Rhythm Basics
- This lesson is intended to give you a basic introduction to rhythm guitar playing for metal. It’s not very glamorous compared to lead guitar, but good rhythm playing will differentiate between a good guitarist and a great one. It’s just like any sports. Everyone wants to stand on the podium with a gold medal, but in order to get there, you have to get up every morning at the crack of dawn for years and years and train night and day. Even if you train hard, there’s no guarantee you will win the gold, but if you don’t train hard, you are guaranteed that you won’t win the gold.
- It’s important to know some general tips for staying on beat. Listen to some Metallica and learn some of their songs for great rhythm tips. Also, make sure you hear drum “cues” like cymbal crashes and drum rolls to know where you are in songs.
- Usually, measures of songs are divided into four beats. So you can count “one two three four”. The drummer hits the snare on some of these beats. Listen to some drums to get some ideas. For example, in Slayer – At Dawn They Sleep, on the main riff after the intro stop, the drummer hits the snare on the first and third beat. He then changes it to hit the snare on the second and fourth beat to change it up a little. The tempo remains the same, but the drum beat is changed to drive the song a bit.
- Another common thing bands do is to increase or reduce the number of snare hits in a song without changing the tempo or rhythm at all. A good example would be Children Of Bodom – Hate Crew Deathroll, during the prechorus. There is a heavy beat for the first part, and then as soon as the vocals come in, the number of snare hits are increased, but the guitar riff remains the same speed.
- Listen to the rhythms of your favorite songs to learn some ideas. One type of beat I call “triple time”, which is not an official musical term. If you listen to a song like Children Of Bodom – Blooddrunk, or In Flames – Gyroscope, you can count “one two three” between the bass drum and snare hit. This is different compared to a lot of other songs where you count “one two three four” for each.
- Remember from the clean playing lesson that simply lifting your finger will deaden a note. As a result of this, you should not form chords with your left hand until the absolute last possible second, or just as you strike the chord with your right hand. It’s a common rookie mistake to play a chord, lift your fingers, form the next chord, and strike it. Playing that way will make you sound choppy. Your chords should just snap into place. A great way to practice this is to learn some power metal songs like Stratovarius – Phoenix. Even though it’s incredibly simple, you have to play chords very precisely to make it sounds good.
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