How do I learn a guitar riff by looping it?

By the RepeatWatch team · Updated

Quick answer

Learn a guitar riff by looping exactly one cycle of it, usually one or two bars, so the loop sounds seamless. Slow it to 0.7–0.8×, play along until your picking matches the recording, then let the speed trainer raise it to 1×. A riff repeats in the song, so the loop is the song.

Try this now: loop one riff from a song you know, from its first beat to the start of its next repeat. If the loop clicks or skips, nudge B by 0.1 s until it sounds like the record.

How to learn a guitar riff with an A–B loop

  1. Mark one full cycle. Set A on the riff's first note and B exactly where it starts again. Use the 0.1 s nudges until the loop runs without a hiccup; a seamless loop means you've caught the whole riff.
  2. Listen before you play. Let it loop three or four times at 1× with your hands off the guitar. Count the beats and notice which notes are accented, palm-muted or slid into.
  3. Play along at 0.75×. Match the picking direction and muting, not only the notes. If the riff has a rest, the silence is part of the groove, so stop the strings there.
  4. Let the trainer climb. Speed trainer: Step +0.05×, Every 4 loops, Goal 1×. Riffs are short, so loops come round quickly, and four repeats per step keeps the climb gradual.
  5. Add the transition. Most riffs lead into a verse or a variation. Move B to include the first bar after the riff, loop the change at 0.8×, then save both as sections.

Try it now: paste a YouTube link.

5 common mistakes

  • Looping only part of the riff, so the loop never sounds like the song and you can't feel where beat one is.
  • Skipping the muted and ghost notes, which are often what make the riff sound right.
  • Speeding up before the riff is steady at the slow tempo.
  • Copying the fingering from the video before you've heard the rhythm, then playing the right notes in the wrong places.
  • Never playing it in context: a riff that is clean on its own can still fall apart when the verse starts.

Frequently asked questions

What is a guitar riff?

A riff is a short, repeated musical phrase, often one to four bars long, that a song is built around. Because it repeats, it's ideal material for an A–B loop.

What speed should I loop a riff at?

Start where you can play every note cleanly, usually 0.7× to 0.8×. Heavy, fast riffs may need 0.6×. Raise it by 0.05× at a time until you reach 1×.

How do I loop a riff without a gap?

Set B on the first beat of the next repeat, not on the last note, and keep Pause between loops on None. Fine-tune A and B by 0.1 s until the join sounds smooth.

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