Tolling Bastion (hard) · level 3 · goal 156 bpm

Tolling Bastion is an eight-bar gallop riff in standard tuning: classic heavy metal build-up in G minor, syncopated. This is level 3 of 3, played at 156 bpm; the three levels of the riff run from 104 to 156 bpm. It works on gallop picking, palm muting, power chords, hammer-ons and pull-offs, slides, vibrato. 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 four, lift your palm off the strings for the F and G pickup so they sing into the lead. Anchor your first finger at fret ten for the pull-offs in bar six, then drop straight back to G5.

The three levels

1. Level 1 · 104 bpm · classic heavy metal build-up in G minor, syncopated. Count "1 & 2 &" out loud.
2. Level 2 · 132 bpm · classic heavy metal build-up in G minor, syncopated. The rests matter as much as the hits.
3. Level 3 · 156 bpm · classic heavy metal build-up in G minor, syncopated. In bar four, lift your palm off the strings for the F and G pickup so they sing into the lead.