ELECTRIC GUITAR WEEK: If Jack White’s mega-hit with The White Stripes, Seven Nation Army, is anything to go by, the secret to a great electric guitar riff is simplicity and a singable melody. There ...

Most of the time, a dream only needs a spark. In the case of musicians, it just takes one song to set you on a path to superstardom. The three songs from the 1970s below have inspired countless guitar ...

A Ramones’ classic makes it onto the list – but which is it? - Roberta Bayley/Redferns We’re going to fall out about this, obviously. But here we go. Let’s just start with the idea that a riff is a ...

It’s no secret that the guitar is the backbone of pretty much every song. Whether it’s a railing, electric solo that makes listeners want to break out their best air guitar, a stripped-down acoustic ...

Chuck Berry started a revolution when he put the guitar front and center, paving the way for classic riffs in rock music. By 1969, Jimmy Page set the standard with “Whole Lotta Love”, and decades ...

There are a number of factors that might make a song immediately recognizable—a whisper, a cough, a G note… But nothing gets our little black hearts racing quite as rapidly as a guitar riff we know ...

From the archive: When Total Guitar met Brian May back in 2001, Queen weren't a going concern, and wouldn’t be until the 2004 reincarnation which saw May and Roger Taylor (John Deacon having declined ...

The message was clear: if the riff was good enough for Beethoven, then pop and rock could learn a thing or two as well. From "Johnny B Goode" to "Smoke on the Water", crossing "Apache" to "Back In ...

The '80s were a golden age for guitar-driven rock and roll. Coming strong off the hard rock scene of the '70s and bolstered by the emergence of MTV, riff rock has never been as popular as it was ...

Virtuoso guitar playing has come to define rock ‘n’ roll. Greg Kot looks back at its colourful history. Rock guitar solos? Often they’re overblown, overrated and a waste of precious notes. To those ...