Metal Rhythm Guitar Workouts – Richard Shaw

Metal Rhythm Guitar Workouts by Richard Shaw is a focused, hands-on course designed to sharpen one of the most important skills any heavy guitarist can develop: tight, powerful, rhythm guitar playing. Built around real-world metal riffing concepts and demanding timing exercises, this course delivers note-for-note workouts that strengthen your picking hand, fretboard control, and rhythmic accuracy while keeping everything musical and riff-based.

Rather than relying on abstract exercises, this course places you directly inside authentic metal rhythm scenarios, drawing influence from classic and modern metal styles. Each workout is designed to challenge your coordination, stamina, and timing, while also giving you riffs and ideas you can immediately apply to your own playing or songwriting.

Moving Between 8th Notes & 16th Notes

This lesson focuses on one of the most critical rhythm skills in metal guitar: smoothly transitioning between 8th-note and 16th-note subdivisions. The workout forces you to maintain a steady pulse while changing rhythmic density, ensuring that faster passages don’t rush and slower sections don’t drag. Developing this control dramatically improves your timing, making your rhythm playing sound tighter, heavier, and more professional—especially when playing with a drummer or backing track.

Iron Maiden & Slayer Style ‘Hertes’

Inspired by the driving rhythms of Iron Maiden and the relentless aggression of Slayer, this section explores classic metal gallop feels. These riffs demand precision from both hands, combining fast picking patterns with strict rhythmic placement. Working on these exercises strengthens picking endurance and helps you lock into that iconic metal propulsion that underpins countless classic and modern metal tracks.

Pedal Tone Riffs

Pedal tone riffs are a cornerstone of metal rhythm guitar, using repeated open or fretted notes against shifting chord tones. This lesson develops control over string changes and picking consistency while maintaining a relentless rhythmic drive. Learning pedal tone riffs improves your right-hand accuracy and gives you access to one of metal’s most effective tools for creating tension, aggression, and movement in riffs.

Major & Minor Dyads

This workout introduces the use of major and minor dyads within heavy rhythm contexts. By focusing on two-note shapes, you’ll learn how subtle harmonic shifts can dramatically change the mood of a riff. These exercises improve fretboard awareness and chordal control, helping you move beyond basic power chords while still retaining a heavy, tight sound.

A Minor Riff Using Pull Offs

This lesson centres on a fluid A minor riff that uses pull offs to create speed and smoothness. By reducing the workload on the picking hand, pull offs allow riffs to flow more naturally while still sounding aggressive. Practising this technique improves left-hand strength, articulation, and efficiency, making fast passages feel more controlled and effortless.

Em Riff Using Hammer Ons

Hammer ons are explored here through a driving E minor riff that balances heaviness with fluid motion. This exercise develops left-hand independence and timing while keeping the riff rhythmically locked. Mastering hammer ons in a rhythm context enhances your ability to add speed and expression without sacrificing tightness.

Syncopated Power Chord Riff

Syncopation is essential for modern metal rhythm guitar, and this lesson focuses on a power chord riff built around off-beat accents. The workout trains you to feel and control rhythmic displacement, improving groove awareness and making your riffs more dynamic and engaging. Strong syncopation skills help your rhythm playing stand out and lock more effectively with drums and bass.

Alternate Picked Arpeggio Riff

This section introduces an arpeggio-based riff that uses strict alternate picking. The exercise challenges string-skipping accuracy and picking consistency, while reinforcing rhythmic clarity across multiple strings. Developing this technique strengthens coordination and prepares you for more complex metal rhythm parts that blend melody and aggression.

Group of 4 Exercise

The Group of 4 exercise is a classic rhythmic workout adapted for metal riffing. By grouping notes in fours across the fretboard, this lesson builds picking stamina, timing precision, and hand synchronisation. It’s an essential drill for developing endurance and maintaining clarity at higher tempos.

12/8 Time Signature

Rounding out the course, this lesson explores metal riffing in a 12/8 time signature. Working in compound time expands your rhythmic vocabulary and challenges your internal sense of pulse. Learning to feel and play confidently in 12/8 opens the door to more progressive, groove-based metal styles and improves overall rhythmic flexibility.

About the Guitar Style & Influences

Richard Shaw’s approach to rhythm guitar is deeply rooted in classic heavy metal and thrash influences, drawing inspiration from the tight gallops, aggressive picking, and precision riffing of bands like Iron Maiden and Slayer. His playing balances discipline with musicality, focusing on clarity, timing, and power. This course reflects that philosophy, offering workouts that not only build technique but also reinforce the mindset required to be a solid, dependable metal rhythm guitarist.

Guitar Techniques Used in Metal Rhythm Guitar Workouts

• Alternate Picking
• Legato
• Pull Offs
• Hammer Ons
• Power Chords
• Palm Muting
• Arpeggios
• Syncopated Rhythms
• Open String Riffs
• Galloping Rhythms
• Chromaticism

Metal Rhythm Guitar Workouts is an essential course for guitarists who want to strengthen their rhythm foundations, improve timing and endurance, and develop the confidence needed to deliver tight, powerful metal riffs in any playing situation.