Tremolo-picked power chords over a blast beat
Two-note power chords picked in 16ths over a blast beat, half a bar each: A5, F5, G5, E5, then A5, C5, F5 and E5 leading back. Tremolo on chords is the wall of sound behind black metal and much death metal, and picking two strings at once evenly and fast, without one of them dropping out, takes a firmer stroke than single notes.
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
- Advanced
- Plays with
- Drums
How to play it
Hold the pick a little firmer than for single notes and keep the stroke shallow, just through the two strings.
Each chord is two notes, a root and a fifth, picked eight times in 16ths. A5 is the open A string with the 2nd fret of the D string; F5, G5 and E5 are rooted on the low E string at frets 1, 3 and 0, and C5 on the A string at the 3rd fret.
The order is A5, F5, G5, E5, then A5, C5, F5 and E5, which leads back to A.
Alternate pick through both strings at once, with a firmer grip and a shallow stroke. The fretting hand mutes the strings around the chord.
Mistakes to watch for
- Hitting only one of the two strings on some strokes, so the chord flickers.
- Letting the chord ring into the next one, which muddies the change.
- Stopping the tremolo for a moment at each chord change.
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 Tremolo-picked power chords?
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 is a blast beat?
A drum pattern with the kick and snare on every 16th or eighth, here taking turns, at high speed. It's the engine of black and death metal, and tremolo-picked chords are what guitars usually play over it.
Why only two notes in the power chord?
Two notes are easier to tremolo pick evenly than three, and under a lot of distortion they sound just as big. Many black metal riffs use two-note shapes for that reason.
More metal exercises
All 21 metal exercises · Scales on the neck · All 107 exercises