In today’s installment of the RGT video rock guitar lesson series, we’re diving into an excerpt from the RGT Rock Initial Exam Track – ‘Armour Plated.’
When taking the RGT Rock Initial Guitar Exam, you need to perform two rock tracks from the RGT Initial Stage handbook, one of these tracks could be ‘Armour Plated.’
The piece opens with a short bass riff on the low E string, which is played three times, before going to an A5 power chord and then a G bass note to complete the opening section of the piece.
After repeating this section, there follows a chordal section consisting of a repeated rhythm strummed on E minor, A minor and D major chords.
This section ends with a short descending bass line, before the piece reverts to a repeat of the opening section. The piece then ends on an E5 power chord.
Listen to the video and audio tracks below in order to hear how it should all be played.
You can also click here to purchase the RGT Initial Stage Rock Exam book, which contains the full music to this piece, as well as all of the other musical requirements for this exam.
To view more articles in this series, please visit the “RGT Rock Guitar Video Lessons Archive.”
RGT Armour Plated Practice Tips
To help get you begin learning this song, here is a quick tip on how to navigate ‘Armour Plated.’
“In the first three bars ensure that you observe the rest in the music, by touching the bass string to silence it, as this silence forms an essential part of the rhythm of the riff. Notice how the ‘1 2 & 3’ strum pattern is used for all of the chords, so practice the rhythm separately until you feel confident with it.”
RGT Armour Plated Audio Tracks
Apart from exploring the video lesson below, here are two audio tracks that you can use when practicing ‘Armour Plated’ in your daily guitar workout.
It would be a good idea to practice with the full track for ‘Armour Plated’ to start, so that you learn to play along in time with the recorded guitar track.
After you have that down, a beneficial practice aim would be to play along with only the backing track for ‘Armour Plated,’ so that you learn how to perform the song without the help of the guide track.
Here are both of those audio tracks for ‘Armour Plated’ to jam along with.
Click to download the full backing track for ‘Armour Plated.’
Click to download the backing track for ‘Armour Plated.’
RGT Armour Plated Video Lesson
Video presented by Chris Bird, Music Editor of Total Guitar Magazine
RGT Rock Guitar Initial Books
To find out more about the ‘Armour Plated,’ and the RGT Rock Initial Exam, please download the RGT Rock Guitar Exam Information Booklet.
You can also check out the Rock Guitar Initial Exam Book, which comes with a CD and contains notation and recordings of all the exam pieces, as well as diagrams for all of the chords and scales that the pieces are based on.
Not a Registered RGT Teacher yet? Visit the Join the RGT Page to find out the great benefits that membership has to offer.