Pale Meridian (easy) · level 1 · goal 110 bpm

Pale Meridian is an eight-bar melodic riff in standard tuning: Melodic death, E minor, half-time riff at the 7th fret with chord hits. 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.

Keep your hand parked around the 7th fret. In the stop bars, choke each chord the moment it sounds and count the silence out loud. The snare on beat 3 is your half-time anchor.

The three levels

1. Level 1 · 110 bpm · Melodic death, E minor, half-time riff at the 7th fret with chord hits. Keep your hand parked around the 7th fret.
2. Level 2 · 140 bpm · Melodic death, E minor, half-time riff at the 7th fret with chord hits. Palm-mute the gallops tight, then lift your palm for the chord hits so they bark.
3. Level 3 · 160 bpm · Melodic death, E minor, half-time riff at the 7th fret with chord hits. The reverse gallop (16-16-8) leans into the next hit, so accent the chord, not the chugs.