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Let’s get something out of the way.
Most great guitar riffs are stolen.
Not copied. Not plagiarised. But stolen in the sense that they start with an idea that already exists and then get transformed into something new.
It’s like the famous Picasso quote, ‘Good artist borrow, great artists steal.’
Once you realise this, songwriting suddenly becomes a lot less mysterious.
Instead of waiting for inspiration to strike out of nowhere, you can start with something you already like and reshape it.
And one of the most famous practitioners of this approach is Noel Gallagher.
The Noel Gallagher Approach
A great example is Cigarettes & Alcohol by Oasis.
The riff is incredibly similar to Get It On (Bang a Gong) by T. Rex.
Play them back to back and the resemblance is obvious.
But here’s the interesting thing: Noel never really tried to hide it.
The vocal melody is different, the arrangement is heavier, and the whole thing has that loud, swaggering 90s Britpop energy.
He took an existing idea and made it feel like an Oasis song.
Another famous example is Don’t Look Back in Anger, which lifts the opening piano idea from Imagine by John Lennon.
Again, it’s not subtle.
But it’s just the intro. The song that follows is completely different.
This is why Noel gets away with it.
The borrowed idea is just the starting point.
Why Most Songwriters Need to Be More Careful
The reality is that Noel Gallagher can get away with being quite brazen.
He’s writing huge songs, and the parts that follow transform the original idea enough that it feels intentional rather than lazy.
Most of us don’t have that luxury.
If you’re writing your own riffs, you usually need to disguise the source material a bit more.
The good news is that this isn’t complicated.
You only really need to change two or three things.
The Three Ways to Transform a Riff
If you want to take inspiration from another riff without copying it, focus on these three levers:
1. Rhythm
Rhythm is often the fastest way to disguise an idea.
Keep the same notes, but change when they land.
You can:
- Move accents to different beats
- Add pauses
- Change straight notes into swung notes
- Push notes earlier or later
Suddenly the riff feels completely different, even if the pitch content hasn’t changed much.
2. Order
Another powerful trick is simply rearranging the notes.
Instead of playing them in the original sequence, you can:
- Start on a different note
- Reverse part of the pattern
- Jump to a later note first
- Break the riff into chunks and reorder them
You’re still using the same musical ingredients, but the structure has changed.
3. Add or Subtract
The final trick is to modify the riff slightly by adding or removing something.
You might:
- Remove a note to simplify it
- Add a passing note
- Extend the riff with one extra tone
- Drop a chord or add one
Even a small change like this can shift the character of the riff enough that it becomes something new.
A Simple Rule
In general, if you change at least two of these three things, the idea will usually feel original enough to stand on its own.
Change:
- Rhythm
- Order
- Add or subtract notes
And the DNA of the original idea starts to disappear.
Why This Makes Songwriting Easier
The biggest benefit of this approach is that it removes the pressure to be “original” from the very beginning.
Instead of staring at a guitar waiting for inspiration, you can start with something that already works and reshape it.
Most musicians are already doing this subconsciously.
Learning to do it deliberately just speeds up the process.
And once you start listening for it, you’ll notice it everywhere.
Great songwriters rarely invent ideas from scratch.
They transform them.
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