By Carvel Avis in How-To Guides

Riff Lab is a Note Sequence builder - not a traditional notation program. It’s meant to be a really fast way to choose from notes on the fretboard and create a note sequence that can be turned into a riff.

Everything comes in as an 8th note. And that’s on purpose because it keeps your focus away from worrying about note rhythms and on things like string crossings, pick-stroke direction, hammer-ons, pull-offs, bends and slides - the things that make you a more fluid player.

Once you’ve built a note sequence, Riff Lab can instantly add different rhythms. To do that go to the top right of the notation area where you see “Rhythm Remix Versions”. To add a new version, click the plus button on the left. Riff Lab instantly shuffles the rhythms for you.

Click the minus button on the right to delete any version you don’t like. Load any version using the dropdown menu in the middle.

Here’s how the Auto Rhythm Settings work.

Open the Settings Menu and select “Notation”. Then scroll down to “Auto Rhythm Settings”

The higher you move a slider, the more often that type of note will show up in the remix. So if you push the 8th note slider up and pull the others down, you’ll get mostly 8th notes. Slide it down, and you’ll see fewer 8th notes.

Experiment with this. Remember, you can freely add or delete rhythm remix versions and you always have the note sequence.

Just a heads-up on adding or deleting notes from a note sequence.

You can edit notes in any version and edits made in one version are reflected in all the others but you can only add or delete notes in the note sequence and doing that causes a warning that all the rhythm versions will be deleted.