Open-string riffing
Building riffs around unfretted strings so notes ring out against moving fretted notes.
Open strings bring ring, resonance and a distinctive tuning-dependent colour, which is why so much classic rock and folk riffs use them as a drone. Because the open note cannot be altered, the fretted notes have to move around it, producing wide intervals that would be awkward to finger otherwise. The technique is common in dropped tunings, where the lowest open string becomes a pedal tone under a chord shape, and in fingerpicking styles where open strings fill out the texture.
Example: A rock riff that pedals on the open low E while a shape moves up and down above it is open-string riffing.
See also
Related
- PageDrop tuning
- PageRiff
- PageOpen chord
- PageAccent
- PageAction height
- PageAlternate picking
- PageAaron Dessner
- PageAce Frehley