Exercises that are fun to play
Every exercise is now a four-bar riff or tune with drums playing along, instead of a bare drill over a click.
The exercises used to be drills: up and down a pattern, over a metronome. They trained the right things but weren't much fun to loop for ten minutes. Now each one is a short piece of music built from the same move, with a drummer.
- Riffs and tunes. The gallop climbs through a metal riff and stops on a B5 for the drums to fill. Palm-muted 8ths is a thrash riff whose chugs are answered by power chords. Tremolo picking plays a dark E minor melody over a rolling double kick. The trills each sit on their own string so they're all in A minor, and the scales end in a tune or a turn rather than just stopping.
- Endings that lead back. Every loop ends on a note or a hit that pulls you into the start again, like a G sharp before A, or a run down to E. It sounds like a song going round, not a pattern restarting.
- Drums in the style. A thrash beat for the downpicking, a double kick under the 16ths, a galloping kick under the gallops, a backbeat for rock and blues, funk and disco grooves for the bass, and a light ride and side stick for the warm-ups. Each loop ends with a fill, and the stops are played with the guitar.
- No metronome needed. With the drums keeping time, the metronome starts off. The count-in is still there, and the metronome is a click away if you want it. You can also turn the drums down or mute them in the part list.
- Every exercise is now four bars long. Each one still trains the same thing, and has the same goal tempo, so the progress you've saved still counts.
Each exercise's page shows the new tab and how to play it.