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Guitar Tutorial

Destroy the Alarm Clock

Instructor: Sean Conklin
Topic: Cool Riffs
Style: Metal
Begin Tutorial
  • Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal

    Excerpt: I don't know about you, but I dislike it very much when my alarm clock goes off. Stop beeping at me and let me sleep! :) So, here's a short piece for all of you alarm clock haters. The imagery I see in this piece basically has me battling it out with my alarm clock. The frequent harmonics represent the alarm persistently beeping at me. Enjoy the video and I...

    Media Length: 0:52

  • Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal

    Excerpt: Let's take a look at the first beat in each of the bars below. See the triplet note grouping? Those are sixteenth note triplets, which basically have a span of six notes per beat. Make sure you palm mute that grouping, then immediately after play a quick eighth note strum with an upstroke. Once your hand falls back down on the strings, you'll then play two q...

    Media Length: 1:30

  • Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal

    Excerpt: The first thing to point out about this riff is that the first two beats of each bar are very similar to what we saw in Exercise 1. So be sure to keep that part the same. The main things new in this riff are the quick legato runs that begin on the second half of beat two in each bar. Notice that from that point on, there are only two pickstrokes. So your fr...

    Media Length: 1:46

  • Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal

    Excerpt: Here we have the backing track at 140 bpm (beats per minute). If this is a little too fast for you, feel free to go to the next page to practice at 105 bpm. As always, if you ever make a recording of yourself playing along to the backing, be sure to post it in the forum!

    Media Length: 0:50

  • Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Intermediate Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal

    Excerpt: Here we have the backing track at 105 bpm. As always, if you ever make a recording of yourself playing along to the backing, be sure to post it in the forum!

    Media Length: 1:07