Some riffs whisper. This one kicks the door in, spills your drink, and asks if you've got a problem. The intro to Limp Bizkit's "My Way" is peak late-'90s nu-metal swagger — three notes of pure attitude that somehow still sound enormous 25 years later.
Here's my quick take on that crunchy intro riff. It's short, it's mean, and it's a perfect first heavy riff because the notes are easy — the feel is the whole exam.
How the "My Way" intro riff works
The magic here isn't the notes — it's the palm muting and the downstrokes. Rest the edge of your picking hand lightly on the strings near the bridge so each note comes out as a tight, percussive chug instead of a ringing chord. Then hit everything with rigid down-picks; alternate picking will instantly make it sound polite, and "My Way" is not a polite song. Keep the palm pressure even, let the groove sit slightly heavy, and mute the strings you're not playing so the whole thing stays gloriously tight. New to this? Start with palm mutes and downstrokes vs upstrokes, then come back and chug.
If this riff scratched an itch you forgot you had, you can lob a coffee my way on Patreon — the PDF and Guitar Pro file live there too. Now go annoy someone with three notes.