This '70s Classic Was Voted the 'Greatest Guitar Riff of All Time''
- - This '70s Classic Was Voted the 'Greatest Guitar Riff of All Time''
Jacqueline Burt CoteDecember 10, 2025 at 2:00 AM
0
Photo by Watal Asanuma/Shinko Music on Getty Images
When it comes to the best of rock and roll, fans can be pretty passionate about their opinions. Who has the most unforgettable voice? The most impressive guitar skills? Who hits the skins the hardest? Oftentimes, the answer to all of those questions can be answered with the names of Led Zeppelin members.
So when The Telegraph asked their readers to vote for the "greatest guitar riff of all time," it's no surprise that Led Zeppelin came up.
"Zep guitarist Jimmy Page was getting a whole lotta love from Telegraph readers," wrote Chris Harvey.
Comments from readers included “Pagey should be number one," and "Bang. There’s your 30 greatest riffs, all from the same flippin guitar!! I mean, folks, just forget it. Page is the only one true God.”
According to Harvey, many readers called out Zeppelin's 1975 classic "Kashmir" from the album Physical Graffiti as the top Zeppelin riff ever.
Jimmy Page called the 'Kashmir' riff 'hypnotic'
In the 2008 documentary It Might Get Loud, Page, Page opened up to Jack White and The Edge go about the writing process for Kashmir, revealing that "it actually originated from playing around in a tuning I’d been using a lot — they call it DADGAD — which is pretty similar to a sitar tuning, actually."
Related: Jimmy Page Called This Late Icon 'the Best Guitarist Any of Us Ever Had'
“I had a song called ‘Swan Song,’ believe it or not, with all these intricate guitar parts and right at the very end of it, I had this little thing — and then the tape ends," he continued, going on to explain that he continued working on the song when he was alone with John Bonham one day.
“I said, ‘I’ve got this riff,’ so I turned it around and started with that first bit,” he said, playing the part on his guitar. “He lays the rhythm on it, and now the riff is circling around, then you get this cascade going over the top — and it hits that tonal point. It’s one of those real hypnotic riffs.”
Clearly plenty of Led Zeppelin fans agree.
Related: Jimmy Page Reunites With Fellow Rock Icon to Celebrate Major Milestone and It's 'Absolute Magic'
This story was originally published by Parade on Dec 10, 2025, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
