Metal in E — arpeggios
The E5-G5-A5 progression (degrees i-III-iv in E minor: G5 borrows the colour of E minor's relative major before the riff settles back on A5, the subdominant) is played here as arpeggios rather than strummed chords: on a power chord, with no third, arpeggiating means picking the root then the fifth one after another with a pick, rather than both at once. E5 has an advantage neither G5 nor A5 has: its root is the open low E string, no fretting needed to play it in tune — so the work here falls entirely on the picking hand (hitting both notes cleanly) rather than the fretting hand.
Tips
Isolate the E5 arpeggio alone first, on a loop, until both notes ring with equal intensity — they won't at first, the low root tends to cover the higher fifth.
Slow down on G5 and A5: unlike E5, both require fretting the root — moving from an open chord to a fretted one is the riff's real jump in difficulty.
Compare by ear with the chord-change version: the arpeggio should sound like a gallop, not an out-of-sync strum.
Chord progression — E
Chords
Related sheets
- Three-note rolling lick riff — G minor (Level 3)
- Drop D arpeggios — gallop pattern in E (Level 3)
- Metal in B — syncopated muted strums (Level 3)