How to Write Rock Riffs (Wasteland Guitar Lesson) Video Lecture - Guitar

if you've ever had to fill out a job
application you know the two things any
prospective employer is looking for is
proficiency in Microsoft Excel and how
to write good solid rock riffs so we're
going to talk a little bit about how you
can use the combination of scale
intervals and rhythms to create a riff
and this is also going to kind of double
as a guitar lesson on how to play the
original song wasteland which I will
link you below if you haven't checked
that out because I had some requests to
kind of teach that so basically uh riff
we're gonna learn sounds like this
[Music]
so this is gonna be kind of like a
lesson and really just like intervals
and just kind of how I write and a lot
of people do write like this I'm not
saying this is like the end-all be-all
way to write riffs however you want to
be creative to do it but I think a lot
of it comes with using your ear just to
kind of find the intervals that you
think are interesting so a little bit of
backstory about the beginning of the
song it actually started just kind of
like a jazz song where I was kind of
like jamming on chords like okay and I
was like alright well that's kind of
like a cool chord progression I had this
B flat minor 7 into like a D flat major
7 into a a flat major 7 and like like a
a flat minor died something like that
okay and then eventually I got to
thinking okay it's like I've got this
chord right here like if you look at
this chord this is just a B flat minor 7
chord really easy chord voicing 6 e skip
the a string 6 6 on the g string so god
I've got this chord but I wanted to make
it more into like a riff so this riff
was born of the interval in this court
what did I find interesting and about
this minor 7 chord that I wanted you
through the song and to me it was a root
note and this relationship with that
flat 7 okay so again flat 7 that means
if you have like the major scale here 1
2 3 4 5 6 flat 7 it would be here or
using the 6th fret of the D string so
I'm just going from the 6th fret over to
the e string to the D string okay and
that's the relationship the intervallic
relationship between those she knows is
a minor 7 and that came from this part
for me all right what I just found most
interesting about that was the
relationship between those two notes I
also wanted to know I wanted to do a
song in five four time signature so all
that means is every bar is five counts
[Music]
so really it accounting if I've to be
kind of hard at first if you start doing
it but if you think of it as three and
two it'll be zero one two three one so
it's really taking an interval and then
starting to kind of incorporate some
kind of rhythm whatever type of rhythm
you choose I think is a good way to kind
of start thinking about maybe writing a
riff and again this is s is demonstrate
a riff in a chord is behind every riff
or you know phrase however gonna look at
it there is a chord progression that
exists even if you're not working kind
of backwards from a chord progression
like I'm talking about right now
no matter how you come up with it
whether it's scales just messing around
with stuff there's always a chord that
exists behind that and this is just kind
of an issue way to look at okay here's a
minor seven chord we're taking a route
boom and a seven to kind of get that
then adding a thing right now I just
kind of took that same philosophy to the
next chord which was right here like I
what do I like about this major seventh
chord I should kind of like the sound of
the root note to its major third okay so
again if I just take the major scale
from here I go from the ninth fret on
the e-string to the eighth from a string
that's a major third any major chord has
that interval and it wherever you want
to ruin so I started with a minor seven
into a sliding from six to nine here
adding his major third and back into the
next chord
which is also the original progression
was a major seven chord yeah I wanted to
stick with that major third so I've got
a root it's major third into last chord
which was that minor nine but I wanted
to kind of have a few more notes but
just kind of hammering on two notes the
entire time so to make a little more
interesting maybe a little more complex
even others are appreciating the first
three notes I had in this which is a
root note it's minor third a minor is
gonna be down two strings back or down
one string back two frets so from six a
2 4 D it is minor 7 which is the same
thing we started with so a minor 7 for
me flat would just be the 6th fret of
the g string
but played in the way that I've been
swinging the rest of it so we have four
cords turned into just kind of one you
know semi-coherent riff the b-flat the
ninth fret major fourth fret major 6a
and minor seven
and at the start of a five-four time
seizure now after this the time
signature actually changes I'm like if
you're into like some cool like riffing
bands like like to me tool is like one
of the greatest bands ever and just like
coming up with awesome wrists and a lot
of what they do is they change time
signatures depending on what part of the
