I Love Guitar
We can use lines to mean different things. One use of lines will be to indicate strings. When numbers are placed on lines, this means to play these frets on the string indicated on the left side of the line (in the circle). Numbers in circles mean which string to play. Guitar strings are numbered 1 through 6 (highest to lowest). The 
means the first string, which is the highest one [the High E, the thinnest, the string on the bottom]. Play these fret numbers on the first string using a pick or fingers.
Recognize the tune? It's Smoke on the Water for sure. This is a simplified way to play it. It is really played on the inside two strings [the 4 and 3 strings] simultaneously. See the Popular Riffs Tab for the actual way to play it.
When there isn't any rhythm written, we just have to know how the song goes. We sing it vocally (out loud) or sub-vocally (in our mind). We play like we sing it. Our voice is your primary musical instrument. We use our voice as a primary practice. It is a vital connection to the world of instruments [instruments are extensions of it].
If there were a 6 in the circle on the left, we would play this on the low string [the Low E, the thickest, on the top].
Now, Smoke above is a melody, but it is also known as a riff. A riff is an identifiable or memorable melodic or harmonic trademark for a song. In contrast, a lick is defined as a melodic fragment that can be combined with other licks either for soloing or riffing.
If you see numbers written in empty space (not on a line), this typically would mean that the fret numbers can be played on any string.
Kids love this & it's easy to teach to them, once they grasp fretting & picking the same string. Yes, we are grown-ups here, but this will get us some mileage. All of these frets are on the same string. See if you can figure out the melody from just the first handful of tones [0-0-7-7-...].
We encourage you to figure out as many melodies as you can. If you can sing it, you can find a way to play it. Match the pitches you sing with tones on the fretboard.
Some ideas... Row Your Boat, Little Lamb, Happy Birthday, She'll Be Coming Around the Mountain, any vocal melodies that you know whether from childhood or from popular music on the radio today.
It is guaranteed that as you learn to improvise with scales, you will find melodies that you know, just through tinkering with a given set of tones.
This is how this riff is played on the recording.
This is a harmonic riff. It is a chord progression that is recognizable as a guitar riff. These are the chord locations.
To play this like the recording, keep the strumming hand moving down-up. The strumming hand will hit and miss. And, the fretting hand will press and mute. Use your ear and feel of the rhythm to combine these variables. I've written down the exact rhythm with the pressing and missing and strumming pattern and have found that it is not as effective for learning as just doing it. Thus, the exact way that this is played is not included. Feel your way rather than depend on visuals and counting. This method has proven the fastest way to learn this and others like it. Chord Strummer will help.
If exactness is desired, search for the transcription online or in print. I transcribed how I sometimes play it and I never play it the same way twice. And, I never play it.
Popular Riffs - PDF with these starter popular riffs.
Melody is the linear or horizontal dimension of music. It is a succession of single tones that create a cohesive & often memorable tune. Other words for melody are tune & line. Melodies are often most of what we retain from songs that we know.
Melodies can be based in a scale (a key), yet they don't have to be. They can flow from any tone to any tone based on any type of tonal organization. Melodies either stay on the same tone, go up or down. That's it. When a melody moves up or down, it's only a matter of finding out how far it moves. For any given melody, its range is the space between its highest & lowest tones.
Every melody has a shape, which can be called its contour:
For our purposes, we will be learning scales [tone groups], & using them to play melodies [melodies that we know & ones that we make up]. One of our primary practices will be improvising. Improvising is making music up on the spot. To do this, we offer some jam audio, yet we encourage you to find other players to jam with. It's a great experience and again, a primary practice.
Learning to be melodic is like a branching river. We learn to intuitively follow what we hear. We can use maps [scale patterns] or free explore, while we listen to and gauge tonal interactions. We build a catalog of experiences which influence our next jam session.
Scales are ascending & descending alphabetical tone playing. They are ultimately tone groups that can be played in any order. When we play them in alphabetical order [or sequences for study], we call them scales.
Scales serve many functions, such as technical training & as a base for melody making.
In this Melody & Riff section, we include actions to take that will help you explore, map, & memorize scales. Our focus is to understand & use scales, in linear & fixed position systems, and use them to create melodies. Over time, patterns and scales give way to pure knowledge. You just know, rather than depending on patterns.
Picking & Fretting are integral and necessary to melody and riff playing.
Riffs are guitar based 'melodies' [although many can be played on any pitched instrument] which are recognizable and singable. In contrast to certain types of chord progressions, riffs can be sung. Good examples are Crazy Train, Smoke on the Water, and Seven Nation Army.
Riffs can be played as they are actually played on recordings, or they can be simplified and made to be easier. Easier means that we just play on a single string, or a different set of strings, or in a way that is easier than what is on a recording. If you decide to play the easier version, your goal is still to be able to play the real thing.
The thing about riffs are, that in some cases, the whole song in which they arise can be much harder to play than the intro riff. In contrast to a primary target for all guitarists - being a solid rhythm player - riffs alone are cut flowers. They get us going, keep us fired up, but our overall goal is to play entire tunes and this can be challenging for many of the popular riffs we all want to play.
You may also hear the word lick floating around in our guitar world. A lick is a melodic fragment or solo idea. They are often cliches. They are melodic motives. In the Soloing section we provide some licks, yet we won't keep using the word.
All of these terms - melody, riff, lick - have overlap in their definitions and we don't want to get radically hung up keeping them in distinct categories. However, to consider these definitions does provide a worthy intellectual exercise.