What is a riff and lick??/

Where do they come from.

What do they mean, or how did the terms originate?

What is a riff and a lick,what do you do with it.

A riff is just so to speak, a part of a song, i guess u could say, a bar of a song i guess u could say, lol never been asked to explain it

A riff and a lick are basically the same thing - a short sequence of notes comprising a solo; usually begin at one root note and go to the next.

what he said

I think of a "lick" as a piece, a section of a song or solo... it may only occur one time, though often it occurs more than once in a song or solo, not necessarily in constant repetition.

I think of a "riff" as a repeating piece, like, say, a repeating chord progression or series of notes, sort of like a repeating loop.

By that definition, I guess a "riff" could be a "lick" that repeats... but not all licks are actually riffs...

That's how I understand the two.

From my point of view , a riff is a repetitive series of notes used as part of the main rhythm section ( sometimes but not always , replacing a chord progression ) , I am not sure , but it probably started with the blues and spread from there . Listen to " Damn right I've got the blues " by Buddy Guy , play a chord progression over it and it sounds crap , there is something missing , Other examples are Led Zeppelin , Black Sabbath , Cream and a lot of metal bands are all riff based . A lick is part of a solo , played over a riff or chord progression . Licks are a couple of bars long that are broken down from a solo . It would be almost impossible to learn a solo note for note from beginning to end , but if you break it into sections that are played in different positions on the fretboard , it becomes manageable . Licks are also used to enhance the melody ( call and response ) or emphasise chord changes ( a turnaround is a lick ) Hope this helps