gallop pedal power riff — E
A power chord has only two or three strings and no third: it says neither major nor minor, all its expression comes from rhythm. This riff is the most direct metal template: a pedal on E (E5) that keeps coming back, with a single neighbouring chord (A5) breaking the repetition every two bars, over a gallop pattern - one eighth note followed by two sixteenths. At 140 BPM it's a picking-hand exercise: alternate-picking accuracy and tight, constant palm muting.
Tips
Work the E5 pedal alone in gallop, without the neighbouring chord, until the rhythm is mechanical.
Tight palm mute on the pedal, released on the accented chord: that muted/open contrast is what gives the riff its relief.
The gallop tightens on its own as the tempo climbs - count '1-e-and-a' out loud to keep the sixteenths evenly spaced.
Understanding this type of exercise
What this riff trains
A pedal-tone riff keeps replaying the same low note (the pedal) between each chord, over a gallop rhythm (one eighth followed by two sixteenths). It's the most direct metal riff shape: few notes, everything is in picking-hand precision and muting.
How to approach it
- Work the pedal alone in gallop first, without the neighbouring chords, until the rhythm is mechanical.
- Tight palm mute on the pedal, released on the accented chord: that muted/open contrast is what gives the riff its relief.
- The gallop tightens on its own as the tempo climbs: count "1-e-and-a" out loud to keep the sixteenths evenly spaced.
The pattern is the same in every key offered; change key to suit string tension or to play in a given tuning.
Chord progression — E
Chords
The same exercise in other keys
Related sheets
- Ending lick — G minor (Level 3)
- Full round trip riff — B minor (Level 3)
- Metal in F — syncopated rhythm (Level 3)