Disturbed - Down with the Sickness - Guitar Lesson

About Down with the Sickness

Drop D tuning is the whole story here. Disturbed built "Down with the Sickness" around a two-finger power chord that Drop D makes brutally simple to execute, but the real challenge is the rhythmic precision the riff demands. At 85 BPM the tempo feels manageable until you try to lock in the syncopated chug pattern with the palm muting tight enough to keep that chunky, percussive feel. Sloppy palm muting will expose itself immediately, so use the Practice Toolbar to loop the main riff slowed down until every note is clean and the muting is consistent. The song sits in E minor, and moving between the open low D string and the fretted chord shapes is something beginners often stumble on, making it a smart early goal for anyone working on Heavy Metal rhythm technique. Getting the attack angle and pick depth right on those chugs is what separates a flat performance from one that actually hits hard.

• The entire riff relies on Drop D tuning, which lets you bar power chords on the lowest string with one finger for fast, heavy rhythm playing.
• Palm muting precision on the chugging low-D pattern is the core technique to nail, as any inconsistency kills the percussive drive of the riff.
• At 85 BPM the tempo is approachable for intermediate players, making this a practical song for building tight rhythm and muting habits in E minor.