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Hey Ultimate Guitarists! Sean Conklin here from InfiniteGuitar.com. I'm happy to bring you our 3rd lesson on UG. Today we're going to be focusing on a "song tutorial". At Infinite Guitar, we like to compose original music and then teach guitar methods through our songs. This particular lesson is meant for the metalheads. The song is a mix between progressive, melodic, and groove metal. Basically, it's just metal! As far as skill level, this lesson assumes you are an intermediate/advanced guitarist who already has a decent grasp on technique in general. And lastly, this song is in Drop D Tuning. So make sure you tune up before getting started. Exercise 1 This first riff has somewhat of a Pantera influence. Dimebag Darrell had a knack for playing chunky sounding riffs with a good amount of dissonance. We have a lot of Drop D power chords played throughout this riff. Let's examine some of the other things though. First, take a look at the 4th beat of the first measure. That's where we see some sixteenth note slides taking place with octave notes on the Low E string and the D string. I'd recommend using your middle finger for the Low E string note, and your ring finger for the D string note. Use your middle finger to play the Low E while also muting the open A string. Make sure you give the slide notes enough pressure so there is proper sustain. The next thing I want to look at is the very dissonant bend that takes place towards the beginning of bars 2, 4, 6, and 8 on the G and B strings. So before we actually bend anything, we're playing the 6th fret B string and the 9th fret G string, right? Those two notes played together is a minor 2nd interval. But then when we bend the G string note up a half step, the two notes become unison (the same). These type of bends are an excellent way to produce tension, especially in metal music. Exercise 2 In the first 4 bars of Exercise 2, we have a build-up where just the guitar and bass are prompting the drums to start playing so to speak. The most important part of this section is the use of rests. Make sure the rests are extremely tight sounding, meaning they should be totally silent. Then once the full riff kicks in, we'll start adding in some crunching palm mutes on the open D power chord. Make sure you grind the pick in the strings big time. Make those palm mutes sound brutal! In bars 17 through 20, we'll be breaking away from the heavy palm mutes and doing something a little different. We'll be playing a few major chords without the 5th. So for example, look at the first chord in bar 17. It's basically a C Major chord but without the 5th degree. So we have a C note (1st degree) on the 3rd fret A string, then another C note on the 5th fret G string, then an E note (3rd degree) on the 5th fret B string. Exercise 3 In Exercise 3, we have some fun 3-string sweep arpeggios. We'll be playing them as 16th notes. And make sure you follow the pick strokes very closely in the tab. Since we're sweeping, don't individualize each pick stroke, make sure your hand glides smoothly across the strings. Exercise 4 In Exercise 4, we'll be playing a neat little trick using open strings and legato. The whole pattern of this riff will be a grouping of 3 notes. First you'll play the open B string, then you'll hammer-on a B string note, then you'll hammer-on "from nowhere" on a G string note. But before you play anything, let's examine the rhythmic note values in the 1st measure. For the first 3 beats, you'll see that we'll be playing straight 16th notes. But then, what will we be playing on the 4th beat? As you can see in the tab, there are 6 notes in the 4th beat, so that means we'll be playing 16th note triplets (6 notes per beat). Once you have the feel for the rhythm down, this riff will be a lot easier. Exercise 5 This exercise is probably the most straightforward part of the song. We're basically just going to be doing a palm muted build on the 6th string. There are a select few non-palm muted notes though, so make sure you examine the tab closely. And be sure to give those quarter notes some heavy vibrato as the tab indicates. Exercise 6 This last exercise involves some intense speed picking and is a bit tricky. On the 2nd beat of each bar, do you see how we'll be playing 16th note triplets? Now, look at the very first note of the 3rd beat. We have a single 32nd note. So immediately after we play that 16th note triplet pattern in the 2nd beat, we'll play a quick 32nd note as well. This small addition makes that 16th note triplet pattern a little more difficult. Make sure you watch the video closely to really let the rhythm sink in for this exercise. Backing Track Have all the parts down? Download the backing track and get jamming! For more metal guitar lessons, headbang your way over to InfiniteGuitar.com.