Rock music has long been something more than a thing that makes parents angry and calls for rebellion. Rock is not only a certain "denim" aesthetic, in which there was a place for guys in ties like The Battles, and painted brunettes from Black Veil Brides. But both of them in their work used guitar riffs. Moreover, all rock - it's 70 percent, if not more, consists exclusively of downhole, well-remembered riffs on guitars. Next, we will look at what a riff is in rock music, and what it is eaten with, types of riffs, and also analyze the most famous tabs that any self-respecting rocker should know. So, let's go.

What is a guitar riff. Definition. Main use cases

Some guitar riffs have become so iconic that an entire song is recognizable from them. For example, Come as you are or Smoke On The Water.

Types of riffs

Riffs are monophonic, chordal, in "open" keys, performed on the basis of fifths, blues in the key of E-major, as well as riffs with a "pedal" tone. However, this is a conditional classification, since the same riff can be a combination of several fragments. Coming up with your own riff is not so difficult, the main thing is not to be afraid of experiments.

1. Riffs in open keys (E, A or D)

These riffs are used in music that evolved from blues, rock and roll, blues rock, hard rock, glam rock, etc. They are performed on a clean sound or with a distortion effect. Often muted during gameplay right hand palm muting. The basis for such rhythmic figures is a power chord, i.e. A chord consisting of a root and a fifth, with the addition of various degrees of the scale as it is played. The keys on which the riffs are played are mostly “open” - mi, re, la. The most popular tone is A major.

An A power chord in the "open" position looks like this:

• The first (index) finger during the performance of riffs muffles 3,2 and 1 strings.
• The thumb mutes the 6th string.

If you add one note on the fourth string (sixth), you get the simplest blues riff, which is used in many songs, for example, in AC/DC – The Jack.

After adding one more note on the fourth string (sevenths), a somewhat complicated version of the first riff is obtained, which is used in both "open" and "closed" keys. Example − Alice Cooper. Dirty Dreams.

With an extra note on the fifth string, you get a major and minor third. Often, notes on the fifth string, as well as on the fourth, are taken by Hammer on and Pull off techniques. Great illustration of this game - riff Led Zeppelin - When The Levee Breaks.

You can also combine additional notes on the 4th and 5th strings into one riff.

Combined with Hammer on and Pull off you can play riffs Led Zeppelin - Rock & Roll or J. Satriani-Extremist. If you add a second on the third string, pulled up with the help of the bend technique to a major or minor third, you get a riff Extreme-Decadance Dance.

You will find these and other tabs in the section.
As you explore these riffs, try playing them in a different "open" key.

2. Pedal tone riffs

So called riffs with a constantly repeating tone. They were common in the 80s in the style of hard rock and heavy metal. The bottom line is that a pedal note is a tonic (taken most often on an open string), against which interspersed intervals are played, most often quarts, which correspond to different chords.

As a pedal tone, you can use not only the 5th string, but also other "open" strings, for example, the sixth and fourth.
Examples of pedal tone riffs: Ozzy Osbourne, A.V.H., Whitesnake.

Ozzy Osbourne

3. One voice riffs

These riffs do not use intervals or chords. They were used in rock music of the 70s, mainly by groups deep purple and Led Zeppelin. Currently playing them famous band Rage Against The Machine. Most often, monophonic guitar riffs are built on the basis of the pentatonic scale in the first box and are duplicated an octave lower on the bass guitar. To play these riffs special exercises I don't need it, that's why I immediately make tabs of such rhythmic-formulas of famous rock compositions. Examples: Led Zeppelin - How Many More Times, Heartbreaker; RageAgainst The Machine - Bombtrack, Killing In the name; Muse-Ashamed.

