by Nick614 May 21, 2005
by Nick Beasley June 23, 2004
by Anonymous November 27, 2002
1. Music, mainly guitar: A musical phrase based on or around musical scales*. Riffs can be pre-prepared and repeated, or improvised on the spot and of indefinite length based loosly around the melody of the song.
Scales are a way of arranging musical notes so that they a cool to listen to. Basic scales for guitar include:
Major
Minor
Pentonic
Blues
2.There is also an Arabic people called Riffs.
Scales are a way of arranging musical notes so that they a cool to listen to. Basic scales for guitar include:
Major
Minor
Pentonic
Blues
2.There is also an Arabic people called Riffs.
The lights went down and the lead guitarist then played a long, slow, sweet blues based riff that had the hairs standing up on the back of peoples necks.
by Blue Cawdrey November 23, 2004
A person who tucks their tracksuit bottoms into their socks. They also commonly wear Rockport shoes, Burberry scarves and Stone Island caps. Can be found outside the Spar uttering phrases such as:
"Ere mate, will you go to the shop for us?"
Answer - "No, fuck off you riff"
Or "Do us two's on that Lambert".
Answer - "No, fuck off you riff"
Or "Do us two's on that Lambert".
by Steve@Hallam January 22, 2004
Riff (verb, -riffed, -rif⋅fing. Informal): The art and science of making fun of low budget B-Movies by making snide and/or sarcastic comments (regarding the poor quality of the film's dialogue, acting, plot, shoddy film design, etc...) at the movie or television screen while the movie is running in the background. The comedy can be either high brow and esoteric or low brow and of the bodily branded humor.
The comic geniuses of MST3k brutally riffed upon the B-Movie schlock sci-fi/horror film "The Giant Spider Invasion." (1975) I don't know if the director was here to witness them shredding his movie, would he cry with shame or laugh until he peed his pants.
by Tsarstepan January 9, 2010
Riffing is not only a musical term rooted in Jazz but also a comedic term.
In common usage the term Jazz has not only several denotations but it also has several connotations: Jazz sometimes denotes an elaboration of something: To take something and elementally mix it up in such a way as to improve upon it.
"I bought an old car and jazzed it up."
"If you want to sell it, you'll need to jazz it up."
Jazz also has negative connotations:
"I slipped climbing into the truck and jazzed up my knee."
"The divorce jazzed up my whole life."
Say you had a Jazz quartet; a bass fiddle, a drummer, a sax, and a guitar. They can take a very old and very familiar tune and jazz it as a group to the point of being practically unrecognizable. Or, they do solo riffs on the melody. This is not a true solo, as, in turns, the musicians increase the volume of what they are playing while the others fade in volume and maintain the basic melody and beat. To riff then, is to touch upon a thing (in this case a melody) and depart from it to the point where it is unrecognizable by itself. Riffing is to touch lightly upon a thing only to depart from it.
Late-night talk show hosts and stand-up comics do topical or celebrity riffs. They may touch lightly upon an issue but quickly depart from it just for comic effect. They do not address or critique the issue or personality in question directly in a sober, mature or scholarly manner; instead they use it as a springboard to say something silly or irrelevant.
I got an email the other day containing an obviously doctored image of President Obama depicted as a Communist Witch Doctor. While the image visually riffs on his being of African heritage and a liberal politician, it does nothing to directly address his national health care policy proposals.
In common usage the term Jazz has not only several denotations but it also has several connotations: Jazz sometimes denotes an elaboration of something: To take something and elementally mix it up in such a way as to improve upon it.
"I bought an old car and jazzed it up."
"If you want to sell it, you'll need to jazz it up."
Jazz also has negative connotations:
"I slipped climbing into the truck and jazzed up my knee."
"The divorce jazzed up my whole life."
Say you had a Jazz quartet; a bass fiddle, a drummer, a sax, and a guitar. They can take a very old and very familiar tune and jazz it as a group to the point of being practically unrecognizable. Or, they do solo riffs on the melody. This is not a true solo, as, in turns, the musicians increase the volume of what they are playing while the others fade in volume and maintain the basic melody and beat. To riff then, is to touch upon a thing (in this case a melody) and depart from it to the point where it is unrecognizable by itself. Riffing is to touch lightly upon a thing only to depart from it.
Late-night talk show hosts and stand-up comics do topical or celebrity riffs. They may touch lightly upon an issue but quickly depart from it just for comic effect. They do not address or critique the issue or personality in question directly in a sober, mature or scholarly manner; instead they use it as a springboard to say something silly or irrelevant.
I got an email the other day containing an obviously doctored image of President Obama depicted as a Communist Witch Doctor. While the image visually riffs on his being of African heritage and a liberal politician, it does nothing to directly address his national health care policy proposals.
by The Twentieth Man August 5, 2009