The main riff to "Somebody Save Me" is
classic 80's metal style. It uses power chord type intervals and a droning,
palm muted open string.
When you play the open A string in this riff,
you'll want to apply a palm mute with your picking hand to help muffle
the sound from the string. To do this you'll rest the heel of your picking
hand lightly on the strings just before the bridge and apply a little
pressure as you pick the string. This will create a slightly muffled tone
for the note.
When you switch to the notes on the D and G strings
you'll want to take away the palm mute to let these notes ring out like
normal.
Fingerings for this riff is quite easy. If you
choose you can use your first finger to fret all the notes except in the
2nd measure where you'll want to use your 1st finger for the 3rd fret
and 3rd finger for the 5th fret.
Here is the transcription:
Hear it at regular speed (128 bpm):
Here it is at slower at 70 bpm:
Unison Bend Lead
A lead guitar part is added on top of the main riff to complete the intro.
It is compromised entirely of unison bends.
This technique involves strumming two fretted notes that are a whole
step apart on two adjacent strings (either the G and B, or B and E), then
quickly bending the lower note up a whole step to match the pitch of the
higher note. This works best on the B and G strings, as the notes are
comfortably fingered two frets apart with the index finger on the B string
and the ring finger on the G string (the middle finger can help the ring
finger bend the lower note up to pitch).
In the riff below we strike both notes at the same time and bend the
note on the note on the G string until it comes in unison (has the same
pitch) as the note on the 5th fret.
When performing them, be sure to listen for the 2 notes to "come
together" in unison. A common mistake is under bending and overbending
the string. This will make it sould like it's out of tune. A unison bend
requires you to bend the string so that both notes sound at the same pitch.
Use your 1st finger to fret the notes on the B string and your 3rd finger
to fret the notes on the G string. Strike both notes at the same time.
Bend the notes on the G string, don't bend the 1st finger notes on the
B string. If you're having difficulty with this tecnique, please see the
unison bend video at the bottom for more help.
