Glass Fjord (easy) · level 1 · goal 110 bpm

Glass Fjord is an eight-bar melodic riff in standard tuning: Melodic death, F# minor, melody then heavy riff, syncopated. 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.

Let each melody note ring into the next, and hit the accented off-beats a little harder. In bar 8, climb the C# arpeggio one string at a time so your hand slides up smoothly into the top of the loop.

The three levels

1. Level 1 · 110 bpm · Melodic death, F# minor, melody then heavy riff, syncopated. Let each melody note ring into the next, and hit the accented off-beats a little harder.
2. Level 2 · 140 bpm · Melodic death, F# minor, melody then heavy riff, syncopated. Alternate picking on the melody, then switch to gallops on the low F# (down-up-down, palm-muted).
3. Level 3 · 160 bpm · Melodic death, F# minor, melody then heavy riff, syncopated. Keep a constant sixteenth motion in the picking hand and let the legato notes ride on it.