🎸 A repeated phrase 💬 To improvise talk 🎸 To improvise music

to riff

1 6.6

To play short repeated musical phrases, often in jazz or rock

verb
/rɪf/

: improvisar

As the band played, the drummer would riff between verses, adding flair to the performance.

Me and Jesse will go like, riff this thing up and start rapping.

Examples

You have almost no feedback and you're just kind of riffing and it's a stream of consciousness.
So I don't know, just to riff off your little thing.
Me and Jesse will go like, riff this thing up and start rapping.

GaryVee
Yo, I can't tell if I'm riffing too much in this song or not.

The Sun Is Also a Star (2019)
"It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" and ended with trumpeter John Lake riffing off of drummer Alejandro Castao's furious close.

Blog text (14)
The guitarist started to riff on some catchy melodies that got everyone dancing.
During the jam session, the musicians began to riff, creating new sounds on the spot.

How Repetitive

to repeat

∞ 1.0

to riff

1 6.6

to play

∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

riff infinitive

riffed past

riffed past participle

riffing present participle

riffs third person singular

Etymology

Riff as a musical verb comes from early jazz and probably grew as a short form of refrain, which means 'a repeated part of a song'. So when musicians 'riff' they play short, repeated ideas and change them on the spot, which is why the verb means to improvise short musical phrases.