: What is the terminology for a piece of guitar played in the following cases Songs 1. Metallica : Master of Puppets - Duration: 3:33 - 5:15 2. Led Zeppelin: Stairway to Heaven - Duration : 5:35 - 6:35 3. Avenged Sevenfold

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A riff doesn't have to be a sequence that the whole song is built on, in fact Metallica are rather famous for having songs built up from a large number of associated, but different riffs, time sequences, concepts etc.

That section you mention from Master of Puppets is effectively an interlude between two heavier riffs, again, something they commonly do, providing a wide dynamic range across the whole song (and giving all the headbangers time to catch their breath before the next fast and heavy bit)

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That's called a "solo" or a "guitar solo". The word "solo" means alone, and of course in these cases there are other instruments playing, but as it is used in music today "solo" doesn't mean alone, it just means a single instrument that is playing a separate melody that is the main focus of the music for part of the song.

When a solo is being played, there is almost always no singing. In rock music, a solo is usually in the same part of the song where a bridge might be. Sometimes the solo is part of the bridge, sometimes there is a separate solo and bridge, and sometimes there is no bridge, just a solo instead of singing for a verse section. Of course, sometimes there is no solo.

There are solos that are not played on the guitar. They are still called "solos", and sometimes the instrument used in the solo might be added to the term. So you might hear of "a piano solo" or a "keyboard solo", "bass solo", "drum solo", "theremin solo", "harmonica solo", etc.