But my musically uneducated brother wants to know what a riff is. I want to explain it to him, but I can’t find the words nor examples that he’d get from modern styles.
I guess I’d explain that it’s part of a band or artist that repeats a bar or 2 or 4 again and again for an indefinite amount of time while a soloist or small ensemble performs an improvisational act or performance.
It might also be called vamping.
I don’t think that my brother will really get that, though. What are some exmaples form a shared childhood of growing up in the late 60s and early 70s?
Honestly, the only thing I can think of is Money by Pink Floyd.
The actual subject of conversation is Sweet Melissa by the Allman Brothers. He doesn’t get the whole deal of Am9 Am Am9 D until the break.
I don’t think “Riff” is necessarily a well defined term. It’s basically a small piece of music that’s repeated under (or between) a melody or chorus/refrain. Sure, there are other common elements such as it usually being lower pitched than the rest of the song, or it only really being used in Jazz/Rock, but I don’t think it’s a term that’s defined much beyond “I know it when I hear it.”
Wikipedia directs musical riffs under Ostinato, so I guess that’s something, but not anything a music-illiterate person would get. Even then I’m not sure it’s always an Ostinato, I frequently hear people refer to “guitar riff” as a short, one-off piece of musical glue (not a solo, but maybe a quick fall or trill section that accompanies a solo or a rock finish).
I think the most obvious riff is by far the pounding DUH DAH DUUUH DAH DAH under Black Sabbath’s Ironman.
The first 15 seconds of Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones pretty much defines the word “riff.” Jumpin’ Jack Flash is a close second. Street Fighting Man, Start Me Up, I could go on. Also just about any ACDC song.
I would say a riff is a distinctive motif that is memorable in its own right and that is readily identifiable with the song that it came from. So it has to be a bit more catchy that just some random bit of noodling or filler. In some cases, the riff is the basis of most of the song. Late 60’s?.. how about “Sunshine of your Love” by Cream? The verses in that song are just the riff, followed by the same riff a fourth higher.
Or the opening bit of “Ziggy Stardust”. If someone mentions that song to me, that riff is what I first think of.
Since Keith Richards and Angus Young have already been mentioned as riff-masters, I’ll add Jimmy page. Whole Lotta Love, Black Dog, Good Times Bad Times, Communication Breakdown, The Ocean, I could go on and on. Page wrote some really memorable riffs.
Clearly defined, simple/memorable, repetitive - often circular, so the end puts you right back at the beginning (or sets up a return to the beginning)
Guitar based within context of rock - if another instrument is doing a riff, it is typically trying to mimic the sound/feel of a guitar’s rhythm role in rock
A music pattern that moves you - makes you bang your head or your backbone slide - the riff conveys a mood/feel in its simple repetitive nature