Brutal Chromatic Riffing
This lesson is inspired by bands such as Pantera and Lamb of God. It consists of chromatic riffs mostly in the open position, and utilises all four fingers of the left hand. Anybody new to this sort of stuff will want to practice it slowly at first, giving the left and right hands time to coordinate and 'groove'.
Practice Tips
- A big part of sounding brutal is palm-muting technique. This deliberately chokes the strings in order to produce a chunky sort of sound.
- Drop D tuning is great for brutal riffs, since it's way easier to shift between positions. This gives more fluidity to the riff, and combined with palm-muting, really gets the groove pumping.
- If you decide that Drop D or standard tuning just aren't enough and want to tune down, make sure to compensate by installing heavier gauge strings. Failure to do so will result in the strings flapping everywhere and sounding more like a fart than music!
Corey Hunter is a guitarist of 28 years. His YouTube channel, Gemini Guitar, is at the forefront of modern tuition methods, exploring niche and alternative styles of playing. He is also the owner and instructor at Corey's Guitar & Ukulele Lessons, based in Sydney, Australia.