# Guitar: Top 100 Riffs in One Take (12 minute video) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 13, 2012, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-top-100-riffs-in-one-take-12-minute-video/628098 "2012-07-13T12:37:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-top-100-riffs-in-one-take-12-minute-video/628098/1 "2012-07-13T12:37:27Z")
I posted this to the [Great Ongoing Guitar Thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=550219&page=54), but realized that non-guitarists might dig the fun music and stunt guitar work, but don’t check the GOGT. Mods, if this violates some rule - sorry in advance. Here is a link to the vid: [100 Riffs (A Brief History of Rock N' Roll)](http://vimeo.com/43426940) And here is what I posted in the GOGT: > [@](#): > > Here is a link to a video making the rounds in guitar circles - a guy from the Chicago Music Exchange plays 100 of the top rock riffs, in chronological order, from start to finish in one take - about 12 minutes. > > I am about 2 minutes in and am really impressed with the craft of it. And the riffs are cool, too > > … > > Watched the whole thing. Pretty damn impressive - really great technique throughout, moving from standard picking, hybrid picking, fingerpicking, slide, hammer-ons, on-the-fly retunes to Dropped D and back - he works for it. He adapted a few songs correctly played in Open G or other alt tunings so he could play them in standard tuning - no arguments, but it limited his access to, say, Rolling Stones songs. And to not have Can’t You Hear Me Knockin’, Gimme Shelter, Honky Tonk, Start Me Up and others on a list of all-time riffs is simply incorrect. But given the complexity of what he was doing anyway, it amounts to a quibble. > > The only egregious things I noted was that when he played Sedated by The Ramones, he used up-and-down strokes. Bzzzt!! Pencils down! Incorrect answer - if you aren’t playing Johnny Ramone licks with all downstrokes, you aren’t playing Johnny Ramone licks. Suck it, Trebek! > > Otherwise, I tip my cap to him - really fun and I recognized all of the riffs pretty much immediately - the last one is St. Vincent, who I have heard of but hadn’t heard - so credit to him. And apparently he is playing a '58 Strat - the CMExchange is using the vid to pimp their inventory of vintage guitars, just like Fretted Americana does with videos featuring Phil X. Pretty decent tones throughout - you miss hearing a Les Paul or other ballsier guitars on many of the riffs, but again, given his execution, it’s not that big of a deal… ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-top-100-riffs-in-one-take-12-minute-video/628098/2 "2012-07-13T15:17:38Z")
To quibble with some of the quibbles, the list is described as 100 Riffs (A Brief History of Rock N’ Roll), then in the text as 100 famous riffs. No claim to have selected the best or most important. So anything important and recognizable is fair game, and anything he leaves out is OK too. That is an amazing feat of playing. The detunes and retunes were impressive, and the second time he switched to slide, when he fretted a note on the low E with his right hand while he picked up his slide with his left, was really cool, both in idea and execution. There were a few things where the tone was so off that it bothered me (Black Magic Woman and Fortunate Son leap to mind), but I was more focused on notes and technique than tone. I figured on Fortunate son he may have stepped on the wrong pedal and thought “screw it, I’m plowing ahead”. Aside from the tuning and slide switches, I was particularly impressed with his excution of Van Halen tapping and the Cliffs of Dover riff in the midst of everything else he was doing, pretty tough riffs and transitions. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-top-100-riffs-in-one-take-12-minute-video/628098/3 "2012-07-13T15:21:04Z")
All true. I portrayed it inaccurately by referring to it as the “Top 100” - sorry. And here are some of the quibbles copied from the GOGT - last time I will do this; if folks end up posting most comments in the GOGT, I will just leave them there. [QUOTE=Fiddle Peghead] Might as well mention my very minor nitpicks: How do you not play the classic opening riff from “Sweet Home Alabama” instead of the one he played from later in the song?! Oh, and it’s probably the simplest riff in rock and roll, but I think the opening of “You Really Got Me” by the Kinks should have been fit in there, just for influence alone. But all in all, thoroughly enjoying. [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Me] He didn’t include Black Dog, Sunshine of Your Love, a Bo Diddley beat song (e.g., Who Do You Love by George Thorogood), Whip It, anything by UFO, Iron Maiden, One Thing Leads to Another by The Fixx (a classic New Wave riff, and I am sure there are tons more, like Dancing with Myself, I Want Candy, Blister in the Sun, Save it for Later, etc). So yeah, it could lead to a ton of discussion about choices… [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Clanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Small\_Clanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Clanger)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-top-100-riffs-in-one-take-12-minute-video/628098/4 "2012-07-13T16:39:19Z")
Where was Whole Lotta Love :eek: He sort of lost me a bit after What Difference Does It Make\* I knew everything up to that point, afterwards not so much. Two each from Zeppelin The Beatles, Jack White and… Motley Crue er what? Pictures of Matchstick Men is actually a Status Quo song (their _Caroline_ is another omission). Ooo, it’s home time maybe more thoughts later. - which is properly played in an open C shape but never mind ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-top-100-riffs-in-one-take-12-minute-video/628098/5 "2012-07-13T20:53:53Z")
I guess everyone but me can view this video. When I bring the page up, I see a photo of what I think is a guy playing a Strat for a fraction of a second then it just goes white and there is no video controls or anything else in that space. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-top-100-riffs-in-one-take-12-minute-video/628098/6 "2012-07-13T23:20:36Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > I guess everyone but me can view this video. When I bring the page up, I see a photo of what I think is a guy playing a Strat for a fraction of a second then it just goes white and there is no video controls or anything else in that space. I’m having trouble with it too, but a different problem. The audio plays fine but the video stops and starts and is not keeping up with the audio. And it doesn’t appear to be a buffering issue since I can see the “buffering” progress bar is far ahead of the “play” progress bar. Too bad, because it looks like it would be a fun video to watch. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-top-100-riffs-in-one-take-12-minute-video/628098/7 "2012-07-14T00:02:57Z")
That was awesome. I particularly liked the half smile as he stomps on his final switch at the end. He rocked it and he knows it. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-top-100-riffs-in-one-take-12-minute-video/628098/8 "2012-07-14T00:13:20Z")
Why did he label “Pictures of Matchstick Men” as Camper van Beethoven? The riff came from the original Status Quo version from the 1960s. Credit where credit should be due. ---
**Author:** ![Tad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/278dde/32.png) [@Tad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tad)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-top-100-riffs-in-one-take-12-minute-video/628098/9 "2012-07-14T00:43:40Z")
Tough as nuts to play all that in one take. But where’s garage rock? Fabulous Wailers? Music Machine? Sonics? Where’s Big Star??? Too much 90s/00s crap. But hey, the guy plays guitar very well. Good on him. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-top-100-riffs-in-one-take-12-minute-video/628098/10 "2012-07-14T00:55:50Z")
I had problems with a few of the riffs, mostly in the early-middle, which were just played wrong. I understand he’s adding his own flair at times, but some of the flair grated a bit.