The riff is the red light in the streets of rock and roll. It says "STOP! Pay attention." It takes you back to an era where riff was king and we were its loyal subjects.
But what, do you ask, is the riff? According to Merriam-Webster Online, a riff is "an ostinato phrase (as in jazz) typically supporting a solo improvisation; also : a piece based on such a phrase". Now, that's all fine and dandy, but what the heck is really a riff, according to the rock world? What we're looking for are those notes, usually referring to them being played on a distorted electric guitar, that are the vital piece of the song.
What I'm referring to are those notes that make AC/DC's Back in Black the song that it is. The tan-tararan-tararan of the song! It feels a little weird to have to explain the magic of the riff in writing, especially since we're talking about audio information and I'm not about to write musical notation in The Rock Gazette, but what can I say? Writing this page and not taking under consideration the importance of the riff is like writing a page on cooking recipes without telling us the reasons why people like salty stuff over sweet stuff or vice versa!
There are so many guitar players that came up with all those hooks that it would be a list too long to contemplate in a short article, but let's take a look at some of them. Without riff masters like Eddie Van Halen we would never have gotten the majesty of listening to those first chords of 1981's Unchained, from the Fair Warning album. Kiss would never have given us Rock And Roll All Nite, Strutter and Deuce. Def Leppard's guitars would never have sung the unforgettable chords to Photograph in 1983's Pyromania. We would never have gotten Twisted Sister's I Wanna Rock, Poison's Talk Dirty To Me, and Lenny Kravitz's Are You Gonna Go My Way.
All of these groups and more have given life to the riff, which is really either a certain sequence of chords or a selection of notes that the guitarist plays and is the part that hooks us into the song. You know? The part that we we air-guitar to and scream the notes to our friends trying to make our voice sound like a Fender Stratocaster going through a Marshall amp that "goes to 11."
Without a doubt the most standout guitar players, as far as number of memorable riffs is concerned, would be Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page - who gave us the songs such as Rock & Roll, Black Dog, The Ocean and Whole Lotta Love - and AC/DC's Angus and Malcolm Young, who came up with Back in Black, Highway to Hell, You Shook Me All Night Long and It's A Long Way to The Top (If You Wanna Rock and Roll). All of the above-mentioned group's guitarists are the best of the best, as far as sheer riffage is concerned.
And so it is with a great amount of love and respect that I thank all those people that gave us these notes. Here's to all those six-stringers that changed our lives as they changed hand position.
Next up: A movie that, even though starring two major Hollywood stars, did not set any box office records, but still managed to set free the rock star in all of us.
But what, do you ask, is the riff? According to Merriam-Webster Online, a riff is "an ostinato phrase (as in jazz) typically supporting a solo improvisation; also : a piece based on such a phrase". Now, that's all fine and dandy, but what the heck is really a riff, according to the rock world? What we're looking for are those notes, usually referring to them being played on a distorted electric guitar, that are the vital piece of the song.
What I'm referring to are those notes that make AC/DC's Back in Black the song that it is. The tan-tararan-tararan of the song! It feels a little weird to have to explain the magic of the riff in writing, especially since we're talking about audio information and I'm not about to write musical notation in The Rock Gazette, but what can I say? Writing this page and not taking under consideration the importance of the riff is like writing a page on cooking recipes without telling us the reasons why people like salty stuff over sweet stuff or vice versa!
There are so many guitar players that came up with all those hooks that it would be a list too long to contemplate in a short article, but let's take a look at some of them. Without riff masters like Eddie Van Halen we would never have gotten the majesty of listening to those first chords of 1981's Unchained, from the Fair Warning album. Kiss would never have given us Rock And Roll All Nite, Strutter and Deuce. Def Leppard's guitars would never have sung the unforgettable chords to Photograph in 1983's Pyromania. We would never have gotten Twisted Sister's I Wanna Rock, Poison's Talk Dirty To Me, and Lenny Kravitz's Are You Gonna Go My Way.
All of these groups and more have given life to the riff, which is really either a certain sequence of chords or a selection of notes that the guitarist plays and is the part that hooks us into the song. You know? The part that we we air-guitar to and scream the notes to our friends trying to make our voice sound like a Fender Stratocaster going through a Marshall amp that "goes to 11."
Without a doubt the most standout guitar players, as far as number of memorable riffs is concerned, would be Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page - who gave us the songs such as Rock & Roll, Black Dog, The Ocean and Whole Lotta Love - and AC/DC's Angus and Malcolm Young, who came up with Back in Black, Highway to Hell, You Shook Me All Night Long and It's A Long Way to The Top (If You Wanna Rock and Roll). All of the above-mentioned group's guitarists are the best of the best, as far as sheer riffage is concerned.
And so it is with a great amount of love and respect that I thank all those people that gave us these notes. Here's to all those six-stringers that changed our lives as they changed hand position.
Next up: A movie that, even though starring two major Hollywood stars, did not set any box office records, but still managed to set free the rock star in all of us.
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