How do I tell when a Riff becomes a melody, or is it even important to know? Can you construct a song around a riff - what are some suggestions on how to construct a song in that manner?
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Both a riff and a melody are sequences of notes that, at least to the listener, form the centerpiece of a piece of music. We call such a sequence a riff, if I'm not mistaken, when it is at least partly in the bass or another lower part, offset against higher parts, strengthening the foundations of the chords, and is repeated throughout the song, or at least several times; we call it a melody when it is in a higher part (which then, by virtue of carrying the melody, becomes 'the lead'), and is longer or less repetitive than parts below it, and (often) doesn't just embellish chords but shapes them around it. So the difference is rather fluid. |
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A standard musical stave with Bass and Treble cleff can fully transcribe a melody i.e. the individual notes with all their different pitches and timings which can be played on any musical instrument. If you buy guitar tablature books however, you are shown how to play a riff i.e. the individual notes with all their different pitches and timings but also a great deal of secondary information of how it can be played specifically on the guitar. For example guitar tablature will provide details of hammer-ons / pull-offs, palm-muting, slides, harmonics, bends / releases. Also, given a set of notes alone, they can be played in many different positions on the fretboard. Recreating a sound authentically will come down to being in the same tuning and playing the notes using specific strings and frets which tablature will also point the reader to. And all this before we discuss recreating which guitar effects are used: light-distortion, tremelo, chorus, compression etc. A melody is instrument agnostic, you can whistle a melody. A riff is the execution of a melody on a specific instrument and played a specific way. In the domain of this site we talk almost exclusively of guitar riffs. I could whistle the opening to Whole Lotta Love but until it's played on a guitar with distortion using the same finger positioning and technique as Jimmy Page, it's not a riff. |
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A melody is song-specific. For a given tune, the melody is always the melody and you always play a series of notes to achieve it. A riff can be anything, it's not song-specific, and it exists on its own. Like a 'lick'. You could refer to a melody as a riff and vice versa, but in the language of music a melody is a paired series of notes that goes with a tune. The theme to Zelda has a melody, After You've Gone has a melody. Me playing anything on my axe is a riff. Granted, I'm talking about the melody and not a melody, which could be anything in the world (a bird just chirped outside). |
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I think you could look this from multiple points of view; many riffs do contain melodic motifs; however they are also in a lot of cases very rhythmic. So given a sliding scale with rhythm at one end and melody on the other, you could place different riffs in different places on the scale. Looking at genres of music such as the more extreme areas of metal, there are riffs that are very melodic and complex, but because of the cutting nature of them and the way the are muted and picked, sound very rhythmic. That being the case I would 'hypothesize' that one large difference between a melody and a riff in a lot of cases, is a rhythmic aspect found in the riff. You can definitely construct a song around a riff; bands have been doing it since the early days; check out Rolling Stones songs like 'Satisfaction' and Jumping Jack Flash. The entire genre and many sub-genres of hard rock and metal are hugely riff based. |
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Not important. A riff is contains melodies and could be thought as a compound melody in most cases. Usually a riff is played as a sort of substitute for the harmony rather than for melodic reasons. There are some songs(many actually) that simply use the same riff throughout with almost no variation(but have other instruments that add variety and contrast). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostinato You really should learn to google, there is a lot of good information out there already. |
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