Is that tab accurate? And if so

Playing Technique
#1

Take a look at the example below:

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This is BFG Division from DOOM 2016’s soundstrack, that djenty part starting at 1:26 :

I am not exactly sure if this part is written correctly in the tab, mainly:
a) occasional 16th note at the beginning of the phrase
b) left hand muted “X” in the middle of the phrase.

As for issue A, I feel like it’s all in straight 8th note triplets, he just accents the first note of the pattern (3rd fret).
As for B - I feel like this muted note would have to be an upstroke, which is quite uncomfortable here, just to end the phrase on the upstroke and start on downstroke again.
Can some of you guys confirm if you even can hear him play this muted note?

I am having a little trouble getting in the groove, as I have never, ever played anything close to djent.

#2

When you apply pressure with the index finger and fret the 2nd position note and then subsequently kill the note by lifting that same finger up, the consequence is the middle finger also comes down as the second finger relaxes, which prompts the illusion of the choked note. This isn’t notated very clearly and this sort of “note-choking” technique is used in djent to mimic a highly gated sound. It’s used all over metal, less so in black and death.

I could be wrong, but the tab gives a bit of a red herring. It seems like he’s just relaxing the index, and then the 3rd fret sounds elsewhere in the pattern before that choked note. He might be doing a pull off at the 3rd fret to the 2nd fret.

No idea about issue A, my theory chops are lacking. Picking pattern might involve a pull off and some sort of D-U-D rhythm.

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#3

I’m not 100% positive if I understand correctly - english is not my 1st language.
Sooo basicaly what you mean is that this second part of the phrase (after the pause) is picked five times just like in tab?

#4

No worries, this is really hard for me to get across and it has nothing to do with your comprehension skills.

I think the simplest way for me to put it is that the “X” in the tab really isn’t even there in his playing. I’m relatively sure about this. I’ll have to go back and watch this a few times.

Usually, you’ll see "X"s in funk guitar tabs to indicate ghost notes between strummed chords, like a dominant 7 or whatever. In this case, I’m not sure there’s even a note being hit where that X is.

I think this tab might be wrong in a really bad way, to the point where it will mislead you. I think you’re going to have to do this one by ear. It’s a huge problem for modern metal tabs unless they are authored by the person who wrote the song.

#5

Yeah, there is where the problem is: it’s too fast, too low for me to get a solid grasp on what’s going on really.
I think I’ve got this part sorta right, however not quite up to tempo, and still I am not completely sure if I got it accurate. Sounds sorta similar, but…

#6

Yeah, as metal players we’ve all been here. It’s really hard to get some of these advanced rhythms down without proper tabs…

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bfg+division+cover

Maybe you’ll have some luck imitating what the top covers are doing? Worth a shot.

#7

Yep, I watched plenty of those. Not much luck there. Andrew Beana does it quite well some others too, but most are not exactly correct from what I can see/hear.

#8

Yeah I watched Baena’s and immediately noticed it was sligtly off. I think you can take some artistic liberties with this one and just get a general groove going if you’re planning a YouTube cover.

The RE2 Remake soundtrack has some good metal tunes if you’re into that, too.

#9

Yeah I might do a YT cover, but since my last two covers I am aiming at creating my own backing track instead of just playing along to mp3, which in that particular example is leagues beyond me, with all those synths and weird effects XD
Primarily I just want to learn it. It’s soooo aggresive and makes me pumped up.

Still, I think I see him picking upwards after the break, which would indicate he’s doing five notes in the second part of the phrase, therefore the tab would be sort of correct in that spot(?).
Also, he does some variations of this riff later on, i.e. the same riff, just different muting patterns, which I have not practiced yet.

#10

I’m watching several different parts and variations of the groove and I’m actually starting to see - and hear - that he might be using pull offs from 3-2 as well as actual picking from 3-2. It’s like he changes the picking patterns and uses some pull-offs throughout the video to match the groove. It may not be necessarily a conscious choice. And just because he does it in the video doesn’t mean he recorded it that same way.

This is a tough one, I think you’ll just have to feel your way through this one.

#11

Ok I think I figured it out. What he’s doing is D-U-D-U-D alternate picked pattern. The straight groove at 2:26 or whatever is played with a displaced accent on the upstroke at the 3rd fret.

For the 1:26 part, he’s inserting what I think are 16th note triplets and doubling up. I would learn the more “straight” groove at 2:38. That’s what I did, and then 1:26 came together. It’s all alternate picked, although you can pull-of from 3-2 if you want. Both work.

edit: made a mistake, corrected for clarity

#12

Tabs seem valid. At least I ended with the same (except the ghost note).

#13

Yeah the ghost note seems to throw the entire pattern if you play it. I would leave it out

#14

Actually I mean that I play it with simple right hand palm muting.

#15

Oh ok, I thought you meant as a muted string with a sync’d pickstroke or something. I wasn’t hearing that when the guy played it.

#16

For me the pattern sounds like:
Tam-ti-ri-tum-tum-tum-tum tum-tam-tam-tum-tum
where 'tam" is not muted string and ‘tum’ s muted.

#17

Got it. So you replaced the X in the tab with 2?

#18

@Rot

Give this a shot. I see what you’re saying about the awkwardness of the upstroke, but it seems that is the way he is playing it.

I’m pretty sure this is correct for 1:26.

DOOM
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So to clarify, it is an upstroke, but the note in the tab you posted isn’t a dead note, it’s just heavily muted as @ASTN says and I believe is it 2, not “X”. This guitar tone is very processed sounding so it’s very hard to hear with all the effects, but I am reasonably confident.

edit: Lol it’s early here and I didn’t switch to an 8 string guitar on GP7, whoops

#19

Yep. That’s how I would play it.
Moreover, I watched video slowed down and I couldn’t see him doing anything special with his left hand during that note. So assume that it’s just a picked palmmuted note. Though the rhythmical pattern is a bit nontypical for me: when I tried to play it fast I placed nonmuted notes in different places according to my habits. But it’s just a matter of practice.

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#21

So turns out that there indeed are 16th notes in the riff, which bumps up the difficulty a notch or two.
To be fair it only looks easy, but to be honest I can’t play it faster than 1/3rd of the original tempo. Bummer.
Gotta practice more.

Isn’t the riff at 2:38 the main riff?