John Petrucci Triplet/Sextuplet Riffs

[TSJMajesty]

A few of us have been discussing working on practicing riffs in solos based around triplets/sextuplets, to build technique, so I wanted to start a thread showing ones I've been using, along with the tabs, as a place to bounce ideas around, and just share any insights or tips, or whatever.

I'm a huge JP fan..., anyone who knows me already knows that..., he's definitely my favorite guitarist. I love his tone, his songwriting (most of it), his personality, and most of all his utter dedication to his guitar-playing prowess. I really appreciate anyone who put in the work like he did, to achieve his level of technical mastery.

But also when he wants, he has some of the most musical, and soulful melodies in his solos, that seems to get missed by some.


This is how I tabbed this section (200-203) from Scarred. It's got that JP signature type riff that he uses a similar pattern in Pull Me Under & Wither, then a blazing 32nd note, octave repeating line, then this really cool sounding sextuplet lick, but it's tricky timing-wise, (at least for me) since it's only 2 notes per string, with some wide-ish stretches. (Just ignore 199; Idk if it's correct. I didn't check it.)

It's at 100 BPM, so it's not one of his faster sextuplet riffs, but of course those 32nd notes are a real challenge. I can't even keep up in that part even without picking each note. But measures 200 & 201 are a good riff to master, and be able to pull out of your bag of tricks, as iirc, Drew used in one of his recent songs.

Good stuff!

I had already posted the video of this part, live, cued to where this riff starts, here.

 

[TSJMajesty]

A couple things I love about practicing triplet-based riffs...

Since they're odd-timed, yet you only have an even number of pick strokes (up and down..., not talking about any economy picking here), it forces you to get both motions even, and not just whichever one you tend to favor.

And I'll practice many sextuplet riffs as 16th notes by raising the metronome 50%, which moves the accents to different notes, and helps with keeping each note in time, if that makes sense.

It's kind of like... playing a Pentatonic shape as either 8th notes or 16ths, which feels natural, since the # of notes per string line up with the timing. But play the same riff as a triplet, but adjusting the metronome to keep the same overall riff speed, and it forces your brain to think a bit differently.

I just find these things good for cleaning up inaccuracies in my timing.

Plus, sometimes you're playing a solo at a certain tempo, and say a 16th note riff isn't all that, yet doubling it to 32nd notes is out of reach. So you throw in a few well-placed sextuplet riffs, you know, and it adds just the right amount of zest to your improv solos.

 

[duzie]

I’m looking forward to giving this a try.
Maybe it’ll work its way into my half assed practice routine.

 

[TSJMajesty]

This is one I've been working on a lot, from In The Name of God. It's the last unison part of the solo, with the keys, and it is such a cool riff! I tabbed it to strike a balance between position shifts and string changes (you have to do both!) And I play it so those back-and-forth string changes are done with inside string changes, which I find much easier than outside.

JP plays it on a 7 string or downtuned (I can't remember), but I transposed it for 6. Ignore that 1st bar. It's about 109 bpm, so it's fast, but not horrendous.

And again, good stuff to give you ideas for your own solos, or a great song to learn, if you want. The legato part of the solo is SICK!!

 

[duzie]

@TSJMajesty in bar 201 I'm using my ring finger on the 1st string 17th fret and pinky on the 19th fret
how do you approach that section ?

 

[TSJMajesty]

@TSJMajesty in bar 201 I'm using my ring finger on the 1st string 17th fret and pinky on the 19th fret
how do you approach that section ?

That riff is actually the 2nd & 3rd string. For some reason, sometimes that tab site drops various lines of the tabs.

When it's 15 & 14, I use my first 2 fingers on the 2nd string, and my 1st & 3rd on the 3rd string.
When it's 17 & 14, I use my 3rd finger for the 17th fret, and switch to my 2nd finger for the 16th fret on the 3rd string.
When it's 19 & 14, I switch to my pinky for the 19th fret, and still use my 1st & 2nd fingers on the 3rd string.

