Battle of the Riffs: Keith Richards vs. Jimmy Page

[Fashionista]

Inspired by the other thread, in terms of riffs, who is the king between these two?

[Len Cnut]

Keith, all day long.  The Page riff based Zep tunes are the best of the bunch but Keith just sounds the fuckin' bollocks a lot more consistently.  Two solid decades of class that I can account for, having not really delved into their 80s stuff though I've heard from among the hits of even the 80s stuff and even that has some cracking riffs in it. Keith, no doubt. Then again I've not heard anything Page has done outside of Zep but quite frankly the 5 Zep albums I've heard only some of the early stuff has decent riffs to it.

[soon]

Id just say they are both better then almost everyone else but for sake of poll, I'd go Page only because imo he's explored more different territories. 

[ZoSoRose]

Page but I love Keef too

[Fashionista]

1 hour ago, soon said:

Id just say they are both better then almost everyone else but for sake of poll, I'd go Page only because imo he's explored more different territories. 

You need to check out the Stones' 60s material. They go into a lot of other ground in the 60s besides rock.

Brian Jones on lead, Keith on rhythm here
 

Keith wrote this one musically. 
 

A cover, but the riff is original.

[Len Cnut]

16 minutes ago, Fashionista said:

You need to check out the Stones' 60s material. They go into a lot of other ground in the 60s besides rock.

Brian Jones on lead, Keith on rhythm here
 

Keith wrote this one musically. 
 

A cover, but the riff is original.

How does going different places necessarily lend itself to the idea of making good riffs though?  I mean a guitarist makes a riff on a guitar, there’s 6 string and a fretboard, genre jumping doesn’t really factor into riff making.  Do riffs have a genre until you like...contextualise it yourself?

[soon]

25 minutes ago, Fashionista said:

You need to check out the Stones' 60s material. They go into a lot of other ground in the 60s besides rock.

Brian Jones on lead, Keith on rhythm here
 

Keith wrote this one musically. 
 

A cover, but the riff is original.

I didnt mean that the Stones were limited and not musically adventurous, just that to me Page seems to have explored a few more areas.  These tracks are great, btw!

[Georgy Zhukov]

Tough one, but I have to go with Page. Keef comes real close though. Loved Keef's riffs for Brown Sugar, Satisfaction and Jumpin' Jack Flash, but Whole Lotta Love, Heartbreaker, Black Dog and Kashmir are just a whole different planet.

Edited May 29, 2018 by Georgy Zhukov

[Fashionista]

19 hours ago, Georgy Zhukov said:

Tough one, but I have to go with Page. Keef comes real close though. Loved Keef's riffs for Brown Sugar, Satisfaction and Jumpin' Jack Flash, but Whole Lotta Love, Heartbreaker, Black Dog and Kashmir are just a whole different planet.

 

Bill Wyman (bassist) wrote the riff to JJF, and Mick Jagger wrote Brown Sugar (including the music) all by himself while away shooting Ned Kelly.

Some of Keith's most famous riffs which he himself came up with are Happy, Satisfaction, Before They Make Me Run, Can't You Hear Me Knockin', etc. 

Edited May 30, 2018 by Fashionista

[Georgy Zhukov]

4 hours ago, Fashionista said:

 

Bill Wyman (bassist) wrote the riff to JJF, and Mick Jagger wrote Brown Sugar (including the music) all by himself while away shooting Ned Kelly.

Some of Keith's most famous riffs which he himself came up with are Happy, Satisfaction, Before They Make Me Run, Can't You Hear Me Knockin', etc. 

Man, Stones be complicated.

[Fashionista]

10 hours ago, Georgy Zhukov said:

Man, Stones be complicated.

 

There is a long history of Mick and Keith using those around them for their ideas and not crediting them. This list includes Brian Jones, Bill Wyman, Mick Taylor, Ronnie Wood, Ry Cooder and many others who essentially wrote Stones songs, but were not credited at all. In the beginning, the band used "Nanker Phelge" as their writing credit, which was applied to the whole band. Their manager fell in love with the "Lennon/McCarthy" concept and thought he could make Mick and Keith a songwriting duo that would rival Lennon/McCarthy. So every song is credited Jagger/Richards. This includes songs Jagger wrote which Keith had no part in writing, and vice versa. IIRC most of Some Girls with the exception of Before They Make Me Run and Beast of Burden was written by Mick Jagger for example both lyrically and musically, but the album is credited to Jagger/Richards.

This lack of giving credit where it was due is a major reason why Mick Taylor (lead guitarist from 69 to 74) quit the band.

[moreblack]

Page. My joint #1 riff maker with Blackmore.

Edited May 30, 2018 by moreblack

[BadRain]

I voted Page because not only is he one of my favorite riff writers, he plays the ballsier hard rock that I prefer.  I don't think you can compare Page and Richards too easily since their styles are so different.  This thread is inspiring me to listen to some Zep!

