Contents

Heavy metal gallop

Gallop on bass

Gallop played on a bass with a pick

One technique on guitar involves strumming palm muted power chords in an up-and-down motion with a pick, thereby creating an ostinato.^[3][4] Variations include the triplet gallop^[5] and the reverse gallop.^[6]

On drums, the technique often uses a double kick pedal. A typical drum gallop is formed around this skeleton:

H- x---x---x---x---|
S- ----o-------o---|
B- o-ooo-ooo-ooo-oo|

Examples of early or "proto" gallops[edit]

Several early examples are variations on the pattern that do not strictly use the "eighth note followed by two sixteenth notes", but nonetheless have been identified as gallops.

• "Hard Lovin' Man" – Deep Purple (Deep Purple in Rock, 1970)^[7]
• "Immigrant Song" – Led Zeppelin (Led Zeppelin III, 1970)^[8]
• "Children of the Grave" – Black Sabbath (Master of Reality, 1971)^[7]
• "Highway Star" – Deep Purple (Machine Head, 1972)^[9]
• "Keep Yourself Alive" – Queen (Queen, 1973)^[10]

Examples of songs using the gallop[edit]

• "Achilles Last Stand" – Led Zeppelin (Presence, 1976)^[4]
• "Barracuda" – Heart (Little Queen, 1977)^[4]
• "Exciter" – Judas Priest (Stained Class, 1978)^[4]
• "Stained Class" – Judas Priest (Stained Class, 1978)^[4]
• "Air Dance" – Black Sabbath (Never Say Die!, 1978)^[11]
• "The Oath" – Kiss (Music from "The Elder", 1981)^[4]
• "Killers" – Iron Maiden (Killers, 1981)^[12]
• "Run to the Hills" – Iron Maiden (The Number of the Beast, 1982)^[13]
• "Motorbreath" – Metallica (Kill 'Em All, 1983)^[14]
• "Holy Diver" – Dio (Holy Diver, 1983)^[15]
• "Exciter" – Kiss (Lick It Up, 1983)^[4]
• "Disposable Heroes" – Metallica (Master of Puppets, 1986)^[14]
• "Damage, Inc." – Metallica (Master of Puppets, 1986)^[14]
• "Raining Blood" – Slayer (Reign in Blood, 1986)^[15]
• "Over the Wall" – Testament (The Legacy, 1987)^[13]
• "Headless Cross" – Black Sabbath (Headless Cross, 1989)^[1]

References[edit]

Citations

Sources

• Chappell, Jon; Phillips, Mark; Serna, Desi (2014). Guitar All-In-One For Dummies. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1118872109.
• Chlasciak, Metal Mike (May 7, 2018). "Play Mega-Metal Licks in the Style of Metallica, Testament and Pantera". Guitarworld.com. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
• Encabo, Enrique, ed. (2015). Reinventing Sound: Music and Audiovisual Culture. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4438-8105-0.
• Hal Leonard (2011). Rock Bass Songs for Dummies. Hal Leonard. ISBN 978-1458434937.
• Marshall, Wolf (1993). The Wolf Marshall Guitar Method. Hal Leonard. ISBN 9780793516056.
• Pillsbury, Glenn (2013). Damage Incorporated: Metallica and the Production of Musical Identity. New York City: Routledge. ISBN 978-1136091223.
• Popoff, Martin (2011). Black Sabbath FAQ: All That's Left to Know on the First Name in Metal. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Backbeat Books. ISBN 978-1617131097.
• Popoff, Martin (2018a). Iron Maiden: Album by Album. Voyageur Press. ISBN 978-0760360880.
• Popoff, Martin (2018b). Led Zeppelin: All the Albums, All the Songs (Expanded ed.). Voyageur Press. ISBN 978-0-76035-211-3.
• Revill, Simon (April 13, 2017). "Gallop Rhythms for Heavy Metal Guitar, Part 1". Guitarworld.com. Retrieved May 29, 2019.
• Stang, Aaron; Purse, Bill (2014). Sound Innovations for Guitar, Teacher Edition Book 2: A Revolutionary Guitar Method for Individual or Class Instruction. Alfred Music. ISBN 978-1470633172.
• Stang, Aaron; Warner, Daniel (1996). Guitar Rock Shop, Volume 3. Alfred Music. ISBN 978-1576237311.
• Stolz, Nolan (2017). Experiencing Black Sabbath: A Listener's Companion. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1442256927.
• Woods, Tricia; Green, Raleigh (2008). The Versatile Guitarist: A Complete Course in a Variety of Musical Styles. Alfred Music. ISBN 978-0739048054.