About this riff
Night Bus is an eight-bar punk riff in standard tuning: Punk, E major-ish power chords, all downstrokes. This is level 3 of 3, played at 190 bpm; the three levels of the riff run from 150 to 190 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.
Sixteenth pickups are two downstrokes squeezed before the beat; practise them slowly as "and-a-ONE". For the octave shapes mute the string in between with the underside of the index finger.
The three levels
- Level 1 · 150 bpm · Punk, E major-ish power chords, all downstrokes. Every chord is a downstroke from the elbow, eight to the bar.
- Level 2 · 170 bpm · Punk, E major-ish power chords, all downstrokes. The muted single notes are the same downstroke as the chords, just with the palm down.
- Level 3 · 190 bpm · Punk, E major-ish power chords, all downstrokes. Sixteenth pickups are two downstrokes squeezed before the beat; practise them slowly as "and-a-ONE".