Metal drills
Standard tuning, palm on the bridge, everything slower than you want it. Metal rhythm guitar is a percussion instrument: the pitches barely change, so the only thing left to judge is your timing.
Technique path: Drills · Exercises · Metal exercises · this page
Why it matters: nothing exposes a sloppy picking hand like a downpicked chug. Even if you never play metal, ten minutes of this a week tightens your strumming and your palm mute more than any amount of chord practice. Where a drill is a shape or a picking pattern, TAB sits next to the explanation (high e on top). How to read it: Foundations · TAB.
One drill sounds at a time. Play becomes Stop on the same button. Standard EADGBE — drop-D and lower tunings are not in this room yet, and none of these drills need them. Sweep picking and tapping live on Solo drills.
Suggested order
- Downpicked quarters — the palm-mute spot.
- Downpicked chug — eighths, still all downstrokes.
- Gallop, then the reverse gallop.
- Muted power-chord changes.
- Accent on 1 — one open hit inside the mutes.
- Alternate-picked sixteenths on one string.
- Start / stop — the silence drill.
- Triplet chug, half-time, two-string chug.
- Chromatic approach and gallop with a change.
- First pieces — rhythms you write, not transcribed riffs.
Beginner
Muted open-E quarters. Find the palm spot. The note should still say “E”.
Intermediate
Eighth chug. Gallop, then reverse gallop. Muted power-chord changes.
Advanced
Start/stop, triplet chug, gallop with a change. Then a first piece — an 8-bar chug you write. Sweeps and taps: Solo.
Chug
Palm resting on the strings just in front of the bridge saddles. Pick close to the palm. The note should still have pitch — a chug is muted, not dead.
1 · Downpicked quarters
One muted open E per click, all downstrokes. Slow enough to reset the palm every time. Spend a minute here finding the spot where the note is short but still says "E".
1 2 3 4 E|-0-----0-----0-----0-- P.M. all ↓
2 · Downpicked chug
Two muted hits per click, still all downstrokes. The wrist stays small; the arm does not flail. When it falls apart, drop the tempo by 10 — speed is a by-product of relaxation, not effort.
e|----------------- B|----------------- G|----------------- D|----------------- A|----------------- E|-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0- P.M. all ↓
3 · Accent on 1
Same chug, but the first hit of each bar rings open and loud while the rest stay muted. Dynamics inside a wall of eighths is what separates a riff from a drone.
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & E|-0--0--0--0--0--0--0--0-- 1 open, rest P.M.
Gallop
4 · Gallop
One eighth then two sixteenths on the muted low E — the "da-dada" feel. Count 1 & a inside each click. Down, down-up is the usual picking; all downstrokes if the tempo allows.
e|----------------| B|----------------| G|----------------| D|----------------| A|----------------| E|-0-00-0-00-0-00-| P.M.
5 · Reverse gallop
Flip it: two sixteenths then an eighth. Count 1 e &. It feels wrong for about a minute, which is exactly why it is worth practising — most players can only gallop one way round.
e|----------------| B|----------------| G|----------------| D|----------------| A|----------------| E|-00-0-00-0-00-0-| P.M.
Muted shapes
6 · Muted power-chord changes
E5, G5, A5 — one bar each, chugging eighths the whole time. Change the shape on beat 1 and keep the right hand going. The shapes are the same ones on Rock drills.
E5 G5 A5 A|-2- -5- -7- E|-0- -3- -5- P.M. eighths
7 · Open string between shapes
Chug the open low E for two beats, hit a power chord for two, repeat. The pedal-tone pattern behind an enormous amount of metal rhythm playing — and a good test of whether your left hand can arrive on time.
1 2 | 3 4 E|-0--0-- | -3--3-- open E, then G5 A|-x--x-- | -5--5--
Speed and silence
8 · Alternate-picked sixteenths
Four hits per click on one string, down-up-down-up, lightly muted. Not tremolo picking as a trick — a metronome test. Add 4 bpm only when a full minute is clean. Stop the moment the forearm tightens.
E|-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0- ↓↑ P.M.
9 · Start / stop
Two bars of chug, two bars of nothing, forever. Keep counting through the silence and come back in exactly on 1. The gaps in a metal riff are as written as the notes — a band lives or dies on them.
| E chug | E chug | rest | rest |
Past the chug
10 · Triplet chug
Three even muted hits inside each click. Count 1-trip-let. All downstrokes until the tempo forces a down-up. The figure is generic — not a copied riff.
E|-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0- 3 per click, P.M.
11 · Half-time feel
One heavy muted hit on 1 and 3 only. The click still runs in 4. Space is the groove — the same skill as start/stop, used as a feel.
1 2 3 4 E|-0-----------0-------- P.M.
12 · Two-string chug
Mute open E and A together. Fatter than one string; the palm has to cover both. Keep pitch — two short E/A, not a thud.
A|-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0- E|-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0- P.M.
13 · Accent 2 and 4
Chug eighths; beats 2 and 4 ring a little more (or a power chord). Backbeat inside a wall of mute.
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & E|-0--0--0--0--0--0--0--0-- 2 and 4 louder
14 · Chromatic approach
E5, then F5 (fret 1), F♯5 (fret 2), G5 — one bar each, muted eighths. A generic chromatic walk (Berklee / method-book approach notes), not a transcribed lick.
E5 F5 F#5 G5 A|-2- -3- -4- -5- E|-0- -1- -2- -3- P.M.
15 · Gallop with a change
Same da-dada as drill 4, but the left hand moves E5 → G5 → A5 each bar. Right hand never pauses.
E5 G5 A5 A|-2-22- -5-55- -7-77- E|-0-00- -3-33- -5-55- gallop
First pieces
The first metal piece is an 8-bar rhythm you write from the figures on this page. We do not print Enter Sandman, Iron Man, Master of Puppets, or any other copyrighted riff. Famous titles below are “same right-hand family” — not scores.
How to start
- Write two bars of chug, two bars of gallop, two bars of a power-chord change, two bars of silence. That is a piece.
- Play it at 90 until the gaps are as clean as the hits.
- Then take the same right hand to a harmony loop if you want chords under it.
Beginner piece
Eight bars of muted E, accent on 1. Then add G5 for bars 5–6.
Intermediate piece
Gallop on E5, change to A5. Pedal tone (drill 7) for the B section.
Advanced piece
Your 8-bar form with start/stop. 12-bar powers on Rock with a metal mute.
Same right-hand family (titles only)
| Recognition | What to practise instead |
|---|---|
| Downpicked open-E openers (many 70s/80s records) | Drills 1–3, then your 8-bar chug |
| Gallop rhythm-guitar (NWOBHM colour) | Drills 4–5 and 15 — do not copy a recorded gallop riff |
| Stop-time hits and counted rests | Drill 9. The silence is the piece. |
| 12-bar metal / hard-rock vamps | 12-bar powers · Play along · blues |
| E–A–B hard-rock changes | E5–A5–B5 · E–A–B7 |
If you can hum a famous riff, leave it in your ear. Play the rhythm on open E with your own left-hand moves.
Practice note
How long: 10 minutes, in two sittings if the arm complains. One minute quarters, three on chug or gallop, two on a change, two on start/stop, then write eight bars for first pieces.
Listen for: every hit the same length and the same volume. Record thirty seconds on your phone — the unevenness you cannot hear while playing is obvious on playback.
Common mistake: chasing tempo. A clean 90 beats a ragged 130 in every band you will ever join. Also: burying the palm so far onto the strings that the pitch disappears.