4. Chord riffs

Chord riffs on clean or slightly overdriven sounds

It's easy to guess by the name that these are riffs using chords. So that the notes of the chord are not distorted, they are played mainly on a not very overdriven sound. The founders of this game Keith Richards from The Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix. By the way, Jimi Hendrix rarely played barre chords. Instead, he played each such chord with notes from the major pentatonic scale, and also used intervals. How to take, see the link. An example of such a game can be found in the riff Jimi Hendrix.

Fast paced riffs on power chords

This is the easiest and most fun version of the game, which is, as it were, a special case of chord guitar riffs. But here the chords are played on overload (distortion or overdrive), and such chords include only two notes: the main (tonic) and fifth (fifth step). These consonances are played with quick downward strokes (chesom). This performance is very common in rock, so I had to single it out separately. All kinds of punks and thrashers continue to develop this direction in creating riffs. After all, it's understandable - while you are hitting the chords backhand, you can take any courageous poses, throw picks into the crowd (if the chord is good in duration) and build cute faces to the public. Slayer, Metallica, Green Day and Linkin Park were here. There are plenty of examples, so I give one of my favorite punk-rock compositions from Green Day's repertoire. Look for the rest yourself.

I hope that helped. Loving fans and killer riffs to you, friends!

Often, after listening to "cool" rock compositions, a motive sinks into our heads, from which it is impossible to get rid of. Such constantly repeating musical fragments in songs performed on an electric guitar are called riffs. They consist of no more than two or four measures and are played on the "bass".

These fragments can be found both in introductions or couplets, and serve as an accompaniment or loss in a composition. A good example is the famous track Smoke on the water. More than half of popular rock songs consist of catchy, catchy riffs. They are performed in the middle and low registers on the rhythm guitar. Let's finally figure out how to play simple riffs on an electric guitar and what they are.

reef types

Like all works, reefs are divided into simple and complex in terms of development. Thus, the track Smoke on the water is considered very easy to play, and the composition Money for nothing by Dire Straits requires already advanced electric guitar playing skills. Below you will find simple tabs that make it easy to learn the listed melodies. Play them along with the backing tracks attached on the page to work out the original tempo.

• monophonic;
• chordal;
• arpeggiated;
• with pedal tone.

monophonic

It is not difficult to guess that these are melodies consisting of one voice, that is, they do not use chords or intervals, they are performed, roughly speaking, “one note at a time”. Such riffs were popular in the 70s of the last century, they were actively used by Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple.

Even a novice can do them. Below are the tabs of Muse - Ashamed. To prevent the riff from sounding "empty", duplicate it an octave lower on the bass guitar.

chord

As opposed to monophonic ones, these riffs have a chordal texture, that is, they are played three or four notes at a time. It is not recommended to play them on an overdriven sound, because the notes may be distorted and the sound will not be clear.

The founders of this performance are Keith Richards and Jimi Hendrix. Interestingly, the guys hardly used the barre, instead, the chords were beaten up with steps of major pentatonic scales or intervals. A good example is the compositions AC / DC -Higway to hell and Nirvana - Smells like teen spirit, tabs and backing tracks to which are attached below. If you look at the Nirvana composition, then the whole riff is built on 4 power chords that play almost the entire song. By the way, you can combine these chords for improvisations or independent compositions.

Tabs sheet music and backing track AC/DC –Higway to hell

Tabs sheet music and backing track Nirvana – Smells like teen spirit

Speed ​​power chords are interesting special case chord riffs. Performing them on an electric guitar is very simple and fun, they do it on overload using distortion or overdrive techniques. Fifth intervals in them are played with a “chess”, that is, with quick downward movements of the pick. One of the most striking examples of such a Green Day game is American Idiot. Tabs and backing tracks, as always, are attached below.

Arpeggiated

This type of performance can be considered another special case of chord riffs, but instead of a fight or strikes with a plectrum, a bust (arpeggio) is used. This technique gives a sense of the direction of the music, makes it mobile and dynamic. Such fragments are often used as a full-fledged accompaniment, as, for example, in song I love you Nickelback bands. Tabs you will find below.

