Okay, I've been playing guitar for over 5 years and I can play to an above average level; I could learn most songs that I like within a day or 2.

But, now I want to write my own riffs / solo's / songs in the style on Pantera, Exhorder, At The Gates, Stormtroopers of Death, etc; pretty much what they call 'groove metal'.

Any pointers, relating to;
Typical rhythm patterns?
Song structures?
Common key / scales used?
Picking patterns?
Picking speed tricks?

I'm an open book, tell me what you know :)

Typical rhythm patterns?
Song structures?


Just listen to the music. Copy rhythms and derive your own from it, and find elements that are "typical of the style" (for example, blues likes triplets, sextuplets are everywhere in shred, and lots of jazz is swung.). Write down the song structures as you hear/interpret them.


Common key / scales used?
Picking patterns?


Well you said yourself that you can learn most songs in a day or two.. so learn some, and figure out the keys/scales and picking patterns.

To save you lots of time with finding scales, you can use this: http://www.all-guitar-chords.com/reverse_scales.php

Click on the fretboard the notes that you play, and eventually with enough notes it will tell you all possible scales it could be.


Picking speed tricks?



This is technique and not really much to do with writing.. What got my picking really good was instructional videos by Paul Gilbert. There are loads on youtube.

Okay, I've been playing guitar for over 5 years and I can play to an above average level; I could learn most songs that I like within a day or 2.

But, now I want to write my own riffs / solo's / songs in the style on Pantera, Exhorder, At The Gates, Stormtroopers of Death, etc; pretty much what they call 'groove metal'.

Any pointers, relating to;
Typical rhythm patterns?
Song structures?
Common key / scales used?
Picking patterns?
Picking speed tricks?

I'm an open book, tell me what you know :)

First of all, dont base your style around someone elses. Its alright if your starting out but if you really want to be an accomplished musician then come up with your own style.
Drugs and lots of solitary confinement helped me with this.

Second, learn all your scales.
Major and all the major modes, all the melodic minor modes for a particular 'evil' sound, and your diminished, wholetone, and chromatic scales.
If you dont know what any of these are look them up.
you learn to recognize different scales as you listen to songs. this is good.

play along with the songs. start by making up alternative riffs with the music, and solo around the chord progression.

Try coming up with your own unique sounding chord progressions. its typical to jump to the fourth in most songs but its unique to go to the sixth and make it sound good.

as for picking patterns and speed tricks i cant help you much cuz im a bass player lol.
but it does come with practice. try practicing your scales using alternative picking with different speeds.

and remember. your not practicing unless you practice with a metranome.

Let it come naturally. Hear some riff in your head and transcribe that to guitar. After you do that, you have a riff. Yay.

First of all, dont base your style around someone elses. Its alright if your starting out but if you really want to be an accomplished musician then come up with your own style.


hmmm, that's funny. every teacher at the conservatory i go to says exactly the opposite.

hmmm, that's funny. every teacher at the conservatory i go to says exactly the opposite.

Yeah, I learned most of my guitar playing by hearing a song that had a sweet guitar part, then learning how to play like that. Thats just how I acquire techniques.

Okay, maybe I went abit overboard with the questions.

I'm really just asking what scales are typically used?
I know major and minor and can recognize if a solo is using either, but that's as far as it goes.

Maybe I *shouldn't* base my guitar playing off someone elses style, but this is the style I want to play / write songs in. This is just the starting point, I'm sure when I get abit down the road I'll of developed my own style which inherits this and other styles.

hmmm, that's funny. every teacher at the conservatory i go to says exactly the opposite.

hmmm which conservatory?
i mean ya, its good if your just learning, and want to learn new licks, and if you want to sound like everybody else.

a persons style is their collective of every musician they enjoy listening too. so i mean if your going to go along with the style of say, pantera, add in other shit from other musicians you listen to, to make it unique.

Okay, I've been playing guitar for over 5 years and I can play to an above average level; I could learn most songs that I like within a day or 2.

But, now I want to write my own riffs / solo's / songs in the style on Pantera, Exhorder, At The Gates, Stormtroopers of Death, etc; pretty much what they call 'groove metal'.

Any pointers, relating to;
Typical rhythm patterns?
Song structures?
Common key / scales used?
Picking patterns?
Picking speed tricks?

I'm an open book, tell me what you know :)

If your as seasoned a metal play as you claim it wouldn't be that hard to make your own thrash. But any ways sorry for the negativity, just listen to what they do and try emulate the style whilst making it your own.

If your as seasoned a metal play as you claim it wouldn't be that hard to make your own thrash. But any ways sorry for the negativity, just listen to what they do and try emulate the style whilst making it your own.

I've tried, I'm just.. not very creative :confused::(

I can sit and play around with palm mute riffs, like open string palm muted and a power chord every couple of notes, then changing that riff a few notes up so that I'm palm muting the 2nd fret; if you get what I mean? That sort of thing.

I'm interested in scales used because I want to make riffs like Dimebag does, songs like Cowboys From Hell, single notes, not chords.

If you're already pretty accomplished, instructional videos by Paul Gilbert, Eric Johnson (!!!), and Jimmy Page are quite useful. When it comes to picking, there's either alternate or sweep, but I never learned either so I just pray that I hit all the right strings as quickly as possible, usually through heavy practice.

Don't look only at metal for inspiration. A lot of great metal pieces come from listening to classical, maybe even playing along (on a distorted guitar) and then shredding a solo that fits. If you do it this way you'll end up with some great sounding pieces. I love working with classical music, especially Bach.

Practice practice practice. Hendrix condensed 25 years of skill into 5 because of 18 hours a day of practice!