Metal gallop riff — E minor
A gallop-style riff on the low E string alone: you alternate the root with a neighbouring note over a rhythm of one eighth note followed by two sixteenths, repeated across eight bars. It's the minimal metal riff par excellence - two notes, one string, everything is in the picking hand. The gallop is a rhythmic pattern, not a speed: it's built slowly, last, once the pick's alternate motion is perfectly even.
Tips
Fretting hand relaxed: all the effort comes from the right wrist in a steady alternate motion.
Palm mute resting continuously on the bass string - that's what gives the gallop its 'chugging' sound.
Start very slowly in even eighth notes; only add the gallop pattern once the eighths are clean.
Tablature
Fretboard position
root note other scale note
Related sheets
- Metal in B — syncopated rhythm (Level 3)
- Rhythm groove riff — D# minor (Level 3)
- Metal in F — syncopated muted strums (Level 3)