sometimes, when writing a ‘rhythm’ part, you might decide you don’t need chords at all – even though there’s a chord progression or some kind of harmonic movement. Full chords might not suit the style of music or the guitar sound you’re using. One solution is to play single-note riffs built from the changing chord notes, and this is especially effective when you can create a similar pattern for each chord.
For this example, we’re starting with a simple chord progression in E minor. Establishing the initial pattern is the first job. We’re just using the E on the 5th string (7th fret), the B on the 4th string (9th fret) and then the G on the 2nd string...
We’re arguably quite a way from the actual chord, as all we have is the root note, plus the F# and G notes. This is part of the fun, though – you can choose how rigidly you follow the pattern or the chord notes.
Here’s the basic pattern. The added F# gives an Emadd9 sound, although the short notes prevent any of these riffs from having an obvious “chord” sound.The changing root note is the strongest element.
As with the Em to C change, we can go from Am to D by just changing the bottom (root) note. From here, it’s not too difficult to move back up to the Em.
For the C chord, we’ve simply changed the E root to a C, leaving everything else the same. The B note in the riff therefore gives a Cmaj7 effect.