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Riffy Seedlings

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Song Seedlings 21 & 22: an Old-School Blues + Intro, Happy, Up-Beat Strumming in A

  This blues tune is so simple that I’m wondering if I’m just creating a variation of a melody/motif I heard somewhere else. Nevertheless, it’s catchy and actually not as easy as it looks (as evidenced by my struggling). If you’re not used to the classic call & response structure, this is an excellent piece…

June 23, 2015 in Riffy Seedlings, Songwriting.
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Song Seedlings 19 & 20: a Static, Anticipation Riff in Em & an Ascending Build-Up Riff in Am

  When it comes to guitar riffs, more often than not, the power lies in simplicity.  When you have less notes, you end up creating interests out of rhythm.  And rhythm is the most primal element of music, music with interesting rhythm is always interesting.  This finger-picked riff is so simple yet addictingly groovy, as…

June 9, 2015 in Riffy Seedlings, Songwriting.
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Song Seedlings 17 & 18: Warm & Poignant Chords in D, a Plummeting Hard-Rock Riff in Em

Can you recognize that this is a very simple progression that involves D-Bm-A?  Give them new chord voicings and tried-and-true chords can still sound fresh enough to inspire a song — listen to the contrast when I switch to the “regular” way these chords are played.  There’s so much smooth yet poignant vibe here that…

June 2, 2015 in Riffy Seedlings, Songwriting.
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Song Seedlings 15 & 16: a Funk Workout in Em & a Propelling Rock Riff in Bm

This simple single-note funk pattern has a lot of potential for variations — I’m demonstrating some of them here, by harmonizing some of the notes, and change how I would harmonize. When practicing a riff like this, it’s very important that it doesn’t sound rushed, so pay attention to the space between the notes. Now this…

May 18, 2015 in Riffy Seedlings, Songwriting.
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Song Seedlings 13 & 14: Driving Verse-Chorus Pair in Em & Pastoral “Walking” Arpeggios in Am

This riff starts out fairly straight forward, but as it transitions to the chorus it adds more and more twists, concluding with a really surprising chord.  That adding of interest keeps you engaged enough that when you go through it once you’re ready to hear it all over again.  The verse is essentially a predictable…

May 5, 2015 in Riffy Seedlings, Songwriting.
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Riffy Seedling 11 & 12: a Driving Hard-Rock Riff & an Ambiguous Ascending Riff

  The notes and chords here are pretty traditional here, but the eighth notes on E and the slide from G to A (sometimes harmonized) gives this riff a propelling momentum.  I tried going from C to D some of the time but I think this riff is better sticking to the C-B move, which…

April 30, 2015 in Riffy Seedlings.
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Riffy Seedlings 9 & 10: Melodic Intro-Like Riff & Groovy Finger-Picked Riff

  This one will serve as a nice intro and melodic hook to a steady rock song in E minor. Watch the two G notes in the middle, one on D string and one on the open G string. After this intro you can just play a partial figure of that melodic line — repeating…

April 23, 2015 in Riffy Seedlings.
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Riffy Seedlings 7 & 8: Suspenseful Arpeggio & Bouncy Single-Note Riff

The 9th note in a minor chord always brings out tension, so even though the very first chord here is GMaj7 — a smooth chord — the bass note quickly going down to E to make the whole 1st section stay in Em tonality.  Then it goes to A but again the F# persists to…

April 16, 2015 in Riffy Seedlings.
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Riffy Seedlings #6: Melodic Tension-Filled Riff in Em

The two points of interests with this riff are: back-to-back G note played on both D and open G string, and F#-G tension in the last two chords.  The latter in particular gives this riff an edgy tension — this is not a happy song.  I tried this on electric, though, and all that open…

April 9, 2015 in Riffy Seedlings.

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