Practice
Technique exercises
Mute, gallop, bounce, odd meters, tapping. Each drill has a starting tempo, a target, and a metronome that already knows the time signature.
Foundation
Mute machine
70–140Palm mute · 4/4
Even 16th-note chugs on the open sixth string. The whole genre sits on this.
Gallop engine
90–180Gallop / 16th grouping · 4/4
The 16th-16th-8th gallop. Metal's oldest horse, still the breakdown's best friend.
Half-time crush
70–90Breakdown bounce · 4/4
Slow pulse, heavy hits on 1 and 3, ghost 16ths in between. The modern breakdown.
Tightness
Open-string two-step
120–170Syncopation · 4/4
Open 5 against off-beat chugs. The metalcore rhythm that isn't on the downbeat.
0-0-0-0 bounce
100–140Djent pulse · 4/4
Four even 16ths on the low strings, then a rest. Repeat. Precision over speed.
Phrygian neighbor
80–130Half-step slide · 4/4
Open 5 to fret-1 5 and back. The smallest move with the meanest sound.
String skip arpeggio
80–130String skipping · 4/4
Root on 6, skip 5, land on 4. The skeleton of spread prog voicings.
Harmonic sniper
60–90Pinch harmonics · 4/4
One pinch per bar, on beat 3, over a muted chug. Aim, don't spray.
Prog
Seven on the floor
140–2007/8 grouping · 7/8
Count 2+2+3. Chug the groups, accent the starts. Odd time that still stomps.
Five-stomp
150–2105/8 grouping · 5/8
3+2. A limp that becomes a hook once the accents are honest.
Three over four
90–120Polyrhythm · 4/4
Play groups of three 8ths against a 4/4 click. They meet every three bars.
Tap cascade
70–110Two-hand tapping · 4/4
Right-hand tap, pull-off, left-hand hammer. A three-note cell across two strings.
X on a grid is an accent. x is a hit. Dots are rest. Work the start tempo until it is boring, then move.