“I wanted to come up with a hypnotic riff and had the Rolling Stones’ Miss You in mind”: Jared James Nichols on how Keith Richards and ZZ Top influenced one of his most memorable riffs – and what Eddie Kramer told him about songwriting

This month, I’d like to discuss some of the approaches I use to create solid, memorable riffs that I can then build upon when writing songs. So often, as most guitar players do, I’ll noodle around ’til I hit on a riff and say, “That’s pretty cool.” You know you have something special when you find a riff that you can feel inspired to build an entire song around.

For all of the material I write for my band, I always begin with a nucleus of an idea that I can then expand into a solid and effective song. A good example is Honey Forgive Me.