What makes a good guitar riff?

There are many timeless guitar riffs that made music history. In this article, we’ll analyze the elements that make a great guitar riff. Who knows, maybe your next riff will one day be considered one of the greatest of all time. 🎸💥

A guitar riff should be catchy

It goes without saying that a guitar riff should be catchy, or it’ll be forgotten the moment it is heard. One sign that something is catchy is that it’s easy to sing or hum along to. But that’s not the only thing that sets a memorable riff apart from a generic sequence of notes. Let’s take a closer look at these factors.

Schecter PT BK

A good guitar riff doesn’t need many notes

The fewer notes, the easier a riff is to memorize. This is absolutely normal, because our memory capacity is limited. A very good example of “note economy” is the riff in Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song. It consists primarily of the note F# (root and octave), with a single E being added at the end of the one-bar riff.

A guitar riff should be short

That brings us to the next topic, which also has to do with our attention span: the length of the riff. In Immigrant Song, the basic riff is only one bar long and then repeats. That’s extremely economical, but of course, it’s not the only way to write a great guitar riff. Many famous riffs are significantly longer. Two to four bars are common, with eight bars being used less frequently. Any more than eight bars and the riff would probably be too long. Here’s a short list of some classic guitar riffs and their lengths:

• Smoke On The Water – Deep Purple: 4 bars
• Sweet Child O’ Mine – Guns’n’Roses: 8 bars
• Enter Sandman – Metallica: 4 bars
• Back In Black – AC/DC: 4 bars
• Seven Nation Army – White Stripes: 2 bars
• Iron Man – Black Sabbath: 2 bars

The structure of a multi-bar riff is also very important. In most multi-bar riffs, not all bars are necessarily different. In Smoke On The Water, for example, the first and third bars are identical. The second bar is a small variation, while the fourth bar is completely different – an A A’ A B form. This is absolutely genius, because the memorable core of the riff is repeated often, with just enough variation so that it doesn’t get on anyone’s nerves (except for the staff in the guitar department …).

On Sweet Child O’ Mine, Slash varies a one-bar melody slightly throughout the riff. Although the riff is eight bars long, it contains enough repetitive elements to catch the ear very quickly and stay there.

Repetition is key

While we’re on the subject of repetition: to establish a riff as the basis of a song, it has to be presented to the listener several times. In the studio version of Smoke On The Water, the four-bar riff is played six times before the vocals even come in. This was, of course, in the pre-TikTok and Instagram era, when time was not yet of the essence.

The Kinks repeated their one-bar riff in You Really Got Me throughout almost the entire song by transposing it and playing it over different chords, making it extremely memorable.

A small range is enough for a unique guitar riff

For the most part, a range within an octave is completely sufficient to create a unique guitar riff. Some go a little over that (e.g. Killing In The Name – Rage Against The Machine), but many famous guitar riffs that consist of a single-note melody stay within a manageable range.

Enter Sandman by Metallica is an example. The main riff starts with a low E power chord and the highest note is the octave in the 7th fret on the A string. Instead of droning over the whole fretboard, try sticking to a rather small range.

Catchy guitar riffs have simple rhythms

When it comes to rhythm, repetition is again essential. Jimmy Page delivered a prime example in Kashmir (Led Zeppelin). He repeats the same rhythmic figure over and over while changing a single note of the chord every three beats. This way, the rhythm and of course the guitar riff get stuck in your ear permanently. Similarly, Highway To Hell by AC/DC also uses a simple rhythm pattern over several chords.

That said, it’s important to find the middle ground between simple and complex. If it’s too simple, the riff quickly becomes boring, dull, or monotonous. Conversely, an overly complex rhythm can be hard for the listener to “feel”. Just like the melody, the rhythm should be easy to sing (or clap) along to. That said, you can spice up a simple rhythm by varying the note sequence, and tone down a more complex rhythm by keeping the notes simple.

A guitar riff should have a unique and distinctive sound

Melody, rhythm, and a clear structure are the essentials. A good guitar riff also sounds good on an acoustic guitar. But listen to Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana, for example: the distorted sound really gives the intro riff a boost.

In Voodoo Child by Jimi Hendrix, the wah pedal is the distinctive element that breathes life into the guitar riff. You should therefore also pay attention to the sound when writing a guitar riff. It’s the proverbial icing on the cake.

Of course, you’ll still have to come up with the melody, rhythm, and structure of your guitar riffs yourself. But we have plenty of tools on offer that can help your riffs sound unique: from wah pedals to characterful fuzz effects to chorus pedals that bring back the spirit of the 80s.

Pedals at Thomann to Power Your Riff!

When it comes to adding color and character to your sound, we’ve got you covered. From expressive wah pedals and distinctive fuzz effects to chorus pedals that bring back the lush vibe of the ’80s – everything you need to make your riff truly stand out.

Dunlop Cry Baby GCB95 Wah Wah Pedal

Boss DS-1 Distortion

TC Electronic SCF Gold Chorus/Flanger

Boss CH-1 Chorus Effektpedal

Guitar Riffs: What’s Your Take?

How do you approach writing a riff? What do you focus on, and how do you bring it to life?
Drop us a comment – we’d love to hear your insights!

Lawrence started playing the electric guitar because of his passion for rock music. Back in the day he played in a metal band, but now plays more for himself.

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