Learn How to Play Piano Riffs / Licks – Add to Your Repertoire
Learn how to play piano riffs / licks and add to your repertoire of piano techniques. Knowing Blues, Gospel, Jazz, Boogie Woogie, Funk, Latin, and Country piano riffs will make your piano playing sound lot more professional.
If you’re not sure what a piano riff / lick is, then the couple of videos here will show you what it means.
Video showing you how to play a Blues Riff / Lick
Video showing you how to play a Funk Groove
Books to Learn Blues, Gospel, Jazz, Boogie Woogie, Funk, Latin, Country and
many more Piano Riffs/Licks
Some of these books can be used by beginners but mostly suitable for intermediate to experienced piano players.
With these books, you can learn intros and endings suitable for use in gigs, smooth-sounding progressions for fill-ins, and simple to more complex chord progressions.
Thousands of people have learned to play with this Piano Learning Course.
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Background
Here’s a little bit of music theory before me move ahead with the explanation. Don’t worry it won’t be long 
Heard of the word Ostinato?
In music theory, it means a musical phrase that is persistently repeated. And since this is music, you have flexibility to use it as part of melody or use it as part of the rhythm.
Lot of musicians in the 1920s, especially those who played more of rock and jazz probably felt that the word Ostinato was too formal. So they introduced the term Riff in their music vocabulary. Over a period of time musicians also started using the term Lick.
That’s how the terms Piano Riffs and Piano Licks came into existence!
A piano Riff / Lick is a repeated chord progression, or a melodic phrase, and can be used as part of the accompaniment or as part of solo playing.
What is a Piano Riff / Lick
If you have played in a band, I am sure you would have realized that playing the rhythms become monotonous after some time.
It would be great to know some amazing “musical runs / short passages” which you can play from time to time to make it sound more interesting. Piano riffs should help you out!
Recommended Books
A Piano riff is nothing but an impressive sounding musical ditty / pattern that you use as part of an accompaniment or as fillers between songs.
They are not recognizable melodies as such and are basically used more as a decoration tool on the overall song.
It is a handy tool to have in your repository since it easily impresses people who happen to be listening to you.
If you are playing in a band, it is even more important to be able to play piano riffs; you can use them during breaks or you can use them for your solo part.
Though some of the riffs may look very easy to play, you need to ensure that you observe the correct articulations and dynamics, which makes it a challenge to play riffs.
Play it on Your Piano
If you have an acoustic piano at home, and have not been practicing a lot, then you may find it difficult to play Piano Licks all of a sudden, considering that you may have to play it faster. Add to it the hammer action keys, and you may need more time and practice to play piano licks comfortably.
On music keyboards, it may be comparatively easy to play riffs, but then these licks sound much better on a piano (IMHO).
Nevertheless, you still have to learn and practice them!
As always, when learning new things, try learning each hand separately and once you are comfortable try both the hands together.
In general, you can use riffs to add to your repertoire and melodic ideas. You may even choose to use these rhythmic chord patterns for music therapy practice.
Learn how to play piano riffs for various styles of music like rock, blues, boogie, etc. and make sure you always have a handful of those in your bags of tricks. I am sure nobody will see you as a novice once you can play riffs.
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