roof they're in so this is me just
trying to be trying to be cool like tool
failing probably but uh having a part of
it that's in five one two three four
five one two three one two three one two
[Music]
so really it kind of switches from a
five-four groove like a three four six
four roof after that so if you want to
maybe try to make things interesting
start working on like compounded time
signatures to add the rhythm of those
intervals that maybe you found
interesting okay
so again that's just uh like six four
[Music]
and again having a little bit of space
in between though instead of like kind
of adds a little bit of uh you know a
ridge if you will that to me I think is
important and just cool sound guitar
stuff right so that's kind of you play
the main why
[Music]
it's the next part
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
so that for this straight up chord
voicings and kind of picking through
them alright so at this point in the
lesson we're just kind of going into
this song and is less about writing
through intervals but if you still want
to see more of the process stick around
I'll go talk about it so after the the a
part we go to the B part and what I'm
doing here is I got the sixth fret on
the D string its fifth like a power
forward power chords the root is very
rock-and-roll thing to be doing I'm
going from here to is 50 on the eighth
fret of the G and then going an octave
down okay so I'm thinking of the runo's
being here even though really
it's like root 5th octave lower so I've
got the D string 60 to 80 TBT and I'm
kind of playing each note one at a time
I could just stand like this chord
voicing
but I kind of think it sounds better
when you kind of hear each note starting
and pausing no see when I'm playing it
I've got a lot of distortion on but I
think it sounds better clean and a solo
contract they have a see run another
chord voicing which is the ninth fret on
the a string which is an f-sharp and I'm
just straight up arpeggiating this okay
so I'm hammering on from 6 to 9 major
3rd just like we did before but now I'm
doing kind of like a chord voicing worth
9 a 86-year arpeggiated in a way that's
kind of consistent with how I've been
playing
[Music]
sike time
go straight up
[Music]
it's a just regular triad chords okay so
this will start saying is like either a
minor seven or well I guess I would be
trying to spice up but it's just a flat
minor 4.6 hey is that minor chord
voicing we talked about all the time
into a regular major triad here on the
ninth fret E string into a b major triad
oh then the money shot right here I'm
sliding into that ninth fret of the a
string and then getting six
ibgp right so I've got
I think he's like really kind of pretty
for right there so the strings ringing
our ad
and me
and to what's this room no the ninth
fret and a string is what is it f-sharp
so after kind of like hammering home on
that a little bit hit after our power
chord and that kind of ends up back at
the beginning we're all started alright
so basically we have two parts so
there's the main riff from the 5/4 into
the first riff
[Music]
and then eventually go into the chorus
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
go back to the riff genius G just riding
that's it thanks I just kind of want to
take this party somewhere else so 60 to
67 e28 D which is a major seventh
interval so yeah I knew I want to do
something ascending where I go six seven
eight nine but with a different animal
each time so minor seven major seven
major six one two three four five six so
this is 870 octave
[Music]
minor seven major seven major six octave
and to break down every can rock song
needs to break down right and again
where does this breakdown come from it's
all just power chords six four six four
six active flat seven okay
so again this might be kind of broken up
but I just kind of wanted to take you
behind like the process of just kind of
coming up with things and how
songwriting is never just one thing it's
kind of a combination a lot of things
that's why I really kind of stress
learning chord voicings arpeggios scales
using your ear learning song as you like
and eventually you'll kind of come up
with like hopefully like your own style
or something and a process of writing so
again this might seem like a very
disjointed lesson but uh again this is
kind of the best way I can explain
coming up with like the writing behind
it because you know you never know how
your creativity might strike you so
again one more time it's like after
these power chords your third and then
kind of you know
[Music]
then move everything down a string or a
fourth higher very traditional
bluesy rock blues thing and then back to
the root position and then just kind of
make alterations right there that was
just a power chord with a flat five
through four so just a couple different
ways of using intervals and rhythms to
make your own rock riffs or up to make
Sean Daniels rock riffs so thank you for
accompanying me on the Sean Daniel ego
trip of the week and if you have any
questions or comments hit me up in the
cabinet section Instagram Twitter or the
website and I'll talk to y'all soon
thanks a lot