Truefire Angus Clark`s Take 5 Muted Rock Rhythm TUTORiAL

Muted hard rock rhythm is all about using just the right amount of distortion and then muting the strings to create a tight sound with heavy low-end and less ringing overtones. Combined with bass and drums, muted rhythms are a great way to produce an amazingly heavy sound.

This Muted Rock Rhythms edition of Take 5 from Angus Clark is an accelerated curriculum designed to help get your muted rhythms technique up to snuff quickly without having to struggle through a lot of tedious exercises.

”We’ll start this course with a quick primer where I’ll explain how to dial in your tone and some of the fundamentals of muted hard rock rhythm. We’ll talk about pick angle and attack, left and right-hand muting approaches, straight 8th, and triplet feels, gallops, and some tips on how to avoid the pitfalls of the technique.”

Angus will then guide you through 5 muted rock rhythm performance studies, progressing from basic to more advanced applications of the technique.

Level 1: Muted Rock Rhythm
”This exercise focuses on muted eighth-note downstrokes. It's in E minor. This is your opportunity to make sure you have the right sound and hand position for the rest of the course. This may be challenging if you haven't spent any time on all-downstroke playing or right-hand muting. Things to look out for: Your eighth-note feel, returning to the muted picking after playing an un-muted "stab" chord, and getting a consistent sound when muting on the sixth or fifth string. Don't skip this performance study as it's the key to the whole course. This piece works really well when played as a loop. It will increase your endurance and allow you to address how well you have mastered your position shifting. As with all of the exercises in this course, try to keep the amount of "squeak" that you hear between chords to a minimum.”

Level 2: Muted Rock Rhythm
”For this performance study, we're introducing triplet rhythms and shuffles. The tricky part is that they are still all downstrokes, so this may be a different approach than you have seen in the past. This is inspired by songs like Scorpions' "The Zoo”. There are three sections to this piece: A shuffle rhythm, a single string triplet part, and a sequence of stabs and muted triplets. As you listen and watch the video, take note of each section and how the technique is used to create a part that is rhythmically consistent, yet has a great deal of variety and dynamics. You'll see and hear me use some slurs and techniques that are characteristic in the blues-based hard rock genre. This is your opportunity to hone in on triplet rhythms and build a consistent feel.”

Level 3: Muted Rock Rhythm
”In this performance study, we start using alternate picking while muting, so hand position will be very important. Take it slowly and pay close attention to the sound you are getting from the instrument. This example is inspired by the great Randy Rhoads. While this type of playing can sound very aggressive, it actually relies on a somewhat laid-back feel and a lighter touch on the picking. You don't have to "lay into" the strings, but instead just keep the muting and picking as consistent at possible. Don't let the downstrokes overwhelm the upstrokes, try to keep them even. This is particularly true in the second section where there is muted string changing involved.”

Level 4: Muted Rock Rhythm
”Gallops and reverse gallops! It wouldn't be hard rock without the gallop rhythm. Now that we've spent some quality time on your downstrokes and your alternate strokes, we're going to combine them into a gallop rhythm. For the gallop, accuracy is very important. You're combining the lighter touch from the alternate picking exercise with the more aggressive downstroke technique. This is what creates the “feel". For the reverse gallop, you can dig in a bit harder, but this is a tricky rhythm that can easily get rushed so try to relax and feel hear it against the click in a way that keeps you in time.”

Level 5: Muted Rock Rhythm
”This is the mixed bag of stuff at an aggressive tempo. There are two sections to this piece: A "Spotlight Kid" inspired section where inverted power chords (4ths) are played as stabs between sixteenth-note pedals on the 6h string. In this section, all of the stabs are played as up-strokes and the pedals are played as downstrokes. A nu-metal inspired syncopated section that is intercut with some double-time alternate picking sections. There's a lot going on in this example, but it's meant to open the door for you to explore beyond this course and to show you how diverse and varied things can get when you are coming up with parts that employ muted rhythms.”

Angus will explain and demonstrate all of the key concepts and approaches along the way. You’ll get standard notation and tabs for all of the Performance Studies. Plus, Angus includes all of the rhythm tracks for you to work with on your own. In addition, you’ll be able to loop or slow down any of the videos so that you can work with the lessons at your own pace.

Grab your guitar and let’s Take 5 with Angus Clark!



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