Easy but badass blues rock riff (with tab) | Riffs - #2

Blues rock riff that is easy to play but sounds badass. Tab for the riff can be found in the following PDF file:
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I start with a light crunch and soft playing style, which I think gives the riff a bit of an ominous kind of vibe. Then I take that same light crunch and play the riff more aggressively. Finally, I dial up the gain and do a play through of the riff alternated with a variation like it might happen in a song.
The riff is fairly easy to play, so there isn’t too much to say in terms of techniques. But a few pointers for beginners would be:
1) Thumb over the top with these kinds of open chords I think is a good habit. It helps to mute the low E (avoiding unwanted ring) which is very important, and for me it’s an anchor for the hand and facilitates quick chord transitions; I can’t imagine playing this kind of thing with the thumb on the back of the neck, it’d feel strange.
2) The ‘x’ in the tab on the D string indicates that the string is muted. I’m muting it in the C5 and C sus 2 chords with the finger that is playing the 3rd fret of the A string. Rather than the finger tip being upright (perpendicular to the fretboard), it is tilted down towards the fretboard to ‘choke’ the string off and prevent it ringing when hitting the chord. The plectrum hits the string, but it’ll be giving a percussive sound rather than an open D note.
3) In the softly played version, I’m fretting the notes on the B string but I’m not really intended to play them. I’m aiming to either not catch them or to catch them minimally as I think it sounds better. Playing the riff softly is probably more difficult than playing it aggressively; it’s a challenge to maintain dynamic control (without cheating with compression etc) and keep the volume fairly even.
Guitar: Ibanez RG652AHMFX-RPB. Tuned to E.
Tones:
Audio was recorded using a Positive Grid Spark amp as an audio interface. I used the following tones from the Sound Cloud:
First tone: “GD Crunch”. This is a tone that Positive Grid uploaded. I dialled up the treble slightly.
Second tone: “La Grange Grunch”. I reduced the treble a little on this one.