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Riffs: How to Create and Play Great Guitar Riffs
(Book). Rikky Rooksby's revised and updated bestseller explores more than 200 classic riffs, from Cream and Led Zeppelin, through Nirvana and Soundgarden, to Metallica, U2, and the White Stripes. The first half of the book analyzes classic rock riffs and reveals the stories behind their creation. Easy-to-read text describes and explains each riff, supported by illustrations and audio examples. The book's second section shows how to construct great riffs and why they work. Readers learn how to shape a melody, integrate a guitar riff with the rest of a song, enhance a riff with effects, and work with intervals and scales to build riffs.
440 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 27, 2017
At the start of 2017, I decided I wanted to learn some theory. I've been playing guitar for over half my life now, but it's kind of embarrassing how little I know about my instrument. So I've done a couple of online classes, read some books, watched a lot of YouTube videos, and now I can say I kind of know some stuff.
This book has helped me enormously. Mr Rooksby gives all kinds of examples of how intervals, scales, modes, and chord progressions are used in everyday rock songs. Did you know the riff from My Sharona is an octave? Or that Lady Madonna uses the chromatic scale? I didn't. I didn't even know what the chromatic scale was a year ago. I feel much more confident when approaching the guitar, or even just listening to music and understanding the theory behind what I'm hearing.
A music teacher once told me "The more you know, the more you can do; the more you can do, the better you can express yourself." And absolutely, sitting down to actually learn some music theory has been one of the best decisions I have ever made.
This book has helped me enormously. Mr Rooksby gives all kinds of examples of how intervals, scales, modes, and chord progressions are used in everyday rock songs. Did you know the riff from My Sharona is an octave? Or that Lady Madonna uses the chromatic scale? I didn't. I didn't even know what the chromatic scale was a year ago. I feel much more confident when approaching the guitar, or even just listening to music and understanding the theory behind what I'm hearing.
A music teacher once told me "The more you know, the more you can do; the more you can do, the better you can express yourself." And absolutely, sitting down to actually learn some music theory has been one of the best decisions I have ever made.
March 7, 2020
Does this book show to play them? Yes. How to create them? Not so much. (My main hobby is algorithmic music composition, and I know a lot of theory, so maybe I wasn't the intended audience.)
It does classify the riff types and lists examples of each from actual songs. It would have been better if the actual tab or sheet music was given. (That might violate copyright laws, though, and make the book more expensive to produce.) The most useful part was the appendix, where he created some riffs of his own, and did include TAB and sheet music for them. (There's also a CD included.)
A little more research and proofreading would have made this better. He calls MC Escher RC Escher, and says that the first single put out by The Kinks was "You Really Got Me". (No, it was the third. It was the first one that became a hit; it was the first song not by the Beatles to sell over a million copies.)
I was also pleased to see King Crimson mentioned, but he didn't choose the example I expected ("Red").
It does classify the riff types and lists examples of each from actual songs. It would have been better if the actual tab or sheet music was given. (That might violate copyright laws, though, and make the book more expensive to produce.) The most useful part was the appendix, where he created some riffs of his own, and did include TAB and sheet music for them. (There's also a CD included.)
A little more research and proofreading would have made this better. He calls MC Escher RC Escher, and says that the first single put out by The Kinks was "You Really Got Me". (No, it was the third. It was the first one that became a hit; it was the first song not by the Beatles to sell over a million copies.)
I was also pleased to see King Crimson mentioned, but he didn't choose the example I expected ("Red").
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November 2, 2021Also abandoned...
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews