Lesson Two - Rhythm Basics
To play clean, fast, metal-style rhythms and riffs, it's essential to develop good palm-muting and picking technique. Work with the rhythm warm-ups from last lesson and play some favourite riffs until you can play a rhythm cleanly and competently. Remember: start slow!
Try turning down your reverb so you're not covering up any mistakes, this will also help remove unwanted noise. Metal players often use a technique known as 'scooping'. This involves cutting out a fair ammount of 'mids' on the amplifier, try turning the dial to 9 or 10 o'clock. On my amp (Marshall Valvestate 80-watt) I use these settings:
Gain - 18 (helps take out some 'squeaky' high end noisy crap)
Bass - Full (or thereabouts)
Mids - 4
Treb - 6 1/2
Contour - 7 1/2
Volume - 5
Simple/Common Rhythm Figures
All these riffs are in 4/4 time, played using straight eighth notes or sixteenth notes.
Remember, it takes eight quavers to complete a full bar, count 1-&-2-&-3-&-4-&. It takes sixteen semi-quavers to fill a full bar, count 1-ee-and-a 2-ee-and-a 3-ee-and-a 4-ee-and-a if it helps.
c = crotchet (1/4 note)
q = quaver (1/8th note)
s = semi-quaver (1/16th note)
* = rest
Concentrate on keeping time, playing tight and with feeling. These first figures are relatively easy and show how to incorporate chord 'stabs' into rhythm figures:
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||-----------------------------||
||*---9--------9--------9-----*||
||*---9--------9--------9-----*||
||----7--------7--------7------||
||-------0--0-----0--0-----0---||
q q q q q q q q
This is a common rhythm used all the time, it involves hitting a chord (E5) then further 'establishing' it's tone by playing the root note (E).
||-------------------------------------------------||
||-------------------------------------------------||
||*--------------9-----------------9-----------9--*||
||*--------------9-----------------9-----------9--*||
||---------------7-----------------7-----------7---||
||---0--0--0--0--------0--0--0--0--------0--0------||
s s s s q s s s s q s s q
The same idea this time using 16th notes with the muted root notes coming before the chord.
||----------------------------------------------------||
||----------------------------------------------------||
||*--9-----------------9-----------------9-----------*||
||*--9-----------------9-----------------9-----------*||
||---7-----------------7-----------------7------------||
||---------0--0--0--0--------0--0--0--0--------0--0---||
q s s s s q s s s s q s s
||----------------------------||
||----------------------------||
||*--------9--------9-----9--*||
||*--------9--------9-----9--*||
||---------7--------7-----7---||
||---0--0-----0--0-----0------||
q q q q q q q q
Common Riff Patterns
Try running through these and concentrate on getting a 'feel' for the figures, listen to some of your favourite songs and you'll hear rhythmic ideas like these all over the place. Palm mute all this stuff.
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||--------------------------------------------------||
||*------------------------------------------------*||
||*------------------------------------------------*||
||--------------------------------------------------||
||----0--0--0-----0--0--0-----0--0--0-----0--0--0---||
s s q s s q s s q s s q
||----------------------------------------------------||
||----------------------------------------------------||
||*--------------------------------------------------*||
||*--------------------------------------------------*||
||----------------------------------------------------||
||---0-----0--0--0-----0--0--0-----0--0--0-----0--0---||
q s s q s s q s s q s s
||----------------------------------------------------||
||----------------------------------------------------||
||*--------------------------------------------------*||
||*--------------------------------------------------*||
||----------------------------------------------------||
||---0-----0-----0-----0-----0-----0--0--0--0--0--0---||
q q q q q s s s s s s
||---------------------------|-----------------------------|
||---------------------------|-----------------------------|
||*--------------------------|-----------------------------|
||*--------------------------|-----------------------------|
||---------------------------|-----------------------------|
||---0--0-----0--0-----0--0--|--------0--0-----0--0-----0--|
q q * q q * q q * q q * q q * q
-------------------------||
-------------------------||
------------------------*||
------------------------*||
-------------------------||
0-----0--0-----0--0------||
q * q q * q q *
The rhythm above is very common and is played with two quavers and then resting for the space of one quaver. This means it takes three bars of this riff before it can be repeated, starting again on the first beat.
You can think about these rhythms as being 'building blocks' for developing other, more complex ideas - take our first example (ssq, ssq, ssq, ssq):
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||--------------------------------------------------||
||*------------------------------------------------*||
||*------------------------------------------------*||
||--------------------------------------------------||
||----0--0--0-----0--0--0--0--0--0--0-----0--0--0---||
s s q s s s s s s q s s q
Just by breaking up the second 8th note into two 16th notes we've created a much more interesting, but one that still keeps a strong sense of rhythm.
Well-known Rhythm Figures
Propaganda - Sepultura
||-----------------------------------------------------||
||-----------------------------------------------------||
||*---------------------------------------------------*||
||*---2-----2-----2-----2--2-----2--2-----2-----2--2--*||
||----2-----2-----2-----2--2-----2--2-----2-----2--2---||
||----0-----0-----0-----0--0-----0--0-----0-----0--0---||
q q s * s s * s s * q s s
This is the second last riff from Sepultura's Propaganda, the rests in this case are semi-quaver rests.
Some Alice in Chains Song 7/8 riff!
||-----------------------------------------------||
||-----------------------------------------------||
||*---------------------------------------------*||
||*---2--2--2--2--3--3--3--3--4--4--4--4--5--5--*||
||----2--2--2--2--3--3--3--3--4--4--4--4--5--5---||
||----0--0--0--0--1--1--1--1--2--2--2--2--3--3---||
s s s s s s s s s s s s s s
This riff is peculiar because it is not in 'standard' 4/4 time. This riff only needs seven quavers (or fourteen semi-quavers) to fill a bar. Count this like - 1-ee-and-a 2-ee-and-a 3-ee-and-a 4-ee. This rhythm gives the riff an unfinished, lurching feel.
Sweating Bullets - Megadeth
||---------------------------|--------------------------|
||---------------------------|--------------------------|
||*--------------------------|--------------------------|
||*--------------------------|--------------------------|
||---5-----------4-----------|--3-----------2-----------|
||------0--2--3-----0--2--3--|-----0--2--3-----0--2--3--|
q q q q q q q q q q q q q q q q
------------------------|---------------------------||
------------------------|---------------------------||
------------------------|--------------------------*||
------------------------|--------------------------*||
1-----------------------|---------------------------||
---0--2--3--5--0--2--3--|--5--3--2--1--1--1--2--3---||
q q q q q q q q q q q q q q q q
The first quaver in each group of four should not be palm-muted, helping to break the riff up and emphasize the riff's movement.
Bombtrack - Rage Against the Machine
||-------------------------------------------------|
||-------------------------------------------------|
||*------------------------------------------------|
||*---------------4-----------------------4-----2--|
||-------------------------------------------------|
||----0-----2-----------0--2-----0--2--------------|
q q q s s * s s * q q
----------------------------------------------||
----------------------------------------------||
------------------------------6-----5-----4--*||
------------4-----------------6-----5-----4--*||
------------------------------4-----3-----2---||
0-----2-----------0--2-----0------------------||
q q q s s * s q q q
Slayer - Spirit In Black
||--------------------------|-------------------------|
||--------------------------|-------------------------|
||*-------------------------|-------------------------|
||*--2----------------------|-------------------------|
||---2-----------7p5--------|--8p7--------10p8--------|
||---0-----0--0-------0--0--|-------0--0--------0--0--|
c q q q q q q q q q q q q q q
-----------------------|-------------------------|
-----------------------|-------------------------|
-----------------------|-------------------------|
2----------------------|-------------5--3--------|
2-----------7p5--------|--8p7--------5--3--------|
0-----0--0-------0--0--|-------0--0--3--1--------|
c q q q q q q q q q q q c+q
-----------------------|---------------------------||
-----------------------|---------------------------||
-----------------------|--------------------------*||
2----------------------|--------------------3-----*||
2-----------7p5--------|--2--3--2-----2-----3------||
0-----0--0-------0--0--|-----------3-----0--1------||
c q q q q q q q q q q q q c
In the forth bar of this riff you'll notice the last note is held for a
crotchet plus an eighth note, this is equal to 1 1/2 beats.
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