Guitar Study
Learning Guitar in the style of Threat Signal
Instructors: Chris Feener, Travis Montgomery
Total lessons in study:
Threat Signal is a Canadian metal band that crushes in the growing metal scene. And who better to learn from than Threat Signal's own Chris Feener and Travis Montgomery?
1. Riff like Threat Signal
Hey guys! This month, due to being heavily involved in the writing process of the new Threat Signal record, I decided to break down the mechanics of this interesting rhythm-style, in hopes that you can incorporate it into your own compositions. We'll be breaking down a few different picking techniques that differ from stric...Read More
Intro:
Make the distinction between rests and longer note durations, for instance; the Bb note on the third fret in bar 1 is a held 8th beat, wheras the two 16ths that follow are short 16ths followed by a rest.
Palm muting is imparitive and it's important that your technique allows you to switch it on and off at the drop ...Read More
Pre-Chorus
The pre-chorus riff is very Vigilance-esque. Pay close attention to how the riff 'resets' near the end of bar 7. The note sequence will be much easier to grasp by not biting off more than you can chew, or in other words, memorize the pattern in segments and then piece it together.
Chorus
These '5' chords with ...Read More
Post-Chorus
This riff serves as the common 'heavy riff after the chorus' segment which usually ties the chorus back to a verse.
Rhythmically, it's a bit of a finger-twister. Each bar starts the same, and ends a little differently. Please recognize the tail-end 16th beat of beat 2, and how it's different from bar 19 to 20 ...Read More
Download the backing track at Full Tempo (122BPM)Read More
Download the backing track at a Reduced Tempo (85BPM)Read More
2. Original Music from "Fallen Disciples" Track
This is a cool percussive riff that closes the song “Fallen Disciples” by Threat Signal. Unlike most riffs, this one focuses on the muting instead of putting the focus the notes. You’ll notice that the actual notes played in this riff alternate between doing downstrokes and upstrokes. This riff is done wit...Read More
Have fun with the backing track, practice hard!Read More
“Fallen Disciples” was one of the first songs written on the self-titled Threat Signal album. I was listening to a lot of Nevermore at the time, so the song and solo have quite a big Jeff Loomis sound to them. Overall the solo isn’t too tough, but there are a couple of tricky licks in there!
The hardest...Read More
Here is the slowed down version of the solo. Keep it clean folks!Read More
3. Original Music from "Comatose" Track
This lesson is going to focus on the middle breakdown riff of the song “Comatose” by Threat Signal. This riff is also supposed to be played in a percussive manner, just like the “Fallen Disciples” riff. The percussiveness comes from the upstrokes. You really need to dig in, and pick those hard. ...Read More
Here is the backing track, have fun!Read More
4. Original Music from "Uncensored" Track
I was listening to a lot of Born of Osiris at the time of writing the solo and ending lick to “Uncensored”. I went for a really Jason Richardson type sound, but still with my style of writing mixed in.
The solo to this song is split into two parts. I play the first part and Chris Feener plays the second p...Read More
I was going for a very chaotic and evil sound for the lick at the end of the song. It may sound kind of random, but it took me a few hours to write! I made sure to go through and pick out every note that sounded just right to me for the sound I was looking for. I think it turned out pretty cool, and fun to play. In this lic...Read More
5. Original Music from "New World Order" Track
Originally, the ending to this song was just the final riff, but our bassist Pat told me that it needed more shred! I thought it would be cool to do a Jeff Loomis/Jason Becker type arpeggio sequence. This lick requires a lot of stamina to keep it going throughout the entire ending of the song. It’s pretty quick and th...Read More
I recommend you practice this solo at a very slow tempo to make sure you have proper control over all the notes and techniques. Take it section by section, don't try to play the whole thing at once!Read More
Here's the backing track guys. Have fun!Read More
6. Original Music from "Trust In None" Track
Hey everyone! Today we're going to learn part of the outro to Threat Signal's song 'Trust In None' from our self-titled album. It was aiming to create an almost whammy pedal effect, but without the use of a whammy pedal.
This lick was actually written in Guitar Pro, and I learned to play it afterwards...kind of a mistake. ...Read More
Here's the backing track folks, have fun and practice hard!Read More