Palm mute, pick attack, and the difference between a thud and a click. This is the grain of the style.
A chug is a pitched thud. Too much mute and it is a click. Too little and it is a power chord that never ends. The palm is a gate you operate in millimetres.
Where the palm sits
Rest the side of the picking hand on the strings where they leave the saddles. Not on the pickup, not in the middle of the string. You want the speaking length short. Move a millimetre toward the neck and the note blooms; a millimetre toward the bridge and it dies.
- Downstrokes for the first month. Small motion, from the wrist.
- The pick is a 1–1.5 mm attack. Digging in just adds noise.
- Left hand: fret nothing on the open chug. Lightly touch higher strings to kill sympathetic ring.
- Right-hand unused fingers can rest and mute the high strings.
One bar of even 16ths (count out loud)
1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Accent without opening
An accented chug is a slightly harder pick, not a released palm. If the accent rings, you lifted. Practice 16ths with an accent on each quarter until the mute depth stays constant and only the attack changes.