“These songs are played a lot. They’re often not played well”: Guitar Center reveals the 10 most-played guitar riffs in its stores – and no, Stairway to Heaven isn’t one of them

Spare a thought for Guitar Center staff. The poor folk who have to hear the same riffs over and over again, 9 til 5, ad infinitum. It’s enough to drive any guitarist mad. But what are those riffs sending GC employees up the wall?

Guitar Center CEO Gabe Dalporto has named the 10 most-played guitar riffs in Guitar Center stores in a new interview with Rolling Stone.

To assemble the list, the head honcho reached out to stores’ leadership teams across the US and asked them to name their most overplayed songs. It’s by no means a scientific test, but the lists were surprisingly consistent from state to state – and largely tallied with GW’s own rundown of the greatest guitar riffs of all time.

Number one is Metallica’s Master of Puppets, presumably in the wake of its Stranger Things resurgence. Guns N’ Roses’ perennial finger-twister Sweet Child O’ Mine follows at number two, while White Stripes’ football stadium singalong Seven Nation Army takes the number three spot.

Nirvana have two entries on the list with Smells Like Teen Spirit and Come As You Are, while Metallica have a second in Enter Sandman.

Despite being arguably better known as a bass riff, Tool’s tricksy hammer-on lick in Schism ranks highly, while John Mayer has the most contemporary offering in the list with 2006’s sensitive blues ballad Slow Dancing in a Burning Room. Crazy Train and Smoke on the Water round off the list.

What’s most telling, however, is the names that aren’t there. Stairway to Heaven – the eternal punchline of ‘Stairway denied’ guitar store lore – is nowhere to be seen. In fact, Led Zeppelin as a whole seem to have fallen out of favor. There’s no Hendrix. No Sabbath. Heck, no AC/DC. From the ’70s classic rock era, the time when guitar giants walked the Earth, Smoke on the Water is the only riff that’s still in top-10 rotation.

Whether it’s down to evolving tastes, TikTok virality or cultural events, these riffs echo throughout stores every day. Dalporto says he has a lot of empathy for the staff.

“These songs are played a lot. They’re often not played well. So you hear the songs over and over, but when someone nails it, you can tell. And the store staff really appreciates it when someone is awesome.”

The full list is below:

1. Metallica – Master of Puppets
2. Guns N’ Roses – Sweet Child O’ Mine
3. The White Stripes – Seven Nation Army
4. Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit
5. John Mayer – Slow Dancing in a Burning Room
6. Metallica – Enter Sandman
7. Tool – Schism
8. Ozzy Osbourne – Crazy Train
9. Nirvana – Come As You Are
10. Deep Purple – Smoke on the Water