In my early teen years, I was a full blown rocker. While I had a strong background of hair metal, I was really into the modern alternative rock stuff that dominated MTV in the early and mid 90s. Later on, I got into heavier music before I landed where I am now... Now I'm just a guy who loves great songs. I couldn't pick a favorite genre of music. I just want to sing along to great melodies. Sometimes my choice is rock music, but often it's not. By exploring other types of music, I've learned that guitar riffs are not all their cracked up to be. Many guitarists feel that the only way to write a song is to write a great riff and let the singer figure out the rest. I'm convinced that this isn't the best solution in most cases.

The Best Riffs Are Seldom The Best Songs

Back in the day I opened up the mailbox to see a brand new issue of whatever guitar magazine. That month contained ?the best riffs of all time?. I was excited. When I opened up the issue I made a discovery. I DIDN'T LIKE THESE SONGS! What happened? It turns out that all the riffs were cool riffs, but I just didn't like listening to the cd for enjoyment. My number one example of this is ?Iron Man? by Black Sabbath. I still can't think of a worse vocal line than the verse of Iron Man. That vocal is the most uncatchy thing in the universe in my opinion. The guitar riff is one of the best ever written, but songs are recorded and put on cds...not riffs. If you are an equal fan of Iron Man's vocals as you are the riffs, than by all means, stick with it. However, if you've ever felt like that song didn't quite do it for you, you may need to take a look into why that song never did it for you.

The Guitarist Makes A Riff, But It's Out of the Singers Range

I can't count how many times that we've tracked guitar, bass, and drums just to find out that the singer can't hit the high notes. This explains the biggest problem that I have with most rock music.... The vocals are an afterthought. The vocals are usually just slapped on top of whatever the guitars, bass, and drums are doing. By that time, if the vocalist needs to change something, you are totally out of luck because there is no way that everyone else is going to change what they are doing to accommodate the vocalist.

There is nothing wrong with not accommodating to the vocalist if you don't care what the vocals sound like. However, you need to consider something. When listening to your recorded cd, what is the most important element? Well, more than likely, it's the vocals. If you fit into this category (which 95% of all rock bands do) then you may want to make sure you do accommodate your vocalist.

You see, singers are all born with a natural range. It can be improved on slightly, but overall, it's something they are born with. Mariah Carey will sing in a higher key than the Creed guy. It's just the way it works. So if you decide that you want your riff to hit an ?F? chord on the 8^th fret of the A string, and you expect the vocals to go up, you need to make sure that you singer can hit those notes. Again, it has little to do with skill. You simply need to work around your singers limitations.

Writing A Great Riff May Make It Tough To Find A Catch Vocal Melody

If your music is intended to be huge instrumental orchestrations, than maybe the vocal isn't all that important to you. However, for just about any other rock band, your vocals are everything. If you write a riff that is ?cool? but can't write amazing vocal melodies over that riff, you have nothing. There are too many bands out there who are writing great songs with great vocal melodies and you simply will not compete.

I always recommend writing a great song with a great melody first. You can always add ?cool? stuff later. Guitar fireworks are fun and should be used if it fits your style. However, guitar fireworks and tricks do not get songs on the radio. They don't fill clubs and they don't sell tshirts and cds. Yngwie Malmsteen plays at very small clubs. Three Doors Down played to backed stadiums and arenas. I'm not saying that you should sound like Three Doors Down. I'm just saying that Yngwie is not exactly killing. Guitar tricks are not the most important thing.

If you choose your songs based on the quality of the vocals, you will have greater success with the mainstream crowd. Just listen to how people talk. How many times have you heard someone say, ?Who Sings This Song??. If it's a rock band, you may not even know the singers name.

Chicks Usually Aren't Impressed With Riffs

If you are looking to be commercially successful, the easiest way to get there is by getting the chicks on your side. I've seen it over and over again. If you can fill a club with chicks, there are 3 times as many guys ready to pay you $5 to get in. I think guys can smell the women (just a theory). Either way, if your music calls for it, go for the ladies.

I can tell you right now that girls, in general, are not impressed with pinch harmonics. They are not impressed with extremely fast galloping palm mutes and they are certainly not impressed with sweep picking (the most difficult and most useless guitar trick on the planet in most cases). In other words, the things that fans of your music generally like are not the things that probably even think of.

Conclusion

I'm not saying that riffs are bad. I'm saying that you take a look at your band and making sure that you are actually putting forth the music that you want to put forth. You may not even realize it, but the odds are strong that your favorite bands didn't just slap some vocals over a guitar riff. They probably put a TON of time into their vocals and worked there way backwards.

If you are into the riffage, by all means, stick with it. I'm just pointing out most effective methods for writing great songs and entertaining a large audience. Modern radio rock is generally based off of melodies while not so radioable rock is based off of riffage. There are certainly exceptions to this so don't think I'm preaching the gospel here. Try writing a vocal first just once. Let me know how it works out.