Hollow Standard (hard) · level 3 · goal 152 bpm

Hollow Standard is an eight-bar gallop riff in standard tuning: NWOBHM half-time stop-time in D minor. This is level 3 of 3, played at 152 bpm; the three levels of the riff run from 104 to 152 bpm. It works on palm muting, open chords, hammer-ons and pull-offs, slides. 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.

In bar six the pull-offs fill the gaps between hits, so mute the chord first and snap each pull-off onto the open string. Keep the reverse gallops even, with the long note last.

The three levels

1. Level 1 · 104 bpm · NWOBHM half-time stop-time in D minor. The rests are part of the riff, so choke each hit by lifting your fretting fingers off the strings without leaving them.
2. Level 2 · 132 bpm · NWOBHM half-time stop-time in D minor. Every hit is a downstroke and every rest is a dead stop with no ringing.
3. Level 3 · 152 bpm · NWOBHM half-time stop-time in D minor. In bar six the pull-offs fill the gaps between hits, so mute the chord first and snap each pull-off onto the open string.