Pawnshop Halo (easy) · level 1 · goal 140 bpm

Pawnshop Halo is an eight-bar punk riff in standard tuning: Punk, G minor, triplet shuffle build-up. This is level 1 of 3, played at 140 bpm; the three levels of the riff run from 140 to 160 bpm. It works on 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. Count the shuffle as "ONE-trip-LET": hit on ONE and LET, mute on trip. Let the half notes in bars 1-4 ring their full length before you move.

The three levels

1. Level 1 · 140 bpm · Punk, G minor, triplet shuffle build-up. All downstrokes.
2. Level 2 · 150 bpm · Punk, G minor, triplet shuffle build-up. Accent the chord on each beat and keep the two muted triplets light.
3. Level 3 · 160 bpm · Punk, G minor, triplet shuffle build-up. Switching between triplets and sixteenths is the hard part.