and Dark Side of the Moon that they did before or have since.

I think that for thhe large part of this thread's topic, it all depends on when you grew up for the most part as to who one lists. I do listen to modern rock as it is today and do enjoy most of what I hear. Even my radio is tuned to a modern station and not to a clasic rock station which plays tunes of my era.

Originally posted by XeRo


Joe Satriani/Steve Vai/Eric Johnson/Yngwie Malmsteen - all these guys will blow the socks off any guitarist...if you are into guitars and play GO SEE THESE GUYS...there is absolutely nothing like it...talk about some killer riffs...you'll know it when you hear them....


oh yeh..if you love jazz and BASS guitar...check out Jaco Pastorius...phenominal Bass Jazz guitarist and is incredible... [/B]

Let us not forget John Petrucci on guitar and the ridiculous Victor Wooten on bass, two of the most talented musicians alive.

Originally posted by XeRo
...and Heart - Barracuda and Crazy on You...i have actually met and gotten to sit down and play with Nancy Wilson...she is an awesome musician...met her in a blues bar in Nashville.... Wow. Was she "girl next door"? I'll bet she was. I would love to meet her. Got anything interesting to say about it? She has always raised my interest. :o

ok i didn't feel like reading thru the pages since my last post so if this is a repeat oh well

edgarwinter group- Frankenstein

Originally posted by h0rde
Argh, Rush is awesome. Why'd you have to throw that in there, I'm trying my damnedest to dislike you.

My thoughts exactly, Hey Ike, you had me until you added in the gloved one... My 2 cents: Crazy Train - Ozzy and Zepplins' Stairway or Kashmir, I guess this pretty much shows my age as well.

Originally posted by Toadman
Lynyrd Skynrd's Freebird,... I was just reading the last post here when all of a sudden, this one started playing in my head. I looked back & sure enough, I'm not the first ;) Gotta go with it... he must have to stick both hands in ice after playing this one! :D

Originally posted by SDFLY
My thoughts exactly, Hey Ike, you had me until you added in the gloved one... My 2 cents: Crazy Train - Ozzy and Zepplins' Stairway or Kashmir, I guess this pretty much shows my age as well.

Just think about how instantly recognizable that riff is though... You have to admit, the second you hear it you know exactly what song it is and probably have memories of things you did from when that song was popular, even if you do change the radio station shortly after that recollection.

Also, Kurt Cobain may not have been a great guitarist, but he made the most of his talent, and the songs (especially Smells Like Teen Spirit) are infectious and much of that is because of the riff.

Since we're talking about great guitarists as well, any Al Demeola fans around? Other than my obscure Yardbirds song I don't think I saw Jeff Beck mentioned, so I'll toss out "I ain't superstitious" by Jeff Beck.

might be repeats didnt check the whole thread

allman brothers - jessica

robin trower - long misty days, bridge of sighs

iron butterfly - in-a-godda-da-vida

neil young - change your mind

dire straits - sultans of swing, money for nothing

ZZ Top - La Grange

any Al Demeola fans around?

This is so weird. I just went to a guitar clinic tonite that featured Al DiMeola. I saw Mr DiMeola live with "Return to Forever" in the late '70's, have been fan ever since. I never thougth any of his "riffs" were really that famous, however.

mooneycj

Originally posted by mooneycj
any Al Demeola fans around?

This is so weird. I just went to a guitar clinic tonite that featured Al DiMeola. I saw Mr DiMeola live with "Return to Forever" in the late '70's, have been fan ever since. I never thougth any of his "riffs" were really that famous, however.

mooneycj

They're not, in fact there probably aren't many people here who know who the hell he is. But since Xero was was talking guitarist names I thought he deserved a mention.

i have his elegant gypsy record on vinyl. need to dust it off and give it a spin.

Originally posted by Racer X-8
Jimmy Hendrix - Woodstock - Star Spangled Banner!!!

Absolutely this is when guitars stopped being just guitars.

And a vote for Santana - Samba Pa Ti

ok..ok..ok...if you are going to mention Al DiMeola you have to include John McLaughlin and Paco De Lucia...they all kind of go hand in hand...i saw all three in concert back in early 90's...great musicians...

but like i said in my first post...there are so many i can't possibly think of them all and include them...BUT as you said Ike...they really don't have anything out there that would be "recognizable" to the regular music listener...the only station i have ever heard them on was the digital cable music channels on TV, under Eclectic (sp)...i think i have heard John on the radio just becuase Mahavishnu Orchestra was popular back in the 70's-80's...

Originally posted by IkeWRX
They're not, in fact there probably aren't many people here who know who the hell he is. But since Xero was was talking guitarist names I thought he deserved a mention.

oh and what about Boston....OMG...they use the same damn guitar riff in 4-5 of their songs...same key, same progression, not a real intuitive band but still have that infectious guitar riff that everyone recognizes...

"Don't fear the reaper" and "Burning for you"

Did anyone post heart, "barracuda?"
"

i did i did....

