10 Great Rock Piano Riffs
This is not a list in order but these riffs are bound to light up any room.
10. Clocks – Coldplay
Not too many songs are instantly recognizable from the opening piano riff but this is one of them. A simple descending arpeggio pattern that snakes it’s way into your brain and stays there forever. Coldplay have a lot of songs the feature the piano right up front but none of their other riffs have the power of this one.
9. Joe Jackson – Steppin’ Out
This skates dangerously close to being jazz but jazzers would scoff at this simple row of triads that make up this memorable riff. The stark drum machine and bassline accompaniment allow room for the piano chords to ring across this track.
8. Fool in the Rain – Led Zeppelin
Zeppelin was such a famous guitar band that John Paul Jones excellent keyboard playing was often over shadowed. The tune from one Zep’s latest albums In Through the Out Door has the piano carrying things all the way. Once you get nice and comfortable with the riff the song breaks down for a re-imagining of the riff that builds until the tension is broken when the original riff comes back in.
7. The Way It Is – Bruce Hornsby and the Range
A number one hit with a piano solo? During the the era of hairdo bands like Duran Duran and Bon Jovi? Yup, it happened, all because of the great piano riff that carries this song. It was re-purposed roughly a decade later by Tupac on the song “Changes”.
6. Don’t Stop Beleivin’ – Journey
Playing this riff will stop most people dead in their tracks just so they can stop and hum a few lines from this classic tune, arguably the most popular song of all time. At least 50 other top hits have been based on this chord progression.
5. Imagine – John Lennon
Imagine is one of John Lennon’s most controversial and most beloved hits. Written after the Beatles had broken up, it is as easily recognized as any Beatles song thanks to the piano riff that plays throughout this tune. A simple I-IV progression with the addition of 3 chromatic notes make this one of the most enduring riffs ever.
4. Tiny Dancer – Elton John
Elton is one the piano rock uber-elite because he has been making great piano based music for 5 decades. A million great piano riffs but I gave it to Tiny Dancer because it is so instantly recognizable. Another simple riff that takes up residence in your brain and stays there. Other great riffs from Eltom, Take Me to the Pilot, Bennie and the Jets, Saturday Night’s All Right for Fighting, Burn Down the Mission. This guy needs his own list.
3. Philosophy – Ben Folds Five
Ben Folds has done wonders for bringing back the piano riff to rock. He has a number of songs in his catalog that feature great piano riffs but I picked Philosophy for its mixture of epic rock pounding and Gershwin finesse. Honorable mentions to One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces, Brick and Zack and Sara
2. My Life – Billy Joel
The Piano Man also has a catalog stuffed full of great piano riffs, enough for another whole list but My Life has all the elements that make a great Billy Joel riff, kinda jazzy voicings but pounded out like a rocker and Joel’s always great chord progressions.
1. Great Balls of Fire – Jerry Lee Lewis
The original piano rocker and one of the baddest boys rock ever produced. Sometimes his antics, like marrying his 13 year old cousin over-shadowed his brilliance as a rocker, but his riffing is legendary and piano players everywhere are still borrowing from the catalog of riffs he invented.
Thankfully there are still players willing to take up the piano and abuse it for our entertainment but they will owe a debt to many of the aforemntioned for showing how the piano can rock.
