You music geeks...

[kitchen_kink]

I've been trying for some time, unsucessfully, to define for imlad the loose musical term, "riff."

How would you define what a riff is? Is it the same thing as a lick? (I think maybe not; isn't a lick more of a fancy flourish on an instrument such as a guitar, rather than a repeated theme throughout a song?) How about a motif? Or is that just for classical music?

Help me out here.

Comments

[pseydtonne.livejournal.com]

That would be Eric Johnson, "Cliffs of Dover", off his 1989 opus Ah Via Musicom. Great album. "Trademark" is one of those songs that makes driving through the city at night a little classier.

By the way, the best definition of a riff that I have found comes from Del Close's 1961 album How to Speak Hip: "an improvisation centered on a theme".

Let's say you have a tune everyone knows, such as "Someday My Prince Will Come". There is a simple melody, a key or two that it's in, and then it's finished. The riff is the process of rolling into that tune and going new places with it. You're still within the scale of the key or keys but you're adding notes.

[entrope.livejournal.com]

Oops. You're totally right. Daniel Johnson is the Austin guy that sings little singsongy things.