Top 20 Guitar Riffs Of All Time
The Guns N' Roses pop rock anthem "Sweet Child O' Mine" has been voted the greatest guitar riff of all time according to music fans. The famous track came top of a poll of 100 Greatest Riffs Ever voted for by readers of Total Guitar magazine. Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" came in second in the survey of 2,000 guitar fans, followed by Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love".
Tracks by the Rolling Stones and the Sex Pistols failed to make it into the 20 favourites. Total Guitar editor Scott Rowley said the poll represented rock music's finest moments: "What this poll shows is that Led Zeppelin and Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix are as popular as ever. But to a new generation of guitarists, Metallica are more important than the Rolling Stones, Guns N' Roses are more thrilling than the Sex Pistols, and Black Sabbath better than the Beatles. This isn?t about who's the flashiest guitarist ? it's about the songs that get you most excited." See the full list below.
Top 20 Guitar Riffs
1. "Sweet Child O' Mine" ? Guns N' Roses
2. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" ? Nirvana
3. "Whole Lotta Love" ? Led Zeppelin
4. "Smoke On The Water" ? Deep Purple
5. "Enter Sandman" ? Metallica
6. "Layla" ? Derek & The Dominoes/Eric Clapton
7. "Master Of Puppets" ? Metallica
8. "Back In Black" ? AC/DC
9. "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)" ? Jimi Hendrix
10. "Paranoid" ? Black Sabbath
11. "Crazy Train" ? Ozzy Osbourne
12. "All Right Now" ? Free
13. "Plug in Baby" ? Muse
14. "Black Dog" ? Led Zeppelin (featuring Jimmy Page)
15. "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love" ? Van Halen
16. "Walk This Way" ? Aerosmith with Run DMC
17. "Sunshine Of Your Love" ? Cream
18. "No-One Knows" ? Queens Of The Stone Age
19. "Paradise City" ? Guns N' Roses
20. "Killing In The Name" ? Rage Against The Machine
Source: Total Guitar magazine
I'm not sure if this is the original source but it's what I found doing a top 20 guitar riffs search in Google.