Greatest Opening Guitar Riffs of all time ....

[Chasplaya]

I think to determine which is the best you need to get a broad cross section of society and from different continents. We certainly have the latter , not so sure about average age of the site though!

If a riff is to be the greatest, then it needs to be able to stand the test of time and be recognised widely. All the posts here are recognisable and great but not all would be able to stand the test of time and quite a few would not be known by a lot of the younger generation today. ONe of them which has been mentioned three times so far is 'Smoke On The Water' now if your a petrol head in New Zealand and not necesarrily a music lover you would recognise that instantly as its played regulalry at most motor races and stockcar races here. So out of the options so far I'd go with Smoke On The Water. (and I didn't even post that one...)

[AndyT]

What about Rock-n-Roll part 2 by Gary Glitter? Used at many sporting events.

[Music Junkie]

Just a few that I like. Not sure about their place in history.....



"Man on the Silver Mountain" - Richiw Blackmore's Rainbow





"You Shook Me All Night Long" - AC/DC





"Dream On" - Aerosmith (not really a riff, I guess. Very recognizable though)





"The Closer You Get" - Alabama





"Eye in the Sky" - Alan Parsons Project (again, not a riff so to speak, but very recognizable)





"Just Between You and Me" - April Wine





"Heat of the Moment" - Asia





Stayin' Alive" - Bee Gees (love em' or hate em' - don't tell me you don't know it when it starts - lol)





"Paranoid" - Black Sabbath





"Iron Man" - Black Sabbath





"Burnin' For You" - Blue oyster Cult





One of my Favorites!!!!!!!!!!
"Mainstreet" - Bob Seger





"Good Times Roll" - The Cars





Bad Moon Rising" - CCR





"We Just Disagree" - Dave Mason





"Photograph" - Def Leppard





"Too Late For Love" - Def Leppard





"China Grove" - The Doobie Brothers





O.K., thats all for now. I made it to the D's...... Also like to shout out to all the others who have posted, as there are some GREAT ones listed. G-n-R "Sweet Child O' Mine" / "Smoke on the Water" / "Aqualung" / etc....

[neverfoundthetime]

Man, it's hard to disagree with Neil.... Day Tripper is high up my list too and Long Cool Woman And Don't fear The Reaper have more meaning now that I have a chance of learning them. Here they all are along with my votes: Ventura Highway (there is no more UP sound than that!), Dave Lee Roth, Damn Good (I still recall where I was when I first heard that! Can't find the original on Youtube and hit a red light trying to post it) and ... give me rebel yell please, Sweat Home Alabama... that always kicks ass!

[neverfoundthetime]

...and, short but oh so sweat: Come Together by the Beatles. George Martin reckoned it was there best performance as artists. But I'm not sure if this is really a riff?



or maybe this version from Across the universe..

[Max]

Carlos Santana's "EUROPA"

[bandguy44]

Life in the Fast Lane -- The Eagles

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[leeb]

I will chime in here and add "Satisfaction" - I don't think anyone has mentioned it. I will take "Lazy" anyday for a Deep Purple choice.
"Wish You were Here"
"Dead or Alive" - very fun to play by the way.

But My favorite ... drum roll please

"Crazy on you" Heart.. ands it acoustic to boot. Hey Neil.. it would be great lesson

[Music Junkie]

leeb wrote:

But My favorite ... drum roll please

"Crazy on you" Heart.. ands it acoustic to boot. Hey Neil.. it would be great lesson

Leeb:

Good one. Like that myself. A lesson on this one would be very interesting.

MJ

[helloworld]

Can't get no satisfaction by the stones.