Testament - Disciples Of The Watch - Guitar Tab

About Disciples Of The Watch

Drop D tuning sits at the core of "Disciples Of The Watch," giving the open sixth string that extra weight that makes the low-end riffs hit hard in E minor. Testament built this track around relentless palm-muted chugging punctuated by fast single-note runs, so your right-hand muting technique needs to be tight and consistent throughout. At 120 BPM the tempo is not extreme by Thrash Metal standards, but the rhythm guitar work demands stamina: long stretches of alternate-picked palm mutes will tire your picking hand quickly if your technique is not efficient. The lead breaks require clean position shifts up the neck, so pay attention to where you are anchoring your thumb. Use the Practice Toolbar to loop any riff or phrase slowed down until your pick attack and muting are locked in before bringing it back up to speed. Getting the palm mute pressure right is the real challenge here: too light and the chug loses its punch, too heavy and the notes choke out.

• Drop D tuning lets you power up E minor riffs with a single-finger barre across the bottom two strings, which is central to the rhythm guitar approach in this song.
• The 120 BPM pace demands sustained alternate picking with tight palm muting, making right-hand endurance and consistency the main technical challenge to build.
• Practise the palm-muted chugging sections in short loops using the Practice Toolbar slowed down, focusing on even pick attack before raising the tempo.