Cosmin Lupu1st May 2012Right on target mate
very good topic and well done lesson! My congratulations to you SIr Higgins 
Bogdan Radovic1st May 2012Great lesson Ben - very important topic!
Miltonex1st May 2012Goog One!!!!
JTaylor1st May 2012That's great Ben! I tend to find power chords boring sometimes and this is something that will help me break out of that!
Ben Higgins1st May 2012Thanks guys, it's always important to know how to make power chords stand out and be defined !
Sinisa Cekic1st May 2012Nice groove Ben
Rock onnn
kahall2nd May 2012It's a 2 that I want to do, yahoo!
Rammikin16th May 2012Very nice lesson! fyi, the tablature is incorrect for bar 1. It should be similar to bar 9.
- Ben Higgins18th May 2012Very nice lesson! fyi, the tablature is incorrect for bar 1. It should be similar to bar 9.
You're right ! Thanks for letting me know !
Dieterle3rd June 2012this is a very interesting lesson
and very good rhythm exercise for me too!
Yash5th June 2012Nice lesson man.
Phil667th November 2014Great lesson, finding it hard with just the backing track though
- Phil6625th November 2014
As always, a master makes it look so simple then, you get your own fingers on the fretboard and BAM, it's confusion time
. Great lesson Ben, cheers.
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Anvil Style
Anvil, Heavy Metal, Thrash Metal, Speed Metal, Power Metal, Palm Muting, Power chords, Riffing, Rhythm, Hard Rock, Metal on Metal, Lips, Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, Slash, Slayerby Gabriel Leopardi - Difficulty6
Thrash Like Mustaine
megadeth, dave mustaine, thrash, riffs, rhythm, metal, palm muting, alternate picking, power chordsby Ben Higgins - Difficulty4
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Early Megadeth Style
Megadeth, Dave Mustaine, Phrasing, Thrash Metal, Riffs, Rhythm, Legato, Staccatoby Laszlo Boross - Difficulty3
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Scorpions Style: Rhythm
scorpions, rudolph schenker, mattias jabs, heavy metal, riffs, power chordsby Ben Higgins
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Welcome to Staccato Power Chords!
I was inspired to make this lesson after seeing many REC takes and commenting on this aspect of guitar playing. Firstly, what does staccato mean?
Staccato (Italian for detached) is a form of musical articulation. In modern notation it signifies a note of shortened duration, separated from the note that may follow by silence. - Wikipedia
Basically, it refers to short, chopped off notes or chords. If you play rock or metal you should definitely learn how to achieve this effect when playing riffs otherwise you will always wonder why you can't get rid of annoying chords ringing out when you don't want them to.
There are 2 main physical movements I do to cut notes off quickly. With my picking hand, I rest the very side of my palm onto the strings to choke them off and stop them ringing. Sometimes that's enough on its own but if I want to increase my chances of cutting off the sound I will also take my fingers slightly off the notes or chords that I'm playing with my fretting hand. I will keep them in place so I can quickly play the chord again but I just reduce the pressure from my fingers so the strings can rise up from the fretboard and not be pushed down over the fret wire. You will need to practice doing this so you can do it in rhythm with whatever you're playing.
Tempo : 115bpm
Gear: Marshall JVM 410H OD2, Yellow Setting. Bass - 2, Mid - 5, Treb - 6, Gain - 4
Key : Eminor
Chords used : E5, D5, G5, A5, A#5, B5. ( E5 denotes E + Fifth. It is a simple way of writing a power chord )
You can hear these types of riffs anywhere but check out Prince of Darkness by Megadeth, from the 1999 album Risk for an example of this in action.
So, acquaint yourself with Mr Staccato and add more guns to your arsenal of rock riffing!
Enjoy
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