Sorry, I haven't listened to these, but I can pipe up with a tip for practicing your rhythm work:
a) try a riff "as is" - timing each not where it's meant to be.
b) Try syncopating the riff - long note, short note, long note, short note. Think "dummmm de dummmm de dummm de" etc. The same rhythm as "I'm a little tea-" of "I'm a little teapot short and stout"
c) Try syncopating the riff the other way: short note first, then long note. In my terminology above, this is "de dummm de dummm de dummm" etc. In the "teapot" analogy, this would be like putting a BIG accent on the syllables "a", "-tle"
d) go back to part a).
This might not make much sense, it's difficult to describe in words. If you want, I could do a few music files for you to see what I mean. I used to do this when practising the piano and viola, and do now for hard riffs on guitar. Particularly good for stringed instruments, as it gets your right hand and left hand in synch with each other, and helps to tighten the riff up. Best to play it slow like this at first, then again at normal tempo after a few rounds.
Let me know by PM if you want those music files recording with what I mean.
Roo
