Riffs

Lesson 7/49 | Study Time: 5 Min
Course: Blues Bass
Riffs

Riffs

Bass guitarists often use a technique of playing "riffs" against a chord progression. A riff is a pattern of notes that is repeated throughout a progression (or song).

The following two examples use all the notes within each chord, i.e., the 1st, 3rd and 5th notes of the Major scale relating to each chord. To play the notes of a chord one after another is often referred to as arpeggio playing.

You have probably heard this riff style of playing before. Play some records (fifties rock and roll or blues songs would be best) and listen to the bass.

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Stephan Richter

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Class Sessions

1- INTRODUCTION 2- Glossary of Musical Terms 3- The Basic of Music 4- Play Position 5- Tuning 6- SECTION FOUR: <br> APPENDICES 7- The Hammer-on (marked as H) 8- The Major Scale 9- New Topic 10- Music Staff 11- Tuning The Bass to Itself 12- The Pull-Off (marked as PO) 13- The Octave 14- The Right Hand 15- Notation 16- Notes 17- The Major Pentatonic Scale 18- Electronic Tuners 19- The Left Hand 20- Harmonics 21- Note Values 22- Stop Time Blues Rhythm 23- Fretboard Diagram 24- Tuning with Harmonics 25- Rock-Latin Blues 26- The 12 Bar Blues Progression 27- Reggae Blues 28- The Tie 29- Open Strings Note 30- Basic Blues Feel (Quarter Notes) 31- Blues Intros and Endings 32- Blues Funk 33- Time Signatures 34- Riffs 35- Symbols and Abbreviations 36- Walking Bass 37- The Slap Technique The Thumb (marked as T) 38- Half Time Feel (Quarter Note Rests) 39- The Minor Scale 40- Eighth Note Feel 41- Ghost Notes 42- The Minor Pentatonic Scale 43- Eighth Note Triplets 44- Minor Blues Progressions 45- The Popping Effect (marked as P) 46- The Blues Scale 47- Slap Grooves 48- Shuffle Rhythm 49- Jazz Blues

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