Fifths and the low riff
Stacked fifths on the bottom strings — the two-note shape that carries a riff under distortion.
- Style
- rock
- Written in
- A
- Feel
- straight
- Tempo
- ♩=120
- Length
- 1 bar
Numbers are the order you play them, so notes sharing a number sound together. Drop the tempo until it is clean, then bring it back up.
Written in A, and the writing below describes it there. Move it to another key and the shape does not change, only where its root sits — which is the difference between knowing a lick and knowing a fret number.
- 1A · string 6, fret 5 + E · string 5, fret 7
- 2A · string 6, fret 5 + E · string 5, fret 7
- 3G · string 6, fret 3 + D · string 5, fret 5
- 4F · string 6, fret 1 + C · string 5, fret 3
- 5A · string 6, fret 5 + E · string 5, fret 7
Root and 5th, no 3rd at all, so there is no major or minor in it to smear — which is why it stays clear under gain that would turn a full chord to mud. This walks A5 to G5 to F5 — the same vamp the rock track jams over all the way through.
Palm mute lightly at the bridge so the notes are tight rather than ringing, and keep the muted attacks as rhythmically exact as the open ones. That precision is the difference between a riff and a strum.
Where this fits
This comes out of week 4 of the rock path — the rhythm side (playing the form, not over it). The week is where you learn the device; this page is where you come back to it once the week has rolled over.