blues riffs

[neil groves]

I just learned two blues licks today and ok i’m not very fluent or fast with them yet being a newbie, but i am impressed with myself lol

my question is whats next, i mean it’s ok to learn licks, but then what do i do with them to make a song? can i make a song with one lick, do i need to add licks together to make a song?

and what is the difference between a lick and a riff please?

thanks guys

Neil.

[Anonymous]

Good to see you are moving into this area & asking questions. A song can be riff based, think Smokestack Lightnin’ by Howlin’ Wolf & listen to the riff played by Hubert Sumlin. The riff can run the entire course of the song. A lick on the other hand, is usually a phrase of any length that is played to compliment the chord progression. Listen to The Supernatural by John Mayall’s Blues Breakers on The Hard Road album. Peter Green plays some tasteful licks on this instrumental including a single sustained note that makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck whenever I hear it. Another riff based song would be “All Your Love (I Miss Loving You) by John Mayall again, but the guitar work is Eric Clapton on this occasion. Try YouTube if you don’t have these songs in your music library. Good Luck

EDIT: Just pulled up Smokestack Lightnin’ on Youtube. Listen to the 3rd on the list which is taken from a movie. Some of the others don’t have the guitar riff as prominent.

[neil groves]

Hey Mike…

Just checked ‘Smokestack Lightnin” …wow it rocks along really good and it’s a really catchy tune, thanks for the recommendation, i have bookmarked it.

So i can use a lick can be used to join chords together, i mean slip in between chords and a riff is like a background accompanyment, like a baseline if you will?

I am having so much fun with this stuff.

thankyou so much for all the help.

cheers mate.

Neil.

[Anonymous]

This might explain a Riff better than me. http://musiced.about.com/od/faqs/f/riff.htm

I have a book by Rikky Rooksby that is all about riffs. I’ll dig it out & see if it has some info I can pass on. I guess as guitarists, we fool around on our guitars & sometimes we just get lucky & create a little phrase we find pleasing. This can then become the basis of a song. Think Sunshine of your love by Cream. It’s the guitar hook that gets your attention & I remember hearing it for the first time (way back when) & I just had to figure out the notes on my guitar…ie,nah nah nah nah…….nah….nah ..nah..naaaa …Naaaaaaaa…nah…. ha ha ha.. Get it???

[Rickey]

@neil groves wrote:

……. can i make a song with one lick, do i need to add licks together to make a song?

and what is the difference between a lick and a riff please?

I watched an interesting lesson a few months ago where the tutor was explaining how he will learn a single lick then try to play it as many different ways as possible …. vary timming, change positin on the neck, change key, skip notes, etc… I found this an interesting way to explore a single lick. Might be able to make a short solo out of a single lick in this way.

For me, the difference between a lick and a riff is that the later tends to be more of a memorable theme rather than a short sequence of notes like a lick.

[neil groves]

The way i think of a lick now after having spent many hours on youtube lol, is a series of notes used to fill what would otherwise be a short silent gap in the playing, maybe to fill a space where it feels there should be a beat/note/chord but there isn’t one, if you know what i mean. The more i learn, the more i get fascinated with all the possibilities and variables, i’ve just come across palm muting to use when you don’t want a chord to ring out fun fun fun!!!

Neil.

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