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Guitar Tutorial

Polyrhythmic Modulation

Instructor: Mike Salow
Style: Metal
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    1
    Polyrhythmic Modulation: Playthrough Mike Salow
    0:36
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    Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Intermediate Topic: Exercises Style: Metal

    Excerpt: Hello again! For this tutorial, we will be focusing on the use of polyrhythmic (or metric) modulation. Polyrhythms are something that is always there whether you hear them or not. You can switch to a different polyrhythmic meter in every situation. The easiest way to think of a polyrhythm is in the following sense: Let’s imagine we are in 3/4 and hav...

    Media Length: 0:36

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    2
    Polyrhythmic Modulation: Introduction Mike Salow
    2:37
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    Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Intermediate Topic: Exercises Style: Metal

    Excerpt: For this riff I am tuned to drop C tuning but you do not have to retune in order to play this riff or learn this concept. You can simply use a C note on your standard tuned guitar or if you want to get creative you can use any harmonies around C. This riff is sort of in the style of bands like Tesseract or Periphery (metal). It's not the most complicated ...

    Media Length: 2:37

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    3
    Polyrhythmic Modulation: How to Modulate Part 1 Mike Salow
    2:25
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    Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Intermediate Topic: Rhythm Style: Metal

    Excerpt: The first thing we need to do when modulating is identify if we are playing duple or triple grouping so basically are we playing some sort of triplet or not? Once we figure that out we will know where to go next. So in this case we are starting with 16th notes (not triplets) and in this case the riff repeats after 3 bars (which makes this a little easier). ...

    Media Length: 2:25

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    4
    Polyrhythmic Modulation: How to Modulate Part 2 Mike Salow
    3:44
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    Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Intermediate Topic: Rhythm Style: Metal

    Excerpt: Now when writing or recording an idea we can easily test if we've done our equation correctly. Start your recording at 90bpm and play the riff for a minute or more. Figure out where and when your riff turns around (in this case it’s after 3 beats). So I've now figured out that my riff turns around after 3 beats and I'll go ahead and call that 3/4. ...

    Media Length: 3:44

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    5
    Polyrhythmic Modulation: Playing the Riff Part 1 Mike Salow
    4:00
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    Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Intermediate Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal

    Excerpt: When it comes to playing this riff there are a few things to consider. First off we do not have a difficult fretting hand part. The picking hand is what we need to focus on. In order to play this smoothly I use up strokes for all of the notes and I use down strokes for the muted parts. The riff is actually a 5/16 and a 7/16 back to back. If you count a lo...

    Media Length: 4:00

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    6
    Polyrhythmic Modulation: Playing the Riff Part 2 Mike Salow
    2:30
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    Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Intermediate Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal

    Excerpt: I highly recommend experimenting with this type of modulation. In the past I have modulated with riffs that I thought might be totally weird and contrived but it actually ended up working very nicely and adding a lot to the song. I hope you guys enjoy this tutorial! Have fun!

    Media Length: 2:30