With pedal tone

Almost as easy to play as monophonic riffs with pedal tone. The idea is that a melody is played on one note (pedal or reference tone), into which chords, intervals, or other notes are periodically inserted. As a pedal tone, open 4, 5 or 6 strings are usually used. Great examples are Ozzy Osbourne's "I don't know" and Whitesnake's "Still of the Night", tabs and backing tracks for which are attached to the article.

This way of playing is so simple that you can easily compose a couple of riffs on your own, and after a few practice even improvise. Let's see how to do this with an example. For the pedal tone, take the open D string (fourth string, D). You can play like this "re-re-mi-re-re-sol-re-re-la-re-re-sol-re-re-fa-re" (4-4-1-4-4-3-4 -4-5-4-4-3-4-4-4/1-4), and then come up with many variations or add other steps, most importantly, determine what key you are in.

OK it's all over Now! We hope the article was useful and inspired you to at least compose a couple of driving riffs. Download tabs and backing tracks, learn, practice, improvise and, of course, don't forget to read our articles!

By the way, here is the Smoke On The Water bonus

Thanks to the ubiquity of the Internet, now every novice bass player can learn to play almost any song he likes, and it’s no longer necessary to shoot parts on your own - you can use training videos or read the part from bass guitar tablature. How to read tablature for bass guitar? Let's figure it out!

Recording harmony in tablature for bass guitar

Tablature for bass guitar is a very visual and easy to read way of recording an instrumental part that does not require knowledge musical notation. For each string there is a separate line in the recording, respectively, for a 4-string bass there will be 4 such lines, for a 5-string - 5 and so on. Before each line is an open string setting, which is indicated by a large Latin letter. The arrangement of the strings in bass guitar tabs corresponds to the position of the fretboard lying on your lap, i.e. the thinnest string (G for classical bass guitar) is depicted on top, and the thickest (low-sounding) string (E) is shown below.

On the string lines in the tablature for the bass guitar, the number of the fret that needs to be clamped is indicated, open strings are written with zero - “0” (which is logical - you don’t clamp any fret, but you need to extract the sound). Tablature is read - from left to right, the sound extraction of notes occurs in direct sequence.

An example of recording the note la (A), taken on the 5th fret of the upper string of the bass guitar:

G—————————-

D—————————-

A—————————-

E—-5————————

An example of recording a major scale with open strings (G major):

G———————-0——

D————-0-2-4————

A——0-2-3——————-

E—3——————————

If several strings are involved in sound production at the same time, then such sounds are recorded in tablature for bass guitar in a column. For example, it looks like this bass chord tablature:

G—-6————————

D—-7————————

A—-7————————

E—-5————————

If it is necessary to indicate which finger to hold the fret on the fretboard, then at the bottom of the tablature entry is the serial number of the finger (from 1 to 5) that holds the string: 1-index, 4-little finger, 5-big. The duration of notes in tablature for bass guitar is written in small Latin letters on top of the image of the strings: s - 1/16 (from the English "sixteen"), e - 1/8 (from the English "eight"), q -1/4 (from the English "quarter"), h - ½ ("half" - half), w - whole ("whole" - whole). Pauses in the bass line are indicated by the letter r - from "rest". Bar boundaries are traditionally written as straight vertical lines.

An example of tablature for a bass guitar, indicating the duration of notes, finger positions during sound production and pauses:

G——|———-6-|——————

D——|———7—|——————

A——|—-5——-|-5-r-r-5-7——

E-3-|-3———-|——————

Recording sound extraction techniques in tablature for bass guitar

In addition to recording the harmony of the bass part directly, tablature for bass guitar allows you to specify the musician and the technique of sound extraction of a particular note, which makes this recording method a universal tool for recording bass parts. The sound extraction technique is written with a Latin letter, which is indicated immediately after the number of the fret on which it is applied.

