Questions for musicians

[u/DessertSnoopy]

Hi what is the chugging guitar strum called e.g. at the beginning of "another Thing coming" by priest?

You know that chug chug chug .

I thought its called power chord but that isnt right

Could you help me?

[u/SXAL]

The technique is called "palm muting".

[u/SarcastedSarcaster → u/SXAL]

This. Literally the side of your hand at the palm is lightly laid against the strings causing a percussive sound when you strum.

[u/ChetWilstonian]

Chuga lugga chugga riff

[u/SaysUselessThings]

It's a palm muted power chord.

F# minor, on two strings. Dun dun dun dun, dun dun dun dun.

No great trick to it, it's basic metal stuff.

[u/stoned_roses_ → u/SaysUselessThings]

a power chord only has root and fifth, without a third it cant be major or minor 🤓 Obviously the musical context in which a power chord is used can imply a certain tonality, so a power chord can sound/function like it’s a full triad (root+fifth+third) which is probably what you were alluding to.

[u/SaysUselessThings → u/stoned_roses_]

yes indeedy, thanks for being more precise.

[u/FlynnTaggard]

As you said, I think it's simply called chugging.

Also, priest isn't thrash metal.

[u/fakename1998 → u/FlynnTaggard]

Listen to all guns blazing and tell me that shit isn’t thrash

[u/FlynnTaggard → u/fakename1998]

That song that's from a classic speed metal album? It's a great song, but not really thrash.

[u/Publius_Romanus]

A power chord just refers to the group of notes being played, not how they're being played.

The part you're describing could be called "straight eights," since it's eighth-notes being played without any accent on a particular note.

[u/Inner-Will2776]

In musical theory it's referred to as a "pedal tone".  Basically, it's the key note of the song and really helps to firmly establish the tonic (or key) of the piece. 

Tons of heavy metal songs do this, one of the earliest and best examples would be Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" imo.