Songwriting Habit: Using Riffs to Build a Song

The most famous songs are known for their awesome guitar or keyboard riffs. Riffs are like a melodic signature of a song that are repeated at various times and usually are what the song is built on.

Have a listen to some famous ones: Guitar Riffs

Now let's develop our own. 

Step 1.

Sit with your guitar or keyboard and come up with a riff that you like that you can repeat over and over. Here is my example which is based on Chord A.

Step 2. Now record that riff, repeating it a few times.

Step 3. Whilst that riff is playing, play over it with another melody or riff which is much simpler. In my example I use a quick strumming chord, it's chord A again but played higher.

Step 4. You can then keep layering on top of these riffs until you want your song to change. In this one I use a simple melody:

When you are doing this process you are listening for differences in sounds. So if your original riff uses a quick rhythm, your next one should use long rhythms. Or perhaps your next riff can fill in any gaps where there is nothing much going on.

Another way of doing this is using a loop machine. Some guitar pedals have a loop function where you can simply record your riff once, it plays back for you then to record over and over until you get a few layers. 

Have fun! Remember to record what ever you come up with, it might be the beginning of your next song.