One-Metallica

One by Metallica is probably one of Metallicas most known song. It was featured on Guitar Hero 3: Legends Of Rock, it won a Grammy in 1990 and it peaked at #35 on the top 100 songs of 1990.

The songs concept was based on a 1939 novel by Dalton Trumbo called "Johnny Got His Gun" which is a story about a solder in World War I whose body was severly damaged by a German Artillery Shell and had to undergo numerious amputations as well. The solder had lost his arms, legs, ears, eyes, tounge, nose, his face had been almost completely destroyed and had lost all sences except touch. He had lost his sense of sight, sound, smell, taste but his mind could fully function, basically leaving him a prisioner in his own body. "Landmines has taken my sight, taken my speech, taken my hearing, taken my arms, taken my legs, taken my soul, left me with life in hell."
One-Metallica (during the heavier bridge towards the end)

Because of his condition, he feels himself drifting between fantasy and reality because his lack of senses makes it hard for him to tell when he is awake and when he is asleep
"Can't tell if this is true or dream, deep down inside I feel the scream, this terrible silence stops me."
One-Metallica (after the intro; the first lyrics in the song)

Resources:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067277/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Got_His_Gun
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_(Metallica_song)

Smoke On The Water-Deep Purple

The intro riff of Smoke On The Water by deep purple is usually the first song most people will learn on guitar.

The way people usually first learn to play it is...

|e|-----------------|---------------|----------------|---------||
|B|-----------------|---------------|----------------|---------||
|G|-----------------|---------------|----------------|---------||
|D|-----------------|---------------|----------------|---------||
|A|-----------------|---------------|----------------|---------||
|E|--0---3---5----0-|---3---6-5-----|-0---3---5----3-|---0-----||

The real way its played in the song is...

|e|-----------------|---------------|----------------|---------||
|B|-----------------|---------------|----------------|---------||
|G|--0---3---5----0-|---3---6-5-----|-0---3---5----3-|---0-----||
|D|--0---3---5----0-|---3---6-5-----|-0---3---5----3-|---0-----||
|A|-----------------|---------------|----------------|---------||
|E|-----------------|---------------|----------------|---------||

Three Days Grace

I think Three Days Grace has a few songs with great guitar riffs.

My favorites are Never Too Late, Animal I Have Become, Riot, and I Hate Everything About You. The Intro to Riot is a great riff for practicing alternate picking.

the intro to Animal I Have Become is
((Drop C/D))

|---------------------------------------------------------------|
|---------------------------------------------------------------|
|---------------------------------------------------------------|
|---------------------------------------------------------------|
|-00----------7-------------------------------------------------|
|-00------7-8---8-7---------------------------------------------|

Super Mario Bros. Theme!!

Everyone has heard this song, the "do da do da do do...do"

its the main theme to the super mario bros.

its a pretty easy song to play.

a great tab for the song is here

Beat It-Michael Jackson

The intro of Michael Jacksons: Beat It is a great riff to play. It pretty easy and good to play if you have nothing else to play, plus it will always get people going "Heyy! I know that song, what is that?!"

the into is played...

e:-----|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|-------------||
B:-----|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|-------------||
G:-----|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|-------------||
D:-----|-------5-2-----4-|---2-------------|-------5-2-----4-|---2---------||
A:-----|-----2-----------|-----5---5-------|-----2-----------|-----5-------||
E:--0--|---3-------------|---------------0-|---3-------------|-------------|| 

Sunshine Of Your Love-Cream

Sunshine of your love is a famous song from the 60s and 70s. The well known opening riff was the soundtrack for that time. Eric Clapton, guitarist for cream is also a famous guitarist, especially in the 60s and 70s.

here is how the main riff is played...

|-----------------------------------|
|-----------------------------------|
|-----------------------------------|
|--12-12-10-12----------------------|
|---------------12-11-10-----b8-----|
|-------------------------10----10--|

"Bad Horsie" horse sound effect

there are two ways to do the guitar effect that makes it sound like a horse wailing.

One way to do it is to do a pinch harmonic (place your thumb on the pick so immediately after you pick the string, your thumb will lightly touch the string) on an un-wrapped string (G, B or e) then bend it very high and slowly release the bend and as your releasing, vibrato with the whammy bar

Another way to do it, which I think sounds much better, is to do a natural harmonic (quickly, lightly touch the string with your fretting hand) near the 2nd fret of the G string, then on the whammy bar, go down, then pull up and vibrato with the whammy bar and as your vibrating, go down on the whammy bar.

For full lessons on how to perform harmonics, click here

[To hear the horse sound effect, listen to the song from below and the first time its used is at about 1:12 into the song.]