Neal Schon was a great guitarist, but doesn't get a whole lot of credit because of the fluff Journey put out. Certainly has some famous/well known riffs as well.

that's who i was trying to remember...also...i know this will probably induce flame but...Nuno Bettencourt from Extreme...of course the cheesy riff in More Than Words but he is also an accomplished guitarist also..

and Lindsey Buckingham...he is phenominal also...his fingerpicking style of playing is out of this world...just listen to Big Love...awesome piece..

Originally posted by XeRo
that's who i was trying to remember...also...i know this will probably induce flame but...Nuno Bettencourt from Extreme...of course the cheesy riff in More Than Words but he is also an accomplished guitarist also..

and Lindsey Buckingham...he is phenominal also...his fingerpicking style of playing is out of this world...just listen to Big Love...awesome piece..

saw fleetwood mac last year. lindsey stole the show.

Originally posted by IkeWRX
Almost forgot Rush, How bout a little Tom Sawyer :)
How bout a little Red Barchetta?

Anyone heard of Robbin Ford? Great jazz guitarist. Talk to Your Daughter is a good one. I can't believe no one mentioned The Who's, Won't Get Fooled Again. Peter Townsend played some great guitar over the years.

Originally posted by mooneycj
any Al Demeola fans around?

This is so weird. I just went to a guitar clinic tonite that featured Al DiMeola. I saw Mr DiMeola live with "Return to Forever" in the late '70's, have been fan ever since. I never thougth any of his "riffs" were really that famous, however.

mooneycj
My favorite DiMeola disc was Kiss My Axe. "Phantom" has some of his most brilliant lead-work. I also liked Splendido Hotel a lot. "Alien Chase on Arabian Desert" (and of course, the original Race with Devil on Spanish Highway) was one of the first songs I heard by him. He and Steve Vai recorded a track together called Race with Devil on Turkish Highway that was a re-made Vai-afied version of Spanish Highway. Really sweet.

Anyway, getting back on topic, I'd have to say that GNR- Welcome to the Jungle is immediately recognizable -- those staggered 8th notes with delay...

eric johnson cliffs of dover

http://homepage.mac.com/tracerock/iMovieTheater7.html

5th page and still no mention of AC/DC... Back in Black

Won't get fooled again!

sorry...but whoever that dude is did a terrible rendition of CoD...I saw Satch, Vai and Johnson on their G3 tour..and WOW...he (Johnson) is so punctual and precise with his licks it's crazy...I play CoD and Manhattan all the time...they are two of my favorites...but nothing compares to how Eric pumps those riffs out...any one interested in guitar work especially independant influencial guitarists need to go to a G3 concert...i've been to 4 so far....and seen Satch, Vai, Petrucci, Malmsteen, Johnson..I have an Ibanez JS1000 autographed by Satch, Vai and Johnson as well, i was lucky enough to win backstage passes and meet the G3 crew back in '97....


Originally posted by RX-GR8
eric johnson cliffs of dover

http://homepage.mac.com/tracerock/iMovieTheater7.html

Originally posted by XeRo
sorry...but whoever that dude is did a terrible rendition of CoD...I saw Satch, Vai and Johnson on their G3 tour..and WOW...he (Johnson) is so punctual and precise with his licks it's crazy...I play CoD and Manhattan all the time...they are two of my favorites...but nothing compares to how Eric pumps those riffs out...any one interested in guitar work especially independant influencial guitarists need to go to a G3 concert...i've been to 4 so far....and seen Satch, Vai, Petrucci, Malmsteen, Johnson..I have an Ibanez JS1000 autographed by Satch, Vai and Johnson as well, i was lucky enough to win backstage passes and meet the G3 crew back in '97....

haha yea i know. my son saw johnson at a concert last year. he's 15 and started taking lessons 2 years ago. he can play cliffs of dover from memory from beginning to end. we bought him a gibson les paul. not sure of the model.

model dosen't really matter..if it's a Gibson Les Paul..it's good...I play a PRS Custom 24 (Purple), Ibanez SZ720FM (just got it) both of those go to gigs...and of course the acoustics...Takamine EAN-15C and the bomb...a McCollum guitars Grand Auditorium custom made for me including the Locust design...which is part of the name of a band i'm in that does acoustical music...

Just about anything played by SRV in a live show. He could rip it.

absa-freakin-lutely!!..

He could also play with soul, feeling and touch... he was the whole package.

Originally posted by XeRo
model dosen't really matter..if it's a Gibson Les Paul..it's good...I play a PRS Custom 24 (Purple), Ibanez SZ720FM (just got it) both of those go to gigs...and of course the acoustics...Takamine EAN-15C and the bomb...a McCollum guitars Grand Auditorium custom made for me including the Locust design...which is part of the name of a band i'm in that does acoustical music...


very nice work, I have a jem777 "flower model", the vine inlays are cool, but I love that locust...

I'm rather surprised nobody's yet mentioned "Whole Lotta Love"

Heartbreaker is the one

both of those Led songs are good calls.