 

[duzie]

That riff is actually the 2nd & 3rd string. For some reason, sometimes that tab site drops various lines of the tabs.

When it's 15 & 14, I use my first 2 fingers on the 2nd string, and my 1st & 3rd on the 3rd string.
When it's 17 & 14, I use my 3rd finger for the 17th fret, and switch to my 2nd finger for the 16th fret on the 3rd string.
When it's 19 & 14, I switch to my pinky for the 19th fret, and still use my 1st & 2nd fingers on the 3rd string.

Well what you say makes sense about using the 2nd finger on the 3rd string for patterns 2+3 !
Now I have to figure out what is wrong with my metronome

 

[TSJMajesty]

Now I have to figure out what is wrong with my metronome

I hear ya!

Even though this is one of his *slower* tempos when it comes to sextuplets, it's still a mofo!! This is a good one to do those speed bursts, where you take just one part, play it 3x's at half speed, then twice at regular speed. But like so much of his riffs, if your picking isn't near-perfect, it's not going to sound right.

But when it is...., damn does it sound cool AF!

 

[DrewJD82]

A few of us have been discussing working on practicing riffs in solos based around triplets/sextuplets, to build technique, so I wanted to start a thread showing ones I've been using, along with the tabs, as a place to bounce ideas around, and just share any insights or tips, or whatever.

I'm a huge JP fan..., anyone who knows me already knows that..., he's definitely my favorite guitarist. I love his tone, his songwriting (most of it), his personality, and most of all his utter dedication to his guitar-playing prowess. I really appreciate anyone who put in the work like he did, to achieve his level of technical mastery.

But also when he wants, he has some of the most musical, and soulful melodies in his solos, that seems to get missed by some.


This is how I tabbed this section (200-203) from Scarred. It's got that JP signature type riff that he uses a similar pattern in Pull Me Under & Wither, then a blazing 32nd note, octave repeating line, then this really cool sounding sextuplet lick, but it's tricky timing-wise, (at least for me) since it's only 2 notes per string, with some wide-ish stretches. (Just ignore 199; Idk if it's correct. I didn't check it.)

View attachment 13719

It's at 100 BPM, so it's not one of his faster sextuplet riffs, but of course those 32nd notes are a real challenge. I can't even keep up in that part even without picking each note. But measures 200 & 201 are a good riff to master, and be able to pull out of your bag of tricks, as iirc, Drew used in one of his recent songs.

Good stuff!

I had already posted the video of this part, live, cued to where this riff starts, here.

That’s the lick I refer to as the Zakk Wylde/No More Tears lick, they both come in around the same spot in the solo and essentially provide the same service to the solo, like a “hang here and build some tension before we go out with a bang” part.

When I first tried tackling that lick I could not understand or wrap my head around how to physically play it to make it sound like it does when both Zakk or JP play it. There’s a subtle muting/dampening of the strings going on that puts a little space between the notes that gives it its feel. I was trying to play straight through the notes at their whole values, which is why it wasn’t making sense to me.

One of my favorite licks of all time that I keep right at the top of the trick bag.

 

[la szum]

Sextuplets are cool as fuck. Like double-timing triplets. Gary Moore was the first one I ever heard do
those. Vivian Campbell was influenced by him a lot, and busted some out on the first 2 Dio Albums. Pretty sure
John Sykes wove them into his playing, too.

And yeah, Zakk turned them into that signature 2 string lick (usually ascending on the E and B strings?).

 

[la szum]

Here's a cool Gary Moore sextuplet ascending run. They do always sound better slightly muted, don't they?

Solo starts just after 3:30. 3:45 is where the run is.

 

[JT]

Here's a cool Gary Moore sextuplet ascending run. They do always sound better slightly muted, don't they?

Solo starts just after 3:30. 3:45 is where the run is.

Dude. I LOVE this tune! Heard it back kind of out of nowhere back in the day as I never followed Thin Lizzy beyond knowing they had killer harmonies. This tune is

 

[TSJMajesty]

Here's a portion of the legato solo from In The Name of God:

It's transposed for std tuning (only from bars 239 through 242), then it repeats once, then continues (I'll tab that out later.)

