RHYTHM ROOST Slither’s Riff
Keen on all things rhythmic, Jason Sidwell uses hammer-ons for the percussive rock riff of Joel Hoekstra’s video masterclass.
Get ahead of the game with the riff that forms the basis of Joel Hoekstra’s solo this month.
To accompany Joel Hoekstra’s Slither video performance ( page 28) here is the main riff I wrote for the piece. With a dark progression that shifts between F#m and its tritone C Major (made Lydian courtesy of the chord’s F# note), I used a fretting-hand hammer-on for the F# octaves during the F#m chord sections.
While you could use the arguably stronger third finger for the higher F# (4th fret, fourth string), I used my fourth finger. Once you’ve got the pick-hammer-hammer ordering sorted for the first E-F#-F# notes, you’ll play it as a triplet the first time, then double the speed the second time; two rhythmic variations from the same percussive approach. To get the notes souding tight, explore light palm muting on the sixth string as this will enhance the bass content and reduce string sustain. With a crisp distortion, the result is not too dissimilar to the punchy palm muted and fretting-hand articulated riffs and runs of Extreme’s Nuno Bettencourt. Enjoy!