Concrete Riot (easy) · level 1 · goal 110 bpm

Concrete Riot is an eight-bar thrash riff in standard tuning: Bay Area thrash, B minor, syncopated stabs. This is level 1 of 3, played at 110 bpm; the three levels of the riff run from 110 to 160 bpm. It works on palm muting, power chords. 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.

All downstrokes. In bar one the first stab lands on the "and" of one, so count "1 and 2 and" out loud. Keep the chugs muted and lift the palm only for the chords.

The three levels

1. Level 1 · 110 bpm · Bay Area thrash, B minor, syncopated stabs. All downstrokes.
2. Level 2 · 140 bpm · Bay Area thrash, B minor, syncopated stabs. The stabs sit on the off-beats, so the chugs between them are the clock.
3. Level 3 · 160 bpm · Bay Area thrash, B minor, syncopated stabs. The sixteenth pairs come from the wrist, both downstrokes, and lead straight into the accented chord.