Killer Heavy Metal Method For Beginners To Intermediate

I am writing this article assuming you already know how to tune your guitar and at least have the key (tuning) you are in memorized (ex: EADGBE). Well then, this is pretty much how I learned how to adopt this particular style of playing. If you are starting out, I suggest you tune from half-step down (EADGBE) to no lower than DGCFAD. It is great to be experimental, but a horrible idea when your first starting out. Your gonna want to get familiar with a stiffer action as opposed to the sloppy mess that alotta Nu-metal bands are into.

1) Daily Exercises for you fingers.
Trills: A repeated hammer on/pull off, but the trick here that ppl get wrong is to strike the string only once and let the fingers do the work. Work each finger interchangably like:

E-1h2p1h2p1h2p1--1h3p1h3p1h3--1h4p1h4p1h4p1---
A---------------------------------------------
D---------------------------------------------
G---------------------------------------------
B---------------------------------------------
E---------------------------------------------

1st: index&middle finger 2nd: index and ring and so on. Then you want to work well on any particular chromatic scale, this way your working out all of your fingers and skipping not a single note in this particular scale. Try this example (using all four fingers):

E----------------------------------------1-2-3-4-
A--------------------------------1-2-3-4---------
D------------------------1-2-3-4-----------------
G----------------1-2-3-4-------------------------
B--------1-2-3-4---------------------------------
E1-2-3-4-----------------------------------------

E4-3-2-1-----------------------------------------
A--------4-3-2-1---------------------------------
D----------------4-3-2-1-------------------------
G------------------------4-3-2-1-----------------
B--------------------------------4-3-2-1---------
E----------------------------------------4-3-2-1-

Remember to work on those for awhile daily to help you become more nimble and dextrous. Make sure each note is executed cleanly, play slow then play faster as soon as it doesnt sound muddy. Then for an advanced exercise, you should play that semi-chromatic scale using all hammer ons or pull offs only striking each string once.

2)Pinch Harmonics.
Pinch harmonics are those crazy sqeals you hear your favorite musicians incorporate into their metal songs. Kirk hammet/Dave Mustaine/Malmsteen. It is a bit like an artificial harmonic, but you will be using your right hand to get that same sound around the bridge area. Try this on your open G string at 0. Once you get that chime like sound that means you are nailing it. Now, get your finger on the 3rd fret of the G string, and this time and really crazy/thick vibrato on the note while you try to get the harmonic with your right hand. Hopefully with time, you will master this technique. One more note: This technique is most easily achieved on your bridge pickup and overdrive or distortion is almost mandatory to be able to pick up your squeal with clarity. Some frets are more succeptable to harmonics than others.

3)Scales And Modes.
If you are a Megadeth/metallica/yngwie fan, then you will want to learn the E phrygian mode and all twelve positions of it. This scale is by far Metallica's favorite. Try to pick up on the E phrygian dominant as well. If you are more Iommi or Randy Rhoads style, then you will definately want to touch up on your blues/major scales. Here is an example for you to practice of the 12 position of the E phrygian mode:

E-------------------------------------------12-13-15-
A----------------------------------12-13-15----------
D----------------------------12-14-------------------
G-------------------12-14-15-------------------------
B----------12-14-15----------------------------------
E-12-13-15-------------------------------------------

That is a great metal mode to jam to metallica with. Now you can throw in some techniques I listed earlier as well, using the E phrygian.. something like this:

E-13-12~--12h13p12-12~----12-15----------------------
A----------------------15------15-13-12--------------
D---------------------------------------12~-14-15-14~
G----------------------------------------------------
B----------------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------------------

You can even throw any random note in there that sounds good, until you become skilled in soloing in differant keys and octaves. Now for my personal Favorite the Phrygian Dominants. Here is the E Phrygian Dominant:

E-------------------------------------------12-13-16-
A----------------------------------12-13-15----------
D----------------------------13-14-------------------
G-------------------12-14-15-------------------------
B-------11-12-14-15----------------------------------
E-12-13----------------------------------------------

Now another example of a solo you can come up with using this particular mode:

E------------------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------PH
D-------------------------------------------------14-13
G-----------------------------------12-14-15-14-12-----
B--------------12-11-12-14-12-14-15--------------------
E/12~-13-12-13-----------------------------------------

You should learn all 12 positions of the e phyrgian and phrygian dominant. Try them in differ keys as well. This is all for now, but you can anticipate another tutorial that will cover more advanced techniques (sweep picking, drill picking, arpeggios, finger taps and tapping techniques).

