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The guitar has been an instrument of enourmous popularity since the 1950/60's, and is often associated with images typical of rock. In this section the fundamental techniqes of rock accompaniment will be analyzed, which in a majority of the cases are called guitar riffs , and are usually distorted. We will try to follow a graduated path, starting with a simple riff and then enhancing it with cues and ideas, in order to play as many variations as possible.
But what exactly is a riff? Basically, its the base structure of a song that often becomes the trademark of that song. Some "historical" examples: the riff or Smoke on the water, Deep Purple, or Cocaine by J.J. Cale (by many wrongly atrributed to E. Clapton, who made it a success). There are probably hundreds. It can be said that every rock band creates a large part of their songs from riffs, and are often played by the guitare, conferming what we said before.
In the next study phase its assumed that you have a good understanding of the rhythmic division, if necessary, please refer to the appropriate section.
In the first part of the lesson we need to work on two fronts: one is the use of an open sting, the fifth (A note) played with the palm-muting technique, while the other uses bichords, played in this case on the 4th, 3rd and 2nd strings. In this case, as fully explained int the section dedicated to bichords, it's more correct to talk about power chords, becuse we are playing a bichord with a double note (the root) thats one octave above. The combination of both systems will be used in the various examples that we will study, which in this first part are performed at a metronome speed of 93bpm.
Make sure you follow the metronome speed and that you continuously repeat the riff without stopping. In the examples, the sound used is a kind of heavy crunch, equalized by enfasizing the middle frequencies a little, in order to give the sound more body.
Ex. 1
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Here is the basic line. The rhythm ad octave, played with the pick down, requires a bichord in beat for the first and third movements of the measure, while all the other octaves are played on open strings, which cover the role of the pedale , which is the fixed note up one position and repeated within the structure. |
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Ex. 2
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Lets expand the example by also inserting a bichord in the raised octaves. You can see that if rhythmically we always play ad octave, its always with the pick down, this movement tends to give more "pull" to the mono-tonality of the riff. Make both the bichords and the single stopped notes stand out with the palm of the right hand (palm-muting). |
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Ex. 3
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We will apply 16ths. In this example the rhythm is done by alternating a bichord movement with a value of 1/4, with a movement of 4/16ths, played on the open string using alternate picking. Even if there is only one measure shown, the exercise is to be repeated until you learn as best as possible the rhythm. |
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Ex. 4
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With respect to the previous example, two 16ths are added to the first and third movements. The tempo of the bichord is therefore reduced by an octave to make space for the two 16th notes from the open string. |
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Ex. 5
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The two A bichords are found in beat in the first and third movements, while the G bichord is in the second 16th of the second movement. The rest is played on the fifth string. Be careful of the picking, which could cause problems in the second movement, due to the quick jump between the G and A bichords. |
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Ex. 6
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A variation of the previous example. In the first half of the measure we play the A bichord twice, basically obtaining the same rhythm as in the first part of example 5. In the second part the same rhythm is played, but instead utilizing the G bichord. |
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Ex. 7
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This example is also divided into two parts. In the first half of the measure, the A and G bichords are alternated by two 16ths from the open string. There is also a pause on the last 16th of the second movement. In the second part of the measure four 16ths are played on the open string of the third movement, to finish with the G bichord on the fourth movement. |
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At this point we can expand our study of riffs by ocassionally inserting enhancements and variations that will give us more complex riffs. All this is on the next page.
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