Strong Right Hand Palm Muting Riffs Technique

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(parts from the songs «Death Like Silence» and «Embrace The Nightrage» of NIGHTRAGE are played at the following videos)

In thοse videos I’m using alternate picking and down picking, right hand picking in mid to fast tempos.

On “Death Like Silence” video that follows, I start with a fast alternate right hand picking and then I land on some different fifths and tritone chords, that are used frequently in metal music. It’s the “Diabolus in Musica” chord. That particular chord shape is so “ominous” and melodic at the same, working great as a bridge to connect fifths. Afterwards, I switch to a more melodic pattern where I’m using octaves along with tritones. Lastly I play some “brutal” heavy riffing with intense downstokes. It’s very important when we are playing open E string, to keep all the other strings muted, avoiding every unwanted noise. In whatever you play, the cleaner sound you produce, the best will be the outcome, bringing up the riffs sounding more focused and tight. One other thing (and that is very important!) is the timing! You need to keep it very tight, following the right tempo. Keep your right hand loose and don’t overdo it, so you keep all the energy and the power for efficient playing!

On “Embrace The Nightrage” that’s below, I” m using E open string downstrokes and alternate picking (“downstrokes” is when we are playing all our right hand picking with downs, “down-down-down”… etc and “alternate picking” is when we are playing with our right hand “down-up-down” etc). I’ m also playing some single guitar lines along with the heavy muted E triplets to get this more melodic riff approach. Again here I am using the tritone riff for my chords along with major-minor diads and I use also a C SUS 2 chord. Next part is fretted and open fourths, followed by fast triplets and then a black metal type of single notes pattern. It’ s very important to play everything as clean as possible. Lastly I create a melody, using alternate picking and heavy vibrato at each end bar of the phrase, to give some extra feel. Don” t forget to mute all the unwanted strings with both of your hands. Mute-Mute-Mute and have fun!!!!!!!

Don’ t hesitate at all to make your questions, related always with guitar subjects! I’m here to answer every question you might have!

Metal hails!

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