Premonition

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

Excerpt: Welcome everyone! In this tutorial, we'll be learning a piece I wrote called "Premonition". It has a bit of a Symphony X vibe to it and has a good mix of melodic and heavy riffs. I hope you enjoy it! Once you've watched the video above, head on over to the next page for Exercise 1.

Media Length: 1:41

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

Excerpt: In this lesson, we'll be learning the riff that represents the main theme of the song. All notes in this section will be played as sextuplets (16th note triplets). If you look at each beat in a given measure, you'll see that there are six notes grouped together for every beat. When you look at the tablature, you'll see many "P.M." markings. These markings ...

Media Length: 1:41

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

Excerpt: In Exercise 2, we'll begin the prelude to the heavy middle section. When you listen to the full video with the band, you can hear how I'm playing some accented notes along with the drums between rests. This is a very common yet effective technique with metal music, where there is a bit of a tease that creates anticipation for the massively heavy riff to come...

Media Length: 1:47

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

Excerpt: And now we come to the heavy riff we referred to in the last lesson. This is where the drums go full throttle and you begin headbanging in headbanging heaven.* *Headbanging optional, but strongly encouraged. The chords in this riff are similar to the last lesson, however we'll now be filling in the rests with heavy palm muted rhythms. Be mindful of the man...

Media Length: 2:03

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

Excerpt: In this riff, we're transitioning from the darker sound to a more melodic sound. In bars 17 and 18, we'll be playing 32nd notes exclusively. Pay very close attention to the palm muting. The only notes you won't be palm muting are the ones where you're playing legato with either hammer-ons or pull-offs. Besides the legato notes, keep your palm muting steady ...

Media Length: 2:01

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

Excerpt: Have fun with the backing track! Be sure to stretch and warm up before you play. As always, if you ever record yourself playing along with the backing, be sure to post it in the forum so we can hear your skills. See you next time!

Media Length: 2:01