How to spruce up old riffs with beat displacement

To play a guitar riff is to do more than simply to memorize a short musical phrase. Guitar riffs are like any other musical exercise; practicing them can be a terrific means of building manual dexterity and improving your overall playing technique. We can say of riffs, then, that they are not so much about rote repetition as making available to the guitarist new and different ways of playing. Every new riff you learn will make you a more able and versatile guitarist and better equip you to stay away from rock clichés. In this installment from his Riff of the Week series, Dave Weiner demonstrates how to play a simple riff that doesn't start on the 1, or first downbeat, on the electric guitar. For more, or to get started playing this riff for yourself on your own guitar, or displacing beats in your own riffs more generally, watch this free video guitar lesson.