Slash’s favourite guitar riffs of all time: “Just f*cking attractive”
Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash knows the components required to produce a riff for the ages, and he has exhibited this on numerous occasions. There is probably no guitarist in the more recent decades who has dominated the airwaves as neatly as Slash.
But, for the most part, it was always going to be this way. He was raised on a diet of rock ‘n’ roll with one band and one guitarist teaching him the ropes, and in the mind of Slash, nobody has since come close to matching their brilliance.
As a child of the 1970s, it was ingrained into Slash’s system from an early age that songs require riffs of the highest calibre and volume. Slash was always involved in rock music. His mother was a costume designer who could count David Bowie as a client. It infiltrated everything that Slash, who was then Saul Hudson, did.
But during that decade, aside from the wild sides of Bowie, the music was heavy and hard-hitting and it resonated with Slash. As such, there are some riffs that emerged from the decade and have never stopped ringing around Slash’s mind.
During an interview with Music Radar in 2009, Slash was quizzed about the elements necessary to forge a strong riff. He said: “A killer riff (is) something that’s memorable, something that digs in, something that obviously has the right note selection to make something sound just fucking attractive, I guess. But, it’s got to have a great sound and a great attack”.
With and without Guns N’ Roses, Slash has created many tracks that fit his criteria, but even he would admit to having less in his arsenal than Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page. During the band’s decade of dominance, the English guitarist was prolifically operating at an unmatched level which had never been seen before.
As Hudson was a young, impressionable child when he was first exposed to the majesty of Page’s guitar work, he was understandably awe-struck. The Led Zeppelin founding member made the instrument come alive in ways he previously deemed inconceivable, setting a benchmark that Slash believes has never been surpassed.
In the same interview with Music Radar, Slash also named his two favourite riffs of all time, both derived from Page’s mercurial mind. The guitarist stated: “I was thinking ‘Whole Lotta Love’ because I remember when that record came out, I was a little kid and y’know ‘Black Dog’ is another one. Zeppelin had probably the biggest cache of killer riffs, more than any other band, but anyway, I could go on.”
Furthermore, during an interview with Paste in 2010, Slash again praised ‘Black Dog’ from Led Zeppelin IV, naming it his favourite riff. In his short and simple explanation, Hudson said: “This one (‘Black Dog’) seems obvious, I guess. This song is just fuckin’ monstrous. Real, real heavy.”
As a budding guitarist, Slash drove his family wild with his incessant playing of ‘Black Dog’, channelling his inner Jimmy Page. “I used to fuck up around the house, and my grandmother would chase me around the couch. She’d freak out when I’d play ‘Black Dog’ really loud,” he told Rolling Stone in 1992. Just like any great guitarist, Slash started his journey with an air instrument and a lot of confidence, most of which was instilled by the riffs at hand.
Led Zeppelin informed Hudson about the mighty powers of rock ‘n’ roll, which has had him in a chokehold for half a century. Although his obsessive love of the band might have frustrated his family occasionally, there’d be no Slash without their catalogue of material.
Slash’s two favourite riffs of all time:
- Led Zeppelin – ‘Whole Lotta Love’
- Led Zeppelin – ‘Black Dog’
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