Comments

[Oswald]

This is good but I dont understand it all.

[Oswald]

And I tip....
Write the tab the other way around.
E
B
G
D
A
E

[EthanBrand]

Oswald is an idiot, thanks for the lesson...enjoyed the scales...and the information

[Oswald]

Am I an idiot because I help him?
I think that EthanBrand should go fukk him self...

[Oswald]

I wonder if the scale looks the same when you move for example to G?

[Mosquitocoil]

Good article, but I agree with Oswald. It would be easier if the tab was round the right way.

[Oswald]

Thank you, Mosquitocoil.

[shadowsfall]

cool lesson, they're right about the tab though

[musicmaniac2003]

Yup the tab had 2 b written upside down...no debate on that. Oswald is speaking sense 4 a change. Have u found ur brainz dude?

[Oswald]

Thanks man.
Im not that stupid as you think but this year have been veary hard on me but next year I am back on top.

[masterofmuppets]

guys- the scale is written the CORRECT way up! he just named the strings the wrong way round...

[Oswald]

Man,I like your name!

[EtherealAngel]

dude the shit is written upside down but thanks, it was helpful.

[ratiug576]

these modes (any scale really) sounds awesome just going up and down with distortion and a hell of a lot of delay

[Stranger]

Mettalica are still good, just not at writing songs. I blame the new guy.

Using the small finger sucks though.

[MetallicFAN218]

metallica is one of the best bands way better than tool (toolman) good article man im gonna fool around with all this. it'll probly help me alot...i understand it...most of it...this is what kind of stuff needs to be published to intermediate guitarists. good job

[PhantomLord_wtf]

Metalica dont cut it no more, James should start screaming again, and not trying to sing. The songs they write now days suck

[Egg]

Metallica ruled about 10,000 yrs ago, not now guy. U know who shreds insane the guitarest from dream theater. God like playing. Anywyaz this is pretty cool, Ive been playing a while but theres still sum thingz u dont think about sum timez.

[metallic_man]

Metallica do not suck now, jut their new songs arent as good as there old ones! i saw them live last year and they kicked ass! They always will rule.

[chriswanker]

ok, you have to admit that "Load" and "Reload" were pure crap. The new one (St. Anger)is ok, certainly not great. The production is horrible, but i think that's why i like it, since i started out listening to and playing punk. Plain and simple, since James Hetfield left rehab, his lyrics have been cliche at best, and shit at worst. Kill em all, Master of Puppets, Ride the Lightning, ...and Justice for All, that's the Metallica I love

[xdespairfactor]

WHY IS THE TAB INVERTED THATS SO CONFUSING!

[CvPrEpKiLLaH]

Chris, you my friend, are a ***ing idiot. St. Anger? OK?!?! What ***ing kind of guitarist do you think you are? Load wasn't bad in the first few songs, but it went to shit, I agree, but St. Anger didn't have one good song on it. If it wasn't for Metallica, there would hardly be a style called "Metal," or it would suck if there was. They're still good, probably better than 15 years ago. Phantomlord had one good point, Hetfield needs to scream, and they maybe using more than just the low 5 frets would help...

[obduro piaculum]

2 things. the tab is upside down which ppl hav pointed out but also the chromatic scale is wrong, you should have open before 1,2,3,4 on all strings except the 2nd string u just go straight 1,2,3,4 on it

[jetman_james]

no, the chromatic scale is correct and the whole chromatic scale starting from A looks like this:

e[--------------
----------------------1-2
-3-4-]
B[---------------
--------------2-3-4-5----
----]
G[----------------
------2-3-4-5------------
---]
D[---------------3-
4-5-6--------------------
--]
A[--------4-5-6-7---
-------------------------
-]
E[-5-6-7-8-----------
-------------------------
]

and secondly, the tabs above are not inverted, i think he just labeled the strings upside-down because i played them how they were written as if the strings were labeled correctly and the scales here are correct. the phyrgian dominant scale is also known as the spanish scale.

[jetman_james]

sorry. i can never get those to come out right! someone on the site should look into making this easier. please highlight, copy, and paste the scale in word or notepad to see its true form. look for my upcoming lesson on using the modes and scales to solo.

