What makes a good riff?
Posted: 9 June 2020
Whether you call it a riff, hook, lick or lead line, the ‘riff’ is arguably the most important aspect of guitar. A ‘riff’ is a succession of notes played on guitar to create the main melody of a song. But what defines a riff? What makes one stand out from the other and why are some so popular?
Read time: 2 mins
Firstly, we need to understand the basic principles of melody. Most melodic phrases will be notes taken from a scale that is in the key of the song. Firstly, pick your key, and then play within your relevant scale. If you need a little help to do this you can find more on scales and chord progressions as part of our Making Music With Marshall series.