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In crafting the primary riffs for Spiritbox songs, I’ll often combine aggressively strummed, atonal power chords with fast single-note phrases and some hammer-ons and pull-offs. A good example of this approach is heard in Angel Eyes, from our 2023 EP The Fear of Fear.
I play this song on a seven-string guitar in the tuning I use most often, which is drop-A transposed down a minor 3rd, commonly referred to as “drop F#” (low to high: F#, C#, F#, B, E, G#, C#).
Angel Eyes is an unapologetically heavy track that’s pretty simple, in terms of the fret hand. It’s more of a pick-hand exercise, in terms of the rhythmic precision required to give the riffs the right amount of intensity.
Figure 1 shows the verse riff, which combines eighth- and 16th-note rhythms. In bars 1-3, I play palm-muted two-note chords on the bottom two strings, with the 6th string open and the 7th string fretted at the 1st fret. These two notes form a b5 interval (Bb and E), which has an atonal sound.
In bar 4, on beats 3 and 4, I perform a series of hammer-ons and slides on the 7th and 5th strings that roll into bar 5. I follow this with a pair of strummed natural harmonics (N.H.) on the top three strings, located a point a little ways past the 3rd fret, as indicated by 3.2.
I use a moderate amount of palm-muting here, so that the strings aren’t too choked. I like the notes to sustain a bit, which goes hand in hand with how much force I’m using while striking the strings. My suggestion is to pick really hard and dig in with the pick hand.
Figure 2 focuses on the quick hammer-on/slide phrase from bar 4 of Figure 1. I fret the notes on the 7th string with my index finger and the notes on the 5th string with my middle finger. To make the riff “pop,” I palm-mute the 7th string while allowing the notes on the 5th string to ring.
Figure 3 illustrates the chorus riff. In bars 1-4, after initially sounding the open low A note, I play Bb octave shapes on the 7th and 5th strings, followed by Bb octaves on the 6th and 4th strings, sliding up to the 6th fret on the 6th string each time. In bar 4, the phrase ends with a gradual whole-step bend at the 5th fret on the 6th string.
In bars 5-8, I drop the phrase down a half-step, sounding an A octave on the 7th and 5th strings, followed by additional A notes higher up the fretboard, including a fast slide up to the 12th fret of the 7th string.
The first seven bars then repeat, and in bar 9 of the example, I close out the phrase with alternating two-note b5 power chords on the bottom two strings, before restating the first two bars of the verse riff.
There’s a lot of string-skipping here. Strive to jump between the strings with economy of movement. The goal is to make the octaves sound as clear and seamless as possible. Try to keep your pick hand moving quickly and decisively throughout the figure.
- This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.
