About

I got my first guitar when I was 10.

By the time my calluses had formed and I'd developed a general familiarity with the fretboard, I started writing my own material.

I'd imagine playing on stage — until eventually I did. I imagined playing in front of a crowd of fans — until I went off to college. Since then, I've played alone, which is okay. The dream of becoming the next guitar hero is always just around the corner!

But over that time — which now spans decades — I've accumulated so many original riffs. Some good, some bad, each traceable back to a subset of influences prominent during maybe only a short window of my life. And each one uniquely from my brain: my composite of influences, my creativity engine. It's like my musical signature.

And my musical signature is just moldering in folders on my computer. It occurred to me that this problem is not unique to me.

So I created Riffipedia: a place for guitarists to catalog, share, and learn each other's riffs — and immortalize their musical signatures.

Here's how it works. Every riff on this site is an original idea — posted with tab, usually a video, and a few words from its author about why it works. Browse by tuning, string count, or vibe. Save the ones you want to learn. And when you're ready, submit your own. My riffs lean toward metal, but my attitude toward genre is come one, come all: if you write riffs, they belong here.

I envision a community of guitar enthusiasts sharing and supporting one another and making each other better players. I invite you to be part of it.

— Michael