Phrygian Metalcore Riffing

Hey GMC'ers! Today, yet another metal riff lesson for you. It's from a song called "Arachnida" from the first album of my band Pronoia.

This riff is quite entertaining, especially because it uses one single note, B minor, and there are a couple of guitar variations made on the same base I think you can take advantage of! In the future I'll teach you some other parts of this song.

The whole riff is in the Phrygian mode, which is a minor mode and the 3rd grade in a major scale. The characteristic of this mode is it has the flat 2nd, the minor 6th, and the minor 7th. As this is the 3rd grade, we could say we are in the G major (Ionian) tone.

From the beginning, the guitar and bass are rhythmically similar. The guitar plays variations of the bass riff. The tempo is 7/8 along the whole thing. Most of all, try to practise the tempo, adjusting to the drums and bass groove.

Tuning:
* One Step Down
* D - G - C - F - A - D
(From thick to thin string)

Key:
B Minor Phrygian

Techniques:
* Riffing
* Time Signature
* Picking
* String Skipping
* Octaves

Scales:
B Minor Phrygian scale