That song has a good bass part, played by Willie Weeks, very tasteful.
Do bass parts count here? They should. I have too many favorites to mention, but The Attractions (you know, that band which Elvis Costello was the singer of), always delivered in bass department because of badass Bruce Thomas, who’s a mate of mine and has been a fantastic source of musical knowledge. Anyone who wants to be a great rock bassist could just seriously do nothing but play along with the Attractions and that would be all the practice they’d need.
The bass line of Pump It Up is one of my favorite pieces of any kind of music played by any instrument, of all time.
A lot of nice picks but the intro to 20th Century Boy has always been a favorite of mine. So simple, yet so powerful. And yeah, you need the right amp tone to get those E’s to bark.
You need the right strings and setup, too. Dick Dale was Lebanese and started out on an instrument called an Oud, which is like a lute, and requires hard and fast picking. Gotta have the stoutest strings possible.
Didn’t see any mention of Chuck Berry yet, among many of the things he did to help create rock’n’roll was trying to recreate the horn intros that many songs of the period had on his guitar. As well as being a singer, songwriter and lead guitarist playing solos.
I can’t believe this thread was 41 posts old before someone nominated Johnny B. Goode. It’s the opening riff upon which all other opening riffs are based.
Yeah, sorry, I didn’t mention Chuck Berry by name, just the song title.
And yes, Johnny B. Goode is one of the more seismic guitar riffs in history. That’s not what this OP is asking for, but since it is a favorite of mine, I went ahead and included it.
Johnny Burnette and the Rock n’ Roll Trio, Honey Hush: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byr8J0DEa4Y (this is the riff that the Yardbirds and Aerosmith applied to Train Kept a Rollin’ - but in actuality, that was a different Johnny Burnette song (a cover of an earlier original) that didn’t use the riff - why they applied it to Train vs. Honey Hush, I don’t know.
Link Wray, Rumble: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucTg6rZJCu4 (if you don’t believe, watch Jimmy Page’s face when he plays his 45 of Rumble in the documentary It Might Get Loud. Could Pagey be any more chuffed over that song?!)
There’s plenty of others, but these are key. From there, you get British Invasion, so songs like You Really Got Me, Satisfaction, Day Tripper and Sunshine of Your Love were all HUGE in their influence and importance as guitar riffs.
But for sheer power, gotta go with Mannish Boy by Muddy Waters - there’s blues harp melded to the guitar riff, but you don’t get any more primal. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSfqNEvykv0
I’ll add a couple…
You could nominate almost every Van Halen song… but some of the other opening riffs that really get me are.
Ain’t Talkin bout Love
Running with the Devil
Summer Nights
Panama
D.O.A
Hot for Teacher
Somebody Get Me a Doctor
Little Guitars
Good Enough
Poundcake
Top of the World
Pantera - Walk
Iron Maiden - 2 Minutes to Midnight
Iron Maiden - Wasted Years
Say what you will about Smashing Pumpkins, but the opening of Cherub Rock is the one of the best. (The whole song it pretty darn good, but MAN does that opening get things going.)
