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Guitar Tutorial

Internal Life

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

    Excerpt: Welcome to the "Internal Life" song tutorial. This is one of my heavier tunes and it focuses on having tight rhythm playing. Influential-wise, there's probably a little bit of Symphony X and Meshuggah in there. Also, note that this song is in Drop D tuning. If you aren't exactly sure what that is, click here. Have fun!

    Media Length: 1:28

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

    Excerpt: I like this intro because it's pretty "in your face" and sudden. The main thing to concentrate on with this section is the silence and timing in between the passages. Notice how in the video I motion the counts with my picking hand? I did that to emphasize how important it is to keep good timing, especially when it's complete silence and you don't have othe...

    Media Length: 0:48

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

    Excerpt: Okay, there's a lot of palm muting in this riff. Study the tablature below carefully to know which notes to palm mute and which notes to let ring out. If you look carefully, you can see that all the open string notes are palm muted, and the rest are played normally. Also, be sure to give some crazy vibrato to the quarter notes on the 4th beats of the first ...

    Media Length: 0:32

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

    Excerpt: This is where the song really gets pumping. Here, you'll mainly be playing 8th notes, but be aware of the quick bursts of 16th notes as well. Also notice the couple of slides on the A string that you'll be playing with your ring finger. Be sure to keep the playing clean and tight!

    Media Length: 0:34

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

    Excerpt: This part has a lot of 16th note open notes on the Low E string. And mixed in between we'll have some 8th note rests and quarter note rests. Notice how my left hand is muting the strings again during rests? Be sure to always do that. When you play the octave chords with your index and ring fingers, make sure you mute the strings you aren't playing. In this...

    Media Length: 0:41

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

    Excerpt: This is a section where we have a hint of lead playing amidst all the rhythm. It adds a tasty flavor to the tune. There's a little bit of string skipping in this as you'll see during the first few notes. Also, observe how the very first 3 notes are all D notes. You'll play the open D string, then the 12th fret which is also a D note, then the 15th fret B st...

    Media Length: 0:34

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

    Excerpt: I like this riff because it shows a neat contrast between higher and lower notes. It's kind of a like a "call and answer" riff, where the higher notes call, then the lower notes answer. Keep it clean and watch for the palm mutes.

    Media Length: 0:26

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

    Excerpt: Okay, here's the last riff of the tutorial. As mentioned before, do your best to have your left hand fall on the strings during the rests. This definitely helps your rhythm playing to have a tighter sound. First, we build up the riff playing a D# diminished chord. After that, we'll go straight to the chunky palm muting on the bottom string. The first time ...

    Media Length: 0:43

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

    Excerpt: Okay all you metalheads, here's the backing track. Good luck! If you make an audio or video recording of you playing along, be sure to post it in the forum to show off your skills!

    Media Length: 1:24