Misha Mansoor of Periphery shows how to completely change the feel of a riff with just a few simple changes to the drum part.

Misha demonstrates using the song from his JST Toneforge demo and the drums he programmed with GGD Modern & Massive: by simply adding or deleting ghost notes, moving kick or snare placements, or moving the cymbals from china to hi hat or vice versa, the same riff can have a radically different feel.

While there's nothing wrong with adding riffs if it sounds good, consider adding this technique to your songwriting bag of tricks to open up new possibilities!