[EnEnSy-Brad]

really good lesson.just cover riffing and power chords a bit more.

[Rayback_askit]

I appreciate all of you guys, and could you give me some riffs in A-E-A-E-D-C#m-B-E-E(4x) runs in 144 bpm.....
and in A-E-F#m-D in different positions and repeated progressions.....

[Rayback_askit]

my e-mail add... [e-mail]

[Caressing Death]

Metallica arent that good since the album 'Metallica' I mean there best albums were 'kill em all' and 'and justice for all.'although they are the best band they changed. if st.anger had solos it would be good but until then.....

[me_myself_and_i]

haha, its funny how obsessed so many people are with bands...This is a lesson forum, if you think you could do a good job, do us a favor and join a band,if the author of the lesson likes metalica so what? This forum is meant to point out mistakes, and give suggestions, not to diss tool, so what if maynard had a mullet, lol, or metalica, so what if their sellouts, their old

[Spanner]

The whole chromatic scale basically comprises of all of the 12 notes on the guitar, you can figure cool fingerings your self by just looking at the fret board your self.

[RoGuitar]

metallica are still one of the best bands in the music scene...and i really think some of you should stop bithchin about metallica albums since the black album...if you guys had a brain in your skulls you would realise that Load and Reload have some great guitar music on`em. Fuckers!


Oh...btw...great lesson...you should continue this..there`s alot more you could speak about and offer more exercises. I`d love that

[aldude]

dude tab is so much easier upside downbecause when u play u look at the strings upside down

[Bobather_909]

Didnt read the lesson will do later on, but does anybody know anything about playing the guitar, indie style??

[will_yeah]

for the trills, chromatic scales, it's best not to start so high up on the neck, it's easier to start around closer to the 12th fret, then go up a fret every few cycles/scale/repitisions/whatever the hell you wanna call it

and i'm not saying you HAVE to do this, i'm just saying it's useful, unless you have got some big ass hands

[super666fender]

good sclaes, very clearly explained. i say 4 stars

[SelfImmolation]

As for the lesson I have little to confer on it seeing as how it was alot of different fragmented pieces of information thrown toghether into what is being oh so "creatively" disguised as something useful. (Its alot like ripping a text book apart then handing a few pieces from the beggining, end, and middle all toghether to the student.) The fook up in the tab was the least of my complaints. I'm just glad i'm not a beggining guitarist who's really honestly looking for a solid lesson.

My true squabble is with the people who slander the almighty band affectionately known as Metallica.

I would first like to point out that just because music is old, even really old, that does not subtract in any way from the "true" quality there of or negate the meaning or emotion there in.


Though, I do agree. St. Anger Blew major A$$. The only reason for this though is the producer, namely Bob Rock. Really fooked it up bad. So, on a lighter note. I give you an A for effort and an F for the finished production.

This has been a J. Leuthauser moment. That is all. Thank you.

[SelfImmolation]

By the way. Dont let my comments discourage you. I'm sure that by the time you graduate the fourth grade your skills at collecting, accessing, and then composing your knowledge into something useful will have evolved. Keep up the erm... Work. I give you a 1/5th of a star for effort.

[termite]

I would first like to point out that just because music is old, even really old, that does not subtract in any way from the "true" quality there of or negate the meaning or emotion there in.

I agree with that.


My bigest thing about the St. Anger cd ( besides it sucking) is that in them time that it's been out they haven't come out with anything new after it. They've been too busy milking it with books movies and dvd's. So it does kind of make it look like they just care about the money.

and I'm sick of people giving them the excuse "They're old" It's fooking Metallica!

[isjoeythere]

Very good exercises. 5 stars.

[titan metal]

absolutely excellent ideas. thanx i will work on some of this

[all that u are]

great ideas,it really gets your fingers moving more.

spam deleted

[Mike_uk2k]

*sigh* Throneofhecate, you should never have said the M word, now it's just a 'St.Anger rocks/sucks!' war. Anyway, the exercises you've put up are good, especially for beginners, but I'm fairly sure Metallica have a preference for the Dorian mode. Also, beginners really need to be shown the minor pentatonic and sliding scales, especially if they're Metallica and Megadeth fans.

[Camdon]

I think I played everything upsidedown... *Sweat*

Load was OK, