A ringing guitar riff flies swiftly off the neck

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

If you ask a hundred people to imagine themselves as guitarists and offhand portray something fatal, no doubt, 70 percent of commercials will pick up an imaginary guitar and give out a formidable intro Smoke On The Water. Fans call it immortal greatness, musicians call it a seal of special coolness, and experts have come up with their own name for such fragments. "Guitar riff" - they conclude with a look not at all rocker.

Real guitar riff: learn and learn

When you are told that this is just a regular set of chords, don't believe your ears. Experts teach guitar playing: a riff is a repeatedly repeated fragment of a certain melody, a musical fragment. And they add: this is not necessarily an introduction, it can be the ending of the composition, and its climax, or just an accompaniment. And you can also hear that the guitar riff is the “backbone” of the melody, by which the listener recognizes this or that composition. If you take rock or blues, then in these directions the lower registers serve for riffs, they are usually “issued” on low strings by rhythm guitarists.

Oh, how many faces - this guitar riff

Classification lovers got to the guitar riffs, noticing, however, that their division is a rather arbitrary concept.

So, if a blues, rock and roll, hard or glam rock fragment cuts the air, you should know: its name is “riff in open keys”, the most popular of which is A major.

They didn't think about how to name the fragments performed using chords for a long time: they called them "chords". The “fathers” of these chord clusters are considered to be the “rolling” of Keith Richards and Jimi Hendrix.

The next type of guitar riffs is monophonic. They don't know chords and intervals. They were born in the 70s, their parents are Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin. Pedal-toned riffs were the speci alty of Whitesnake rockers, as well as the "great and terrible" Ozzy. This look - with a tone that constantly repeats itself - was held in high esteem by the heavy metal and hard rock stars of the 80s.

The final in this list will be the simplest, and as experts like to say, the most fun type of guitar riffs - high-speed: when "two notes in overdrive" are extracted by hitting the strings backhand. It is clear that such riffs are the favorite "things" of punks and fans of hard trash.

Best Guitar Riffs: Now and Forever

What are the most famous guitar riffs in the world? There are different opinions about this, but your attention is invited to the Top 5 of the respected edition of Total Guitar. In 2013, the magazine polled its readers and this is what came out of it.

Skydog sits in 5th placeand his Layla. A higher place was chosen by a single-voiced riff from Blackmore's immortal Smoke On The Water. Led Zeppelin broke into the top three (and it was not difficult): Jimmy Page in Whole Lotta Love left no other chance for 3rd place. Well, in some world rankings they are first, but not in the Total Guitar list: silver for the riff in Sweet Child O'Mine goes to the legendary Gun N'Roses. He often competed with the Guns for the "reef" championship and achieved his goal in 2013, so please love and favor: Jimi Hendrix and his reef riff in Voodoo Child!

And finally… It's not difficult to "shoot" a riff out of a guitar - you just need to want it. Feel free to pick up the instrument and play a couple of repeating chords. Perhaps the guitar riff you came up with will become iconic for you. Try, dare, and may the Gods of Blues and Rock and Roll help you!