riff
51
5.8
- noun
- /rɪf/
:
riff
- (ROCK GUITAR RIFF PLAYS)
- play the riff
- guitar riff
- riff from a tune
Then we'd start with simple riffs and we would learn songs that way.
- Then we'd start with simple riffs and we would learn songs that way.
- Rage Against the Machine combined rapping along with the riffs of Led Zeppelin.
- And you catch these melodies and these riffs at the end of a song hit almost hidden in an album.
- When we repeat the same thing over and over and over again, we achieve solidarity and gain strength with every iteration we're playing riffs.
Examples
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A worksheet accompanied the CD, giving the note names for each riff but no indication of pitch contour or rhythm.
Academic text (2005) -
You know, it's like all of these sounds, notes, riffs that I've been hearing in my head.
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I mean, everybody wanted to know the Lay It Down riff, right, right.
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It's okay, but it should go up on the second riff.
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What a riff, you know, and the riffs that you came up with.
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Then we'd start with simple riffs and we would learn songs that way.
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Then Stevie would go into a riff, like in Undercover, and they'd go wild again.
Fiction book (1990) -
And everyone knows their role, like, OK, this guy writes all the cool riffs that the audience likes, so it's better if we play his riffs.
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♪ ♪ I'll meet you ♪ I will drive past your house ♪ ♪ and if the lights are all down ♪ ♪ I'll see who's around [guitar riff]
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The jazz band played a catchy riff that set the tone for the soloist's improvisation.
Synonyms
1
8.8
A short repeating musical phrase that supports a solo or singer
How Repetitive
Surface Forms
Etymology
Riff as a noun came from jazz and likely comes from refrain ('a repeated part of a song'). A riff is a small, catchy pattern a band repeats under solos or uses to give a song its shape.