Riff Lab
Riff Lab is for when you want control. Set how much pedal tone, melody, chugs, tremolo, syncopation, string skipping and chromatic colour the riff gets. Once it exists you can reshape it with one click: make it harder or easier, more melodic or more aggressive, add harmony and drums, or change the scale. Riffs are saved in your browser.
How to use it
- Choose key, scale, tuning and base style. The base style sets the sliders to sensible defaults.
- Drag the sliders for pedal tones, melody, chugs, tremolo, syncopation, string skipping and chromatic notes. Press Generate riff.
- Reshape the riff with the buttons: harder, easier, more melodic, more aggressive, add harmony or drums, or change the scale. Undo takes you back a step.
- Give the riff a name and save it. Saved riffs can be opened, renamed and deleted at the bottom of the page.
What is Riff Lab?
Riff Lab is a tool where you control how a guitar riff is built with sliders and then change it step by step. You set pedal tones, melody, chugs, tremolo, syncopation, string skipping and chromatic notes, and the riff is drawn as tab with playback.
It suits you when Riff Generator gives too little control and you know what kind of riff you want.
What do the sliders do?
Each slider controls how large a share of one property the riff gets. The base style sets the sliders to suitable presets that you then adjust.
A high value gives more of the property and a low value gives less.
- Pedal tones: returning to the same note, usually the root.
- Melody: movement between different scale notes.
- Chugs: short, heavy notes.
- Tremolo: fast picking of one note.
- Syncopation: accents between the beats.
- String skipping: jumps between strings that are not next to each other.
- Chromatic notes: notes outside the scale that add tension.
How do I change a riff I already have?
Once the riff is created you can make it harder or easier, more melodic or more aggressive, add harmony or drums and change scale. Each change can be undone one step at a time.
That lets you try an idea without losing the starting riff. Save the version you like as a new riff, or update the saved one.
Frequently asked questions
What do Make harder and Make easier do?
Harder splits notes into shorter values and raises the tempo by eight BPM. Easier merges notes and lowers the tempo by eight BPM. The riff stays playable at the new level.
What are pedal tones?
The riff keeps returning to one and the same note, usually the root on the lowest string, between the other notes. More pedal gives a more monotonous and heavier riff.
Why did a note disappear when I changed the scale?
Each note keeps its place in the scale. If a note cannot be played on the fretboard within reach of the hand after the change, it is removed. Undo brings the riff back.
Are my riffs stored anywhere?
Only in your browser. Nothing is sent to a server. Saved riffs stay until you delete them or clear site data.
Related tools
- Riff Generator: Create a new guitar riff in any key, scale and tuning, with tab and playback.
- Backing Track Machine: Build a backing track with drums, bass and rhythm guitar in any key and metal style.
- Tab player: Open a Guitar Pro file, see tab and notation and play along at your own tempo.
- Solo Generator: Randomize a one-minute guitar solo in a melodic death metal style, with tab, backing and playback.
- Tone Vault: Your private library of guitar tones: gear, settings, notes and tags.
- Amp Simulator: Experimental guitar amp in the browser: distortion, EQ, cab, delay and reverb through your audio interface.