Uhh..what technique??

DO you use to play such fast rhythm passages like SOAD's guitarist does in one of the riffs of Needels or in Chop Suey(the fast part)? Everything I do is either with too much tension in my right hand or it is too sloppy or (in most of the cases) both. I just can't get the right technique for this type of fast muted riffs.
I have a pretty good grasp of everything that interests me in terms of technique and this type of playing seems to be a very weak point in my playing so this is somthing I would like to work on.
The technique I use for shredding simply can't work in this case cuz it reqires much less effort in the right hand, when you mute the strings you have to apply much more energy in order to play not sloppy than when you are not muting them.
So any feedback will be apperciated.

Well, for example Chop Suey, he plays frickin fast. Seems hard, but I think he is only hammering en pulling those strings.
If you can do that on 3 strings @ the same time you'll get the powerchords like he plays them (he drops his low E to D so) you frets 3 strings to get the powerchords correct)

Thats how I try to play it... It's at a high tempo so you need practice! As for you right hand, just practise to get fast with it! A fast and aggresive right hand is what you need.
Maybe a thin pick helps in the beginning, like a 0.6 or thinner, but you wont get the aggresive sound with a thin pick.

System of a Down actually plays in C, not dropped D, but anyways, I'm not sure which part of Chop Suey you are talking about.

The fast distorted part? Sounds like just some plain old trem picking to me. Which part are you talking about exactly?

A dropped D gets me close enough to there sound :P
But maybe I tuned down a half step.. mmm dont remember

I ment the fast heavy distored part played througout the whole song accualy. The part where you can pit on :)

A lot of guitar shredders use very thick plectrums becuase they don't flop around so much, it's like you almost have to "wait" for thin picks to unbend. But I guess it's just whatever you are comfortable with.

use your wrist for alternate picking, and when switching to other strings, extend or pull back on your elbow, you can get more stamina and speed with your wrist then you can with retarded unconventional muscle spasms from your forearm, it also helps for the angle of your picks attack for more heavyness go for an angled attack, for solos, have your pick flat or parallel to the strings to get the least string "talk" practice going fast
its also good to have the least possible movement from one string to the other...economy picking-evilness(sweeping is another story)

Originally posted by Ryan-of-Flames
use your wrist for alternate picking, and when switching to other strings, extend or pull back on your elbow, you can get more stamina and speed with your wrist then you can with retarded unconventional muscle spasms from your forearm

I don't appreciate my "unconventional muscle spasms" being called retarded.