The Joy of the Guitar Riff | BBC.HD.ZigCOM.mp4

Documentary exploring how the guitar riff has impacted the past 60 years of popular music, including a look at how it became the foundation rock 'n' roll was built on.

If you like those scenes in rockumentaries where the composer of a classic whips out a guitar and plays a bit of it, you’re in luck. A-grade contributors – Dave Davies, Johnny Marr, Brian May, Nile Rodgers, Tony Iommi, Nancy Wilson – enliven what might have been a subject too nebulous for an hour of TV.

We start with Chuck Berry, moving through 60s rock ’n’ roll and 70s rock, past disco and on to hair rock, the cleansing simplicity of Nirvana and beyond. Riffs are the first hook you hear and millions have been made from the right ones, but it’s hard to hang a thesis on them so, to avoid an aimless list, the programme becomes a broader history of electric guitar. It skims the surface, but stylishly.

Contributors:
Brian May
Dave Davies
Hank Marvin
Joan Jett
Nile Rodgers
Tony Iommi
Robert Fripp
Johnny Marr
Nancy Wilson
Kevin Shields
Ryan Jarman
Tom Morello

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