CU Siem eyaCHAPTER ONE Eighth Note Subdivisions The Beat When you listen to music you naturally sense a steady, recurring pulse seemingly “within” or “underneath” the music. ‘This is called the beat and itis the unit of time in music. If you have ever tapped your foot (or banged your head) along to a song, you are already familiar with feeling a beat. Its the driving force behind all rock and ‘metal, as well as other types of popular music. Usually, the beats are felt in groups of four with an emphasis on the first beat of each group: 23 4 12/394) When the beats are grouped like this, the music is said to be in 4/4 time (also called Common time). The 4/4 symbol is called a time signature. Each group of four beats is called a measure, or bar, and is separated from the next measure by a bar line, time signature tating oun ta (end) (ee Every note has some relationship to the underlying beat. A whole note is four beats long (a whole measure), half note lasts two beats, and a quarter note is one beat. A rest is a space with no sound ~ hold the strings quiet for the length of the rest. Count along with and tap out the beat steadily with your foot as you play the timing exercises below. ‘Whole noe: Half noes Quarter noes: Pees sk 284 ge a 15 a4 Hatfrest) Quarter est Dei 34 1254 1234 1234 1234 1234 Eighth notes are one-half beat each and subdivide the beat into downbeats and upbeats. ‘The downbeats are simply what you have already been tapping your foot to. The upbeats are halfway between downbeats. As you play number 3, say “one-and-two-and-three-and-four-and” out loud, making sure that your foot is down on each ‘beat and up inthe air on each “and, Eph tes Single eighth note: Eighth est: BO REI 4s 12 384 kt le ke 3Muting One of the characteristics of heavy metal guitar, especially speed and thrash metal, is the use of the right hand palm mute to get an aggressive “chunky” sound. Rest the palm of your picking hand over the ends of the strings as in the photo below, slightly deadening, or muting, the ringing of the strings, To get a tighter palm mute, move your hand slightly toward the neck of the guitar so that your palm covers more of the strings. If you want to let the strings sound out more, move your palm back further on the bridge to cover less of the strings. Don't press down too much on the strings or the pitch of the notes will raise. ‘A palm mute is indicated by the letters “PM. that are not being played. Do this by touchi ‘or you'll be fretting extra notes. The symbol .” under the note. Also, it’s a good idea to hold quiet all the strings and holding them lightly with your left hand, but don’t press down ‘means to repeat. © NC. (no chord) ‘Sometimes chords are muted also. In example 5 slide from one chord to the next without lifting your left hand. ‘The symbol \ or / between fret numbers indicates a slide. ES GS FHSS sin FAS G5 Os ASAccenting Chords Playing strong un-muted chord accents amidst a phrase of muted notes is one of the most important techniques to master. Imagine that your hands are on opposite ends of a see-saw: When your left hand is pressing down to fret the chords, your right hand will be up. (This is the position for accenting chords.) When your right hand palm is touching the strings for the muted notes, your left hand will be up slightly. Lift your right hand up and off the strings entirely for the full length of the chords, but then go right back to a cht mute. Only press down and fret the chord when you want it to ring. During the mutes, your left hand should be lightly holding the other strings quiet. Repeat the material between the repeat symbols ( and 4) the designated number of times. (If no number is given, play the section twice.) Gs FS Fs Gs FASS Play 6 mes Pi eininini nine, noni nin on ann nnn n etl Mees 1 4s Pare 24 Bs os.as ES NC. Es os ES NC.ESGSPESFS ESGSPHSFS ESGSTSSFS FISGSGHS AS ESGSFHSFS ESGSPES FS ES If you listen carefully, you'll notice that there are actually two guitars in exercise 6. Using two guitar parts in this, manner is an important element in the style of speed and thrash metal. The second guitar enters with the bass and ‘drums on the third repetition of the first line. Then, through the second, third and fourth lines, guitar 2 plays ‘exactly the same as guitar 1 until the last line. Then guitar 2 plays accenting chords, Below, the two parts are written one above the other so you can see how they interact. Exercise 6 - last line Play 3 tinesa2 Syncopation and Upbeats {As you remember from page 8, there is a steady underlying pulse of beats in music, ‘These beats are naturally accented, When a note which falls between beats is accented and held over the following, beat, the natural p is disturbed. This effect is known as syncopation, It creates a situation where the sounding rhythm temporarily contradicts the underlying pulse of the music, In the example below, a tie (~ ) is used to connect notes. Play the first note and let it ring through the duration of oth, Notice how the sounding rhythm moves against the beat. Although the notes change in each line, the same tice along with a metronome to see how steady you can keep the beat through the syncopations, The metronome never lies! © isa ea Mt foe «. | ! In the last measure above, notice the BS and C5 chords. Usually, chords are played with the root as the lowest ‘note in the chord, but not always, Here the Sth of the chord is the bass note, When a note other than the root is in ‘the bass, the chord name will be followed by a slash, then the name of the note in the bass will be given.Number 9 also uses syncopations. Make sure you are feeling the downbeats consistently. The last repeated section uses two different endings. Play through the first ending (1. __) the first time through, then on the repeat, skip the first ending and go directly to the second ending ([2.__). {A dot placed under a note, as on the first note in ending no. 1, is called staccato, which means to play it very short. Use both your left and right hands to stop the ringing of the note. To play the open GS chord in ending no, 1, touch and hold the Sth string mute with your second finger at the same time that itis fretting the 6th string. You can hold the first and second strings mute with your third finger. ‘The open GS chord rings out more than the other GS form. BhS D/A GS FES BS: D/A GS FBS BA cS BS me ‘ +46 Dede 3 BbS DIA GS FAS DIAGS FS ES BS D/A Gs FAS Bhs DIA GS FAS ESShifting Accents Constantly shifting the chord accents between downbeats and upbeats is a thrash and speed metal staple. Notice this principle used in the first line below. In the second line, a group of notes is repeated, but on the repetition they interact with the beat in a different way. The third line uses a similar idea, although the note grouping is not repeated exactly. Make sure that you're feeling the beat, and not just tapping out the accents Play 4 times NC. BbS BS BbS BS os FS Nc NC. bs BS BbS BS ana nnnn_sin Aone nanan ann nan n Mownge dat snes esta rate erarraey Play 4 times Bhs AS GS FAS BbS AS GBS GS FAS BS AS GES GS FAS oree tote tote