One of the coolest things about YouTube is that people have to get very creative to stand out.
When the platform had just started, it was mostly relegated to people uploading home videos or interesting little things that happened in their daily lives.
As the platform’s influence grew and the audience expanded, people started vlogging and posting talent videos to try and get discovered. Over time, big companies and record labels moved in as well and started posting content officially on YouTube.
Still, even in 2020, there’s always new surprises to find on the site.
For just one example, consider this video that was uploaded in June 2012.
The video was loaded by Chicago Music Exchange, a guitar store in Chicago, Illinois that was founded in 1990. Though the store has since become a mainstay for Chicago-based musicians, it also has tried to expand its reach and audience by posting videos on YouTube.
In particular, this video they posted had one guitar player run through the entire history of rock and roll by playing 100 different iconic riffs in a row—and he did it all in one take.
Needless to say, it’s a pretty impressive performance.
The clip starts off with “Mr. Sandman” by Chet Atkins, originally released in 1954.
Though it doesn’t get much radio play anymore, the lilting riff is instantly recognizable and conjures to mind the familiar lyrics: Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream… but before long, the guitarist is onto the next song!
This time it’s “Folsom Prison Blues” by Johnny Cash, though he barely stops on it long enough to be recognizable. Next up is “Words of Love” by Buddy Holly followed immediately by “Johnny B Goode” by Chuck Berry.
Still, all of this is just in the first 30 seconds!
The video breaks into the ‘60s and the British Invasion wave with “Daytripper” by The Beatles.
Before long, other covers by The Who, The Rolling Stones and Santana follow closely behind. Next up, it’s onto the ‘70s with Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Creedence Clearwater Revival.
Although his guitar playing is incredible what’s just as awesome is just how many of these songs are instantly recognizable! Still, the fact that he’s able to remember them all seamlessly and slide between them all without a break is worthy of its own recognition!
Soon enough, he’s made it all the way into ‘80s rock with Aerosmith and Queen.
Although he’s covered plenty of ground, he’s still only about 35 riffs in!
While there are far too many individual riffs to list in one place, he goes all the way through the ‘80s and up to the ‘90s. On the later end of things, there are songs by Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, Soundgarden and more.
Although there are plenty of amateur guitarists out there, it takes a real student of the craft to learn this many different riffs from this many different eras!
Since the clip was posted, it went massively viral—with more than 37 million views on YouTube.
The joy of this video is the same joy we get from any genre of music we really love.
Though there’s always new music coming out, it’s easy to forget just how many great songs exist—not to mention how many of them we immediately recognize! If the Chicago Music Exchange keeps putting videos like this out, we’re guessing they’re going to have a lot more fans in no time!
Thanks to the Chicago Music Exchange for this awesome video! Watch the whole thing in the link below:
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