What makes a great cyclic riff? You know the kind - you can't stop playing it, singing it, dancing to it...it's addictive. I've taken three great examples and had a look at what makes them tick. 1. Q-Tip 'Gettin' Up' (sample of Black Ivory You and I) This is an interesting one. The instrumental riff is 3 bars long, and there's a competing tension between the feeling of it being 3 bars of 4/4 or 2 bars of 6/4. Harmony says one thing, then drums and words say other: This dichot