I practice this every day. It helps with strengthening that pinky, along with keeping string changes clean. Good to use with a high gain tone, since even the slightest brush against an adjacent string, when you do a pull-off, is going to produce unwanted noise. So I use it as an overall check for how clean I'm keeping my technique, in general.

Great "exercise."

Oh, and where the "slur lines" are missing, like on 12-13-15 in the 1st measure and the last beat of the 2nd measure, they should be there, but the site I edited the tab from (to transpose it), didn't keep those lines in place. Iow, it's all legato.

And another good thing to note, if you really want to try and strengthen your pinky, do all the changes to lower strings by using a 'hammer-on from nowhere.' Meaning, don't pick that note. I only pick notes when moving to a higher string.

Try it out! It's a challenge to keep it all nice and even.

Oh, and, it's harmonic minor, so it sounds cool af, but has some wide stretches as well!

 

[Sascha Franck]

Here's a cool Gary Moore sextuplet ascending run.

Sorry to be nitpicking, but that's 16th notes.

 

[Eagle]

Here's a cool Gary Moore sextuplet ascending run. They do always sound better slightly muted, don't they?

Solo starts just after 3:30. 3:45 is where the run is.

It’s just ascending fours up a Dm scale.

 

[Eagle]

Here's a cool Gary Moore sextuplet ascending run. They do always sound better slightly muted, don't they?

Solo starts just after 3:30. 3:45 is where the run is.

I had the guitar from the publicity in recently .

 

[la szum]

Dude. I LOVE this tune! Heard it back kind of out of nowhere back in the day as I never followed Thin Lizzy beyond knowing they had killer harmonies. This tune is

That whole Run For Cover album is great. I have it on Vinyl from way back in the day!

He had a great career before he went all in on the Blues. I prefer his harder rocking solo stuff.

He was a beast!

 

[Ed DeGenaro]

A couple things I love about practicing triplet-based riffs...

Since they're odd-timed, yet you only have an even number of pick strokes (up and down..., not talking about any economy picking here), it forces you to get both motions even, and not just whichever one you tend to favor.

And I'll practice many sextuplet riffs as 16th notes by raising the metronome 50%, which moves the accents to different notes, and helps with keeping each note in time, if that makes sense.

It's kind of like... playing a Pentatonic shape as either 8th notes or 16ths, which feels natural, since the # of notes per string line up with the timing. But play the same riff as a triplet, but adjusting the metronome to keep the same overall riff speed, and it forces your brain to think a bit differently.

I just find these things good for cleaning up inaccuracies in my timing.

Plus, sometimes you're playing a solo at a certain tempo, and say a 16th note riff isn't all that, yet doubling it to 32nd notes is out of reach. So you throw in a few well-placed sextuplet riffs, you know, and it adds just the right amount of zest to your improv solos.

You know two notes per string still lines up perfectly well with 16th triplets.
Its internal time dies nit have to be
123 456
Or takita-takita
It can be very well taken as
12 34 56
Or taka-dini-juno

Particularly true when we go above 100 bpm for 16ths triplets.

I got a couple of students that want to work on chops and what i see it was harder for them to play 3 nps in 16th than 2 nos in 16th. Trips.

What got them sorted was first internalizing rhythm away from then instrument and instead of patterns playing lines, and more importantly lines that mix rhythmic values.
Like this stuff…
Goal is 150bpm

Dm Lines

Dm Lines

www.soundslice.com

 

[Sascha Franck]

I got a couple of students that want to work on chops and what i see it was harder for them to play 3 nps in 16th than 2 nos in 16th. Trips.

That's not unexpected, at least in case you're alternate picking. With 3nps the picking direction changes on each string, with 2nps it stays the same.

 

[Orvillain]

Sorry to be nitpicking, but that's 16th notes.

Having just sat here going 1-e-and-a-2-e-and-a-3-e-and-a-4-e-and-a- throughout the part that @la szum is referencing (the run at 3:45), it really doesn't sound like 16th notes to me.