• x - dead note (written without indicating the fret on the string that needs to be muted);
• \ - slide up;
• p – pull off;
• b - band;
• t - tap (tapping);
• H - flageolet;
• S - slap (hit);
• P - pop (podtep);

An example of recording tablature for bass guitar with various techniques sound production:

G———3P-5h-3p———————

D————————5b————-

A—0S\3————5S-7S—-7S-7H—

E—————————————-

At first, mastering bass guitar tablature seems to be something very difficult, but after mastering 2-3 parts, you will feel that you are already a little oriented in a new way of recording, and after the 10th tablature, reading skills will come almost from a sheet and you will not waste time to pick a part by ear. If the tablature source is trustworthy, you can be sure that you are playing your part correctly.

The lesson is devoted to the development of a sense of rhythm.

Of all the aspects of playing the bass guitar, the ability to hold the rhythm clearly and naturally is the most important. Unfortunately, its difficulty is comparable to its value. The better you keep time, the more respect you will see in the eyes of your bandmates. As a result of training, you can reach a level where you will automatically follow the rhythm. Then the game will turn for you not into hard work that requires concentration, but into easy entertainment. When you reach this stage, you can, for example, play a moving bass line without increasing the dark (as in the song "Radar Love").

Standard Rhythms There are several standard rhythms worth knowing. Below are some of them.
A)"Quartterns/Eighths": This rhythm is often used in blues and fast rock songs. It can be played at any tempo. Most musicians master it on the fly.

b)"Simple Swing": Used in slow rock ballads and boogie-woogie.

c)"... and one..." Heavy ballads. The first and third notes are dotted quarter notes, and the second and fourth notes are eighth notes.

D)"one and..." Used in some rock songs. 1st and 2nd notes are eighth notes, and 2nd and 4th are dotted fourth notes. Sometimes the second note becomes a quarter note, and the third is duplicated by an eighth.

training
I do not like to waste time on long and tedious workouts, but still our question requires special attention due to its importance. Here are some of the best exercises in my opinion. Turn on the music and play, then reduce the volume of the recording, make it inaudible while continuing to play. Turn up the volume after a while. Ideally, your game should match the recording. Check how long you can play without losing a track. Try playing at different speeds. The same exercise can be done with a metronome. Adjust the metronome so that instead of four beats, it gives two. Now try to recreate the missing beats in your head. Play four beats - two real and two imaginary. Change the speed. Play with a rhythm guitarist. Agree on a chord progression. You must play the bass foundation and provide a solid foundation for the composition, regardless of the actions of the guitarist, who at this time may be playing lead parts or tricky riffs. This will please both of you and bring great benefits.

Divide and rule
When studying new song You must focus on the notes and decide how you will strum them. It's very hard not to get lost if you have no idea what note is next. First, play very slowly, trying to remember the sequence of notes, then play the song at a normal tempo, and then faster than necessary. Once you've mastered the basics, you can focus on rhythm and tempo selection. What is the style of the song? What bass rhythm are you going to use? Does the bass line add variety to the melody of the song, or does it just support the chords? What does a drummer do? Rhythm guitarist? Did the lead guitarist fill the whole song or left you room for creativity? Some songs have a very simple bassline with some interesting riffs. Be careful. You can start too fast, and when difficult reefs start, you can get confused. Other songs are so difficult to play that it makes your hands cramp. Take the time to listen and study the bass line in detail. When building your own line, remember that it sets the foundation. Aspects related to melody will be dealt with next time.

parting word
It is easy to explain how to keep the rhythm, it is easy to demonstrate it with rich experience, but it is difficult to master from scratch. This skill requires constant practice and attention. Playing in a professional band, I can rely on the drummer. When I study with my students, I notice that I do not have a clear enough sense of time. That is why I still pay a lot of attention to training. Take things seriously. Play thoughtfully, noting all your shortcomings. Perhaps when you play alone, you can forgive yourself many mistakes, others will not forgive you. Remember this. Developing a sense of rhythm is a very important step towards mastery.