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Identify this riff?

category: music [glöplog]
 
There's this riff I hear in many demos, sids, and tracker songs. I took examples from 4 songs and put them here; can anyone identify what its origin is?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbA2ze0KZUo
added on the 2011-12-31 12:06:57 by skolic skolic
dontknow, maybe something by randy rhoads ?
added on the 2011-12-31 15:21:29 by the_Ye-Ti the_Ye-Ti
I'd say that riff is basically the foundation of the entire genre of Italo-disco. It's probably safe to assume that the typical 16-year-old demoscene musician in the 80s was listening to a lot of Italo-disco, so those influences were bound to rub off into demoscene music.

...mind you, my stock answer in these circumstances is always "they all ripped it off from Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor", and that seems to work here too.
added on the 2011-12-31 15:50:59 by gasman gasman
Meh.. I've written a longish replay about what this is, with explanation on the funtion and everything, but my browser eat the reply..

In short: it is harmonic minor played decending with some arpeggios on top. Its very common.
added on the 2011-12-31 17:47:40 by torus torus
Its a pivot riff where you pick a "pivot" note and dance around it with other notes from the scale. It's a common technique in classical music, particularly violin, almost to the point of being cliche.

You can make the pivot note move to a simple progression also, which I think is whats happening in your video.

It's such a common technique I don't think the examples you showed actually share anything more in common - it's a general technique more than a "signature" riff.

As soon as you start mucking around in harmonic minor, continually bouncing back to a pivot note you'll get some stuff that sounds very similar.

Vinnie Moore (a not-so-well-known but still legendary 80s guitarist) does it a lot in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Wcf_j--FZc . Which is where I first heard of it.

added on the 2011-12-31 21:08:18 by xwize xwize
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AU0RpSElca4

:]
added on the 2012-01-01 01:06:12 by sergeeo sergeeo
Thanks, this answers my question!
added on the 2012-01-01 07:17:48 by skolic skolic
This riff is called "Martin Smith".
added on the 2012-01-01 10:10:32 by xeron xeron
this riff needs a spliff ;)
(sounding like sth with Dave Lee Roth afterwards maybe ;) )
that riff is so uninspired that it was probably re-invented by each musician independently.
added on the 2012-01-01 18:59:45 by skrebbel skrebbel
sounds good nevertheless. where is the first excerpt from?
added on the 2012-01-02 15:41:48 by vectory vectory
Also sounds like tune #1 from this sid, remixed here
added on the 2012-01-03 11:01:49 by cruzer cruzer
@vectory
The first one is MISTER BEEP's ZX Spectrum tune 'Press the corresponding number', the 3rd is his 'The ninth fighter-ship', and 2nd & 4th are versions of Aurora.
added on the 2012-01-03 15:42:28 by skolic skolic
funny, i know this riff from here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jO38u__aTs
added on the 2012-01-03 17:41:18 by wertstahl wertstahl
The chord sequence sounds pretty phrygian which isn't pop at all, although quite common in the chiptune world. I agree with Skreb that the pivoted leads sound quite uninspired and probably mimic some mid-80s guitarshred phrasing rather than Bach himself :)
added on the 2012-01-03 22:07:27 by dixan dixan
reminds me of this btw dj shadow ;)
hi, i'm searching for an old demo. i'm not sure if it was on a c64 or amiga. i recreate the melody of the credit part: http://www.mediafire.com/file/ei1t98ti0e3s9o9/c64dem.mp3
the credits part was a simple background with a dragon and a pacman.
maybe someone can help? :)
added on the 2012-02-22 21:34:05 by Joryk Joryk

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