Ashwind Vigil · level 2 · goal 150 bpm

Ashwind Vigil is an eight-bar melodic riff in standard tuning: Melodic death, G minor harmonic, stop-time single-note riff at the 10th fret. This is level 2 of 3, played at 150 bpm; the three levels of the riff run from 120 to 160 bpm. It works on palm muting, hammer-ons and pull-offs. The player loops the riff with drums and bass, starts at 70% speed and steps up 5% after every clean pass until you play it at full tempo.

The gaps must be truly silent: fret-hand fingers relax off the string after every hit. In the full bars, pick only the first note of each hammer-on or pull-off and keep the eighths even against the drums.

The three levels

1. Level 1 · 120 bpm · Melodic death, G minor harmonic, stop-time single-note riff at the 10th fret. In the stop bars, kill each hit right away with both hands and count the silence: "1, and, 2, and".
2. Level 2 · 150 bpm · Melodic death, G minor harmonic, stop-time single-note riff at the 10th fret. The gaps must be truly silent: fret-hand fingers relax off the string after every hit.
3. Level 3 · 160 bpm · Melodic death, G minor harmonic, stop-time single-note riff at the 10th fret. Each sixteenth pickup must land exactly on the next chord, so practice them slowly as pairs.