Widow Lantern · level 2 · goal 145 bpm

Widow Lantern is an eight-bar melodic riff in standard tuning: Melodic death, D minor, syncopated call and response on fifth-string roots. This is level 2 of 3, played at 145 bpm; the three levels of the riff run from 110 to 160 bpm. It works on palm muting, power chords, hammer-ons and pull-offs, 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.

Alternate picking in strict eighths, and keep the hand moving through the rests. Palm-mute the D roots and lift the mute only for the accented stabs so they jump out on the off-beats.

The three levels

1. Level 1 · 110 bpm · Melodic death, D minor, syncopated call and response on fifth-string roots. Count "1 & 2 &" out loud.
2. Level 2 · 145 bpm · Melodic death, D minor, syncopated call and response on fifth-string roots. Alternate picking in strict eighths, and keep the hand moving through the rests.
3. Level 3 · 160 bpm · Melodic death, D minor, syncopated call and response on fifth-string roots. Reverse gallops go down-up-down, with the eighth on the beat after.