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Three note ending riff

Lango-DjangoLango-Django Niagara-On-The-Lake, ONModerator
edited August 2012 in Licks and Patterns Posts: 1,855
Disclaimer: I like to play more "swingy" as opposed to "gypsy" jazz.

In the swing music tradition, the band would often finish a tune using a loud exclamatory repeated pattern, eg Reinhardt and Grappelli's final chorus on "Honeysuckle Rose"

This was known as a "riff". Part of the excitement of a good riff was the tension created because of the riff almost, but not quite, matching all the chords as they changed beneath it.

People whose taste in jazz is more modern wil probably find the whole idea of 'riffs' kind of quaint and dated. So it's not for everybody!

But anyway here's a simple little riff I like to use to finish off med-fast tunes (in the 200-220 bpm neighbourhood)... I use it for "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" or one of my favourite tunes at this tempo, "I Want to be Happy", but it seems to work pretty well for almost anything you want.

It's real easy, here's how it works.

1) Make the traditional "Purple Haze" intro chord fingering that was probably one of the first things you learned on the guitar as a teenager...

I'm going to show it on the bottom three strings at frets 12 to 14, but it's very movable...

-----------------------
-----------------------
-----------------------
-------------------e---
-------------Bb-------
--------E-------------

2) Make sure that your lowest note is the sixth of the key you're working in... since I'm showing this with the bottom note "E", that means this time the riff will be in the key of G. Of course, if you wanted to, you could play the exact same notes on the A,D and G strings on frets 7 to 9.

3) Now just keep playing the three notes in order from top to bottom in quarter notes, one for every beat of the bar.

Since each bar has four beats and the riff only has three notes, you'll have to start the riff again on the fourth beat of the bar, so the notes will automatically form a pattern which gradually changes against the beat for three bars, and on the fourth bar starts all over again.

> (Bar one )> (Bar two )> (Bar three)> (Bar four)>
> E Bb e E > Bb e E Bb > e E Bb e > E Bb e E > etc

4) OK, now put on a rhythm track for "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" ( I believe there's a free version available at Stephane Wrembel's website) and play your riff over the changes... Crazy, man!

Have fun, and keep on riffin'!

Will

PS I'm gettin' to be an old geezer, and the memory ain't quite what she used to be... I can't remember if I made this up, or stole it from Django or somebody else. It sounds kind of familiar, but I can't place it...?

Anyway, apologies if I did steal it.
Paul Cezanne: "I could paint for a thousand years without stopping and I would still feel as though I knew nothing."

Edgar Degas: "Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.... To draw, you must close your eyes and sing."

Georges Braque: "In art there is only one thing that counts: the bit that can’t be explained."

Comments

  • BillDaCostaWilliamsBillDaCostaWilliams Barreiro, Portugal✭✭✭ Mateos, Altamira M01F, Huttl
    Posts: 636
    Neat - thanks!
  • BonesBones Moderator
    Posts: 3,319
    Hey Will,

    Can you record it so I can hear how it is supposed to sound?

    thanks
  • Lango-DjangoLango-Django Niagara-On-The-Lake, ONModerator
    Posts: 1,855
    I'd be delighted, Bones, as soon as 'management' will let me off kitchen painting duty... probably tomorrow.

    Will
    Paul Cezanne: "I could paint for a thousand years without stopping and I would still feel as though I knew nothing."

    Edgar Degas: "Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.... To draw, you must close your eyes and sing."

    Georges Braque: "In art there is only one thing that counts: the bit that can’t be explained."
  • Lango-DjangoLango-Django Niagara-On-The-Lake, ONModerator
    Posts: 1,855
    OK, finally getting enough time to do this... here is the three note riff in all its glory... perhaps the Bard was humming this riff to himself when he penned his immortal words, "A tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing..."

    Paul Cezanne: "I could paint for a thousand years without stopping and I would still feel as though I knew nothing."

    Edgar Degas: "Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.... To draw, you must close your eyes and sing."

    Georges Braque: "In art there is only one thing that counts: the bit that can’t be explained."
  • BonesBones Moderator
    Posts: 3,319
    Thanks Will! I'll check it out as soon as I get off bathroom painting duty :-)

    Wife's office and kitchen painting duty next...

    No wonder I don't get enough time to play.
  • Lango-DjangoLango-Django Niagara-On-The-Lake, ONModerator
    Posts: 1,855
    Forgot to mention the name of that tune: "I Want To Be Happy", one of my uptempo swing favourites.
    Paul Cezanne: "I could paint for a thousand years without stopping and I would still feel as though I knew nothing."

    Edgar Degas: "Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.... To draw, you must close your eyes and sing."

    Georges Braque: "In art there is only one thing that counts: the bit that can’t be explained."
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