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intermediatetechnique
Palm Muting & Rhythm
Tight palm-muted riffs in 4/4 with a click track.
Objective
Play an 8-bar rock rhythm part with palm-muted and open power chords, keeping tight 16th-note subdivision.
Concepts
- ▸Palm muting (PM): rest the edge of the picking hand on the strings just over the bridge saddles.
- ▸Too far from bridge = dead thud. Too close = normal open sound. The sweet spot is roughly 1cm from the saddles.
- ▸Downpicking vs alternate picking: classic rock uses mostly downstrokes for weight; metal uses alternate for speed.
- ▸Syncopation: placing accents on the off-beats (&s) creates groove — "chug-chug CHUG chug".
- ▸16th-note counting: 1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a. Each beat divides into 4 equal parts.
- ▸Consistent picking angle and speed are more important than picking power.
Diagram / Notation
Classic punk/rock rhythm (E5):
Counting: 1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a
Picking: D D D D D D D D
PM PM PM PM PM PM PM PM ↑ ↑ PM PM ↑ ↑
Mixed PM and open riff (E5–G5–A5):
E |--0--0--0--3--3--5--5--3--|
A |--2--2--2--5--5--7--7--5--|
PM|PM PM PM PM PM ↑ ↑ PM |Exercises
1.Pure palm-mute drill
- 1.Set metronome to 100 BPM. Hold E5.
- 2.Downstroke on every 16th note (4 strokes per beat) with palm mute engaged.
- 3.All notes must be exactly the same volume and length — no accent, no gaps.
- 4.If you hear unevenness, slow to 80 BPM and use a metronome.
2.Open-PM contrast accent
- 1.Pattern: 3 PM strokes + 1 open (accent) on beat 4: PM–PM–PM–OPEN.
- 2.The open accent should be noticeably louder.
- 3.Add a chord change on the accent: E5 PM pattern → G5 on accent.
3.8-bar rock groove
- 1.Bars 1–4: E5 full PM 16ths at 110 BPM.
- 2.Bar 5: E5 → G5 → A5 with accented open strums on beats 2 and 4.
- 3.Bars 7–8: return to E5 PM, ending on a big open strum on beat 1 of bar 9.
- 4.Repeat 8 bars without stopping. Record yourself to check timing.
Tips
- 💡The pick angle matters — a slight angle (pick tilted toward headstock) gives tighter attack.
- 💡Synchronize: left hand must mute exactly as right hand strikes. Even a 10ms mismatch sounds loose.
- 💡Practice with a physical metronome rather than a track — the bare click exposes every gap.
- 💡Watch Tom Morello and Tony Iommi rhythm guitar — study how they lock in with the drummer.