Build Your First Guitar Riff: Create a Riff Online in Minutes
You can create a guitar riff online in a few minutes, and it is easier than it looks: you need five notes of the pentatonic scale, an even rhythm and a couple of rests. Below is a riff builder where you pick notes with your mouse, listen to the result and see the finished tab at once.
What a riff is made of
A riff is a short phrase of one or two bars that repeats. It is remembered by its rhythm more than by its notes: the same notes in a good rhythm sound better than complicated notes in a random one. So start with the rhythm and a limited set of notes.
The riff builder: try it yourself
In each of the eight columns pick one note of the A minor pentatonic or leave the column empty for a rest. Press Play and change notes while it runs. Three rules: repeat, leave rests and do not be afraid of one note in a row.
How to write guitar tabs online
A tab builds under the grid: six lines, each showing the fret of the chosen note. The columns are eighth notes and an empty spot is a rest. This is how any riff is written: rhythm first, then notes, then tablature. To learn how to read the result, see the tab reading guide.
How to make a riff more interesting
A few tricks that work almost every time:
- Repeat the first half of the riff and change only the last note.
- Add a rest on a weak beat: silence is part of the riff too.
- Play some of the notes palm muted, see palm muting.
- Add a slide or a hammer-on to one note, see hammer-ons and pull-offs.
Next: your riff in the Riffonic studio
Here there are eight steps. In the Riffonic studio riffs are built on a timeline: you can place notes on any string and fret, add chords, bass and drums, listen to everything together and share the project. It is a good place to rebuild a riff from the builder as your starting idea.
More articles on the topic: riffs for beginners, the pentatonic scale, how to learn a difficult riff.
Try it in practice
Open Riffonic