Learn: Fabienk
Angine de Poitrine · 7/4 · E minor
Best-effort transcription of the main riff from the basstoonsbychaca YouTube short. Fabienk is in 7/4 — count 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 out loud, accent beats 1 and 5. This riff uses open strings, fret-12 reaches, a long slide on the E string, and a ghost note — go slow. Corrections welcome via PR.
Play the phrase silently, along with the timer. When the bar fills and the first beat flashes, start the loop again. The goal is to feel the phrase — not to race.
01. What you're learning
This riff is in 7/4 — seven beats per bar, not four. Count 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 out loud and accent beats 1 and 5. The plan: three tiny warm-ups, four chunks of the riff, then the full thing — slow, silent, one loop at a time. Don't worry about speed yet.
02. Warm up your plucking hand
60 seconds of open E plucks. Alternate index and middle fingers on your right hand. No fretting hand yet — just get the right-hand rhythm steady.
03. Warm up a slide
A slide is one motion: keep the finger pressing down and glide along the string. Don't lift. Try 5→7, then 5→10, then 5→12 on the A string.
04. Practice the ghost note at fret 3
A ghost note (the parenthesised (3)) is a muted click, not a pitch. Touch the string with your fretting finger but don't press to the fretboard. You should hear a percussive tap, no note. You'll use this exact fret-3 ghost in Chunk 3.
05. Chunk 1 — the opening
Open E twice, then fret 7 on A, then fret 5 on D, a quick climb on the E string. Your left hand stays near the nut. Take your time.
06. Chunk 2 — climb to fret 12
Here the hand moves up the neck. Shift the whole hand — thumb follows along the back of the neck. The reach to fret 12 is the furthest you'll go.
07. Chunk 3 — the slide + ghost
The hard part. Fret 10 on the E string, then slide all the way down to fret 3. After landing on 3, the next note is a ghost at the same fret — touch, don't press. Then slide back up. Expect this to feel wrong for the first 10 tries.
08. Chunk 4 — descent
Working back down: fret 12 on D, fret 10 on A, fret 10 on E, then small steps back to the start. Short chunk — loop it until your hand knows the path.
09. Full riff — slow
Chain all four chunks. Count 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 out loud through each pass. It will fall apart the first several tries — that's the whole point. Reset and go again.
10. When it's solid
Drop the timer to 30 seconds, then 20, then 15 — that's roughly speeding up. Come back three days in a row before deciding you've got it; muscle memory needs sleep to lock in. Don't forget to log today's practice.
Finish the session
Commit one line to your streak — it's how the site tracks that you showed up.
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