What Is A Riff Learn How To Riff In 2 Minutes

The key to a memorable or catchy song is the riff. You can hear just a section of the riff to know exactly what the song is. What is a riff? In its simplest form it is a collection of notes played off of a couple of chords that makes up a distrinctive musical phrase. In classical music it would be considered a motiv. Think of Beethovens Fifth. In Jazz Blues Country Pop and Rock it is often the riff that people remember and is used to convey the 'feel' of the song. Happy sad or dramatic. Riffs are often used in 'call and response' musical passages. The first part of the riff asks a question and the second part of the riff answers the question. To create a brand new riff find two open chords and play the notes off of the two chords. When you have found something that you like you can then start to embelish the riff with slides, slurs, hammer on's, hammer offs and pull offs. Riffs can be simple or extremely complex. What you can come up with using your own imagination is limitless.