Syncopated 3-3-2 riff: accents across the beat
Palm-muted 16ths grouped three, three and two, each group starting on an accented power chord, so the accents land off the beat twice a half bar and the riff lurches forward. E5 again and again, with G5, A5 and B flat 5 on the short groups, and a climb to B5 to finish. This grouping is behind countless modern metal riffs, and playing it tight means feeling the beat while your accents pull against it.
Opens in the player looped and counted in, with drums playing along, and speeds up 5 % every 2 loops to 110 bpm. No account or microphone needed.
- Goal tempo
- 110 bpm
- Starts at
- 66 bpm
- Length
- 4 bars, looped
- Tuning
- E standard
- Time
- 4/4
- Level
- Intermediate
- Plays with
- Drums
How to play it
Keep alternate picking going straight through: the accents fall on an upstroke as often as a downstroke.
Every bar is sixteen 16ths, grouped three, three and two, then three, three and two again. Each group starts with an accented power chord; the rest of the group is chugs on the palm-muted low E.
Most groups start on E5. The short groups of two start on G5 and then A5 in the first bar, G5 and B flat 5 in the second. The last bar climbs: E5, E5, G5, A5, B flat 5 and B5.
Alternate pick all the way. A group of three means the next group starts on the other stroke, so the accents fall on an upstroke half the time. The kick drum hits every accent with you.
Mistakes to watch for
- Turning the groups of three into triplets, which loses the 16th-note grid.
- Switching to two downstrokes in a row to put every accent on a down.
- Accents too weak to hear against the chugs, which flattens the riff into a stream of 16ths.
A speed plan
The player starts at 60 % of the goal and plays each tempo twice before stepping up:
- 66
- 72
- 77
- 83
- 88
- 94
- 99
- 105
- 110
That's 16 loops and about 3 minutes before you're playing at 110 bpm. If it stops being clean on the way, stop the ramp there and loop that tempo until it is. With a microphone or an audio interface you can record while you play instead: Demiurg checks every loop and steps up only after two clean ones in a row, and back down after a poor one.
Questions
How fast should I play Syncopated 3-3-2 riff?
The goal is 110 bpm in 16th notes, which is 7.3 notes a second. Start wherever every note is clean: the player begins at 66 bpm. Signed in, you can set a goal of your own, slower or faster, on the Exercises page.
What does 3-3-2 mean?
It's how the eight 16ths of half a bar are grouped: three, three, two. Accenting the start of each group puts accents on the beat, on the last 16th before beat 2, and on the and of 2. The rhythm is everywhere from Latin music to modern metal.
How do I count it?
Count the 16ths as "one-e-and-a two-e-and-a" and mark where each group starts: one, a, and. Or just count "1-2-3 1-2-3 1-2" against the drummer's steady snare on 2 and 4.
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