[action]

I love how you basically need another guitar, tuned to open G and removing the 6th string, in order to make keith's riffs sound as they're supposed to be.

open G tuning is just so badass. just strum the open strings and you have a G chord. Move up to the 5th fret and you're on the IV chord. 7th fret and your're on the V chord. that's all you need to play a 12 bar blues, and that's without any complex finger positions. And not only that, but it also sounds really crunchy, typical of the RS sound.

When I get bored of regular guitar playing and don't know what to do next, I pick up my "open G" 5 string guitar and go for another round

Edited June 7, 2018 by action

[DieselDaisy]

There is literally nothing in the world that Page can do better than Keef. Keith could make a pot noodle and it would be better than Page's pot noodle. 

[moreblack]

1 hour ago, action said:

I love how you basically need another guitar, tuned to open G and removing the 6th string, in order to make keith's riffs sound as they're supposed to be.

open G tuning is just so badass. just strum the open strings and you have a G chord. Move up to the 5th fret and you're on the IV chord. 7th fret and your're on the V chord. that's all you need to play a 12 bar blues, and that's without any complex finger positions. And not only that, but it also sounds really crunchy, typical of the RS sound.

When I get bored of regular guitar playing and don't know what to do next, I pick up my "open G" 5 string guitar and go for another round

Alternate tunings are fun. Messed around with White Summer/Black Mountain Side and also the Rain Song. Lot's of new doors got opened to my playing in the process.

[Georgy Zhukov]

38 minutes ago, DieselDaisy said:

There is literally nothing in the world that Page can do better than Keef. Keith could make a pot noodle and it would be better than Page's pot noodle. 

Except when it comes to guitar riffs. Was very disappointed that Keef didn't wrote the riff to Brown Sugar. That was Mick. Very impressed it was Mick. 

 

Jimmy Page however, wrote all guitar riffs for Zeppelin. Maybe up until 1975 when Jonesy started influencing the band's sound.

[DieselDaisy]

9 minutes ago, Georgy Zhukov said:

Except when it comes to guitar riffs. Was very disappointed that Keef didn't wrote the riff to Brown Sugar. That was Mick. Very impressed it was Mick. 

 

Jimmy Page however, wrote all guitar riffs for Zeppelin. Maybe up until 1975 when Jonesy started influencing the band's sound.

I believe that was Howlin' Wolf. 

[Georgy Zhukov]

7 minutes ago, DieselDaisy said:

I believe that was Howlin' Wolf. 

I'll give you that, The Lemon Song was a direct rip off of Wolf's Killing Floor. Plant ripped the lyrics from Dixon's You Need Love for Whole Lotta Lova but Page wrote the riff for it. 

[DirtyDeeds]

Keith by a mile. I’ve only gotten more and more impressed with Keith’s playing, its nuance and subtlety through the years, the way he and the lead just dance around each other in the groove. Meanwhile I’ve secretly thought for the past several years that Zeppelin are honestly kind of boring. Their music lacks energy to my ears. I can still get into it sometimes but they come up short as compared to the other quintessential bands. 

[moreblack]

10 hours ago, Georgy Zhukov said:

Maybe up until 1975 when Jonesy started influencing the band's sound.

To his credit, the Black Dog riff is his.

[action]

3 hours ago, DirtyDeeds said:

Keith by a mile. I’ve only gotten more and more impressed with Keith’s playing, its nuance and subtlety through the years, the way he and the lead just dance around each other in the groove. Meanwhile I’ve secretly thought for the past several years that Zeppelin are honestly kind of boring. Their music lacks energy to my ears. I can still get into it sometimes but they come up short as compared to the other quintessential bands. 

agreed.

zep have some great riffs, like whole lot of love, the ocean, etc... But in whole lot of love you have that meandering middle section that serves no purpose other than to simulate an LSD trip or something. Too much folk stuff to distract from the rock experience. Yes, they cover lots of musical territory, but that does not necessarily mean exciting territory. A lot of it is meandering, dull, repetitive, sleep inducing. But like I said, some truly great riffs there, but these riffs could have benefitted from better songs. These riffs need groovy songs, a backup rhythm guitarist, a better lead singer. Sorry, Plant doesn't cut it to me. I found him annoying when I first heard him, and I find him annoying today. Just not my style. I'm more a Lemmy / Axl / freddie kind of guy.As for bonham: he's fucking great, so why are there so many zep songs that dont feature any drums? Mind boggling. All these country / folk songs without drums: why?

[Georgy Zhukov]

2 hours ago, moreblack said:

To his credit, the Black Dog riff is his.

 

Damn, I forgot he wrote that riff. Not just the bass player.

[BadRain]

15 hours ago, Georgy Zhukov said:

I'll give you that, The Lemon Song was a direct rip off of Wolf's Killing Floor. Plant ripped the lyrics from Dixon's You Need Love for Whole Lotta Lova but Page wrote the riff for it. 

And what a great riff it is!  the Whole Lotta Love riff, and the whole song for that matter, is pretty much sex put to music...and I mean that in a good way!  Pure rock and roll as it should be, with balls and attitude!

Edited June 8, 2018 by BadRain

[wasted]

Angus.