Riff Analysis 001— Meshuggah "Bleed"

What's going on in the hardest part of the notoriously hard "Bleed"? Armed with clunky animations, I take a closer look and offer some thoughts on music that is really tricky to play but kind of unassuming on the surface.

"Bleed" music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc98u-eGzlc
"Bleed" tab: https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/meshuggah/bleed-guitar-pro-675546
Meshuggah interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR7qSHp2-lo

Further reading on Meshuggah:

Capuzzo, Guy. 2018. “Rhythmic Deviance in the Music of Meshuggah.” Music Theory Spectrum 40 (1): 121–37. https://doi.org/10.1093/mts/mty005.

Hannan, Calder. 2018. “Difficulty as Heaviness: Links between Rhythmic Difficulty and Perceived Heaviness in the Music of Meshuggah and The Dillinger Escape Plan.” Metal Music Studies 4 (3): 433–58. https://doi.org/10.1386/mms.4.3.433_1.

Hudson, Stephen. 2014. “Fragments of Riffs and Small Alterations in Meshuggah’s ‘ObZen.’” Metal In Theory (blog). June 30, 2014. http://metalintheory.com/meshuggah-obzen/.

———. 2016. “Disconnecting Rhythm and Pitch in Meshuggah’s ‘Nostrum.’” Metal In Theory (blog). October 8, 2016.
http://metalintheory.com/meshuggah-nostrum/.

Lucas, Olivia. 2018. “‘So Complete in Beautiful Deformity’: Unexpected Beginnings and Rotated Riffs in Meshuggah’s ObZen.” Music Theory Online 24 (3). http://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.18.24.3/mto.18.24.3.lucas.html.

Pieslak, Jonathan. 2007. “Re-Casting Metal: Rhythm and Meter in the Music of Meshuggah.” Music Theory Spectrum 29 (2): 219–45. https://doi.org/10.1525/mts.2007.29.2.219.

Smialek, Eric. 2008. “Re-Thinking Metal Aesthetics: Complexity, Authenticity, and Audience in Meshuggah’s I and Catch 33.” Masters Thesis, Montreal: McGill University.

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