The Consensus 100 · #1 of 100
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Stairway to Heaven

Led Zeppelin · 1971 · solo by Jimmy Page
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Guitar hero

Keith Richards

The riff master who made five strings and open G roll

Keith Richards was born in Dartford, Kent, in December 1943. His maternal grandfather, Gus Dupree, a former jazz bandleader, encouraged his interest in music and gave him an early guitar lesson. As a teenager Keith fell hard for Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters and Elvis Presley's guitarist Scotty Moore. In 1961 he bumped into a childhood acquaintance, Mick Jagger, at Dartford railway station; Jagger was carrying blues and rock-and-roll records, and the conversation that followed led directly to a band.

Along with Brian Jones, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts, the pair formed the Rolling Stones in London in 1962, and the band signed to Decca the following year. Early records leaned on covers of Chuck Berry and Chicago blues, but manager Andrew Loog Oldham pushed Jagger and Richards to write their own songs. The results arrived fast: (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction, powered by a fuzzed guitar riff, became their first international number one in 1965, and Aftermath in 1966 was the first Stones album written entirely by the duo.

Around 1968, Richards began exploring open tunings, settling on a five-string open-G setup that powered Jumpin' Jack Flash, Honky Tonk Women and Brown Sugar. Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main St. followed, a run often counted among rock's finest. Those years were also marked by chaos, including Brian Jones's departure and death in 1969, the Altamont disaster, repeated drug arrests and a serious heroin charge in Toronto in 1977 that threatened his freedom and the band's future.

Richards emerged from the crisis, and the Stones kept going with Ronnie Wood, recording Some Girls and Tattoo You. During a rift with Jagger in the late 1980s he formed the X-Pensive Winos and released Talk Is Cheap in 1988, then reunited with the Stones for Steel Wheels and the Hall of Fame in 1989. He survived a serious head injury in 2006, published the bestselling memoir Life in 2010, released another solo album, Crosseyed Heart, in 2015, and remains at the core of the band.

The 10 greatest Keith Richards solos

  1. 1
    Sympathy for the Devil
    The Rolling Stones · solo by Keith Richards · 1968
  2. 2
    Gimme Shelter
    The Rolling Stones · solo by Keith Richards · 1969
  3. 3
    Jumpin' Jack Flash
    The Rolling Stones · solo by Keith Richards · 1968
  4. 4
    (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
    The Rolling Stones · solo by Keith Richards · 1965
  5. 5
    Honky Tonk Women
    The Rolling Stones · solo by Keith Richards · 1969
  6. 6
    Brown Sugar
    The Rolling Stones · solo by Keith Richards · 1971
  7. 7
    Street Fighting Man
    The Rolling Stones · solo by Keith Richards · 1968
  8. 8
    Start Me Up
    The Rolling Stones · solo by Keith Richards · 1981
  9. 9
    Happy
    The Rolling Stones · solo by Keith Richards · 1972
  10. 10
    Before They Make Me Run
    The Rolling Stones · solo by Keith Richards · 1978

The sound

Richards thinks in riffs, not solos. His signature is five-string open-G tuning with the low string removed, which lets him hammer out ringing chord shapes with one finger and suspended fourths with another, the push-and-pull behind Brown Sugar and Start Me Up. He places those chords slightly behind or around the beat, locking with the drummer into a loose, rolling groove. With a second guitarist he prefers what he calls weaving, where the two parts interlock so it is hard to tell who plays lead. His tone is usually a crunchy, mid-heavy Telecaster through small, overdriven amps, and he values feel and space over speed.

  • Fender Telecaster "Micawber" (guitar) A 1953 Telecaster set up for five-string open G and a main stage guitar for decades.
  • 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard (guitar) His main instrument during the mid-1960s, including early TV appearances.
  • 1957 Gibson Les Paul Custom (guitar) A primary stage and studio guitar from 1966 to 1971.
  • Zemaitis five-string (guitar) A custom guitar decorated with skulls and daggers, lost in a 1978 fire.
  • Gibson Maestro FZ-1 Fuzz-Tone (effect) The fuzz behind the Satisfaction riff, which helped make the pedal a best seller.
  • Mesa/Boogie Mark I (amp) A 100-watt combo he used from 1977 to 1993, including on Some Girls and Tattoo You.
  • Fender Twin (amp) His go-to stage amp from the 1990s for a clean-to-dirty sound.
  • Fender Champ (amp) A tiny amp pushed into overdrive, often paired with a bigger clean amp.

Covers

  • Come On, originally by Chuck Berry The Stones' debut single, a brisk take on one of his idol's lesser-known songs.
  • Not Fade Away, originally by The Crickets (Buddy Holly) Keith turned Holly's tune into a pounding Bo Diddley-beat stomp.
  • It's All Over Now, originally by The Valentinos A punchy cover of the Womack brothers' song that gave the Stones their first UK number one.
  • Little Red Rooster, originally by Howlin' Wolf A slow Chicago blues that reached number one in the UK.
  • Carol, originally by Chuck Berry An enthusiastic tribute that shows how thoroughly he absorbed Berry's style.
  • Prodigal Son, originally by Robert Wilkins Acoustic country blues played with rough, rootsy authenticity.
  • Love in Vain, originally by Robert Johnson The Stones recast Johnson's lament as a mournful country ballad.
  • Run Rudolph Run, originally by Chuck Berry His first solo single, a scrappy salute to Chuck Berry.

Timeline

  • 1943 Born in Dartford, Kent
  • 1961 Reconnects with Mick Jagger at Dartford railway station
  • 1962 The Rolling Stones form in London
  • 1965 Satisfaction becomes the Stones' first international number one
  • 1967 Arrested after a police raid on his Redlands home
  • 1968 Open-G tuning drives Jumpin' Jack Flash
  • 1977 Arrested for heroin possession in Toronto
  • 1988 Releases solo debut Talk Is Cheap with the X-Pensive Winos
  • 1989 Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the Stones
  • 2010 Publishes his memoir, Life

Facts

  1. Early in the Stones' career he was billed as Keith Richard, dropping the s on his manager's advice.
  2. He removes the low E string for his open-G tuning, leaving the bass notes to the bass player.
  3. The Satisfaction riff helped the Maestro Fuzz-Tone pedal sell out by the end of 1965.
  4. His main Telecaster is named Micawber after a character in Charles Dickens's David Copperfield.
  5. He played bass, not guitar, with the Dirty Mac at the Rock and Roll Circus.
  6. He married Patti Hansen on his 40th birthday in 1983.
  7. He played Captain Teague, Jack Sparrow's father, in the Pirates of the Caribbean films.
  8. In 2006 he fell from a tree in Fiji and needed brain surgery, delaying a Stones tour.
  9. He reportedly owns around 3,000 guitars.
  10. He is a keen reader of history who has spoken of wanting to be a librarian.

Sources