riff

A riff in music, a riff is a repeated sequence of notes or chords. A guitar riff is often catchy and helps give structure and character to a piece of music. Riffs most commonly appear in rock, funk, jazz, and Latin music, though they can be found in almost any genre of music.

The riff is a short and catchy melodic idea and it recurs so often that it gives character and structure to a song. The hook is any part of a song that is meant to grab the listener's attention.

in jazz or popular music, to play a short, repeated series of notes : The singer growled over acoustic guitar while his bandmates riffed on banjo, ukulele, and fiddle.

to speak for a long time on a particular subject, especially in a humorous way: He strutted and riffed on topics from global warming to parenthood. SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases.

A riff is a short, repeated, phrase on the guitar that could contain single notes, chords, or a mix of both. The goal of a riff is to be memorable.

A riff is something repeated so often that it forms part of the structure of a song and can crossover into being a rhythmic element because of the repetition.

A riff is a progression of notes, usually played on top of some chords (could be played a capella, could be played over one chord, could be anything). There isn't any rule that specifies how long a riff is. A riff could be half a measure, could be 3, could be 6.

Riff is part of rhythm playing and solo is part of a lead playing. Riff repeats itself in a song as many times as the guitarist likes while solo generally doesn't repeat itself unless it contains some melody line.

When comparing lead vs rhythm guitar, an easy way to think of it is that rhythm players are primarily focused on chords while lead guitarists are focused on riffs and solos. A lead guitarist's playing also echoes some of the vocal parts of the song, bringing the melody to the forefront.

In rock music, the melody is sung. The "riff" or "guitar hook" is the catchy bit that is played in an intro and then repeated during the chorus. A riff to me is like a “lick”, it repeats and helps to build structure to a song. A Melody is longer and more vocalesque.

The etymology of the term is not clearly known. Ian Anderson, in the documentary "A World Without Beethoven", states (repeatedly) that "riff" is the abbreviation of "repeated motif." Other sources propose riff as an abbreviation for "rhythmic figure" or "refrain".

While a riff can include chords, there is a difference between the two. A chord refers to a combination of notes played simultaneously, while a riff is a sequence of notes or chords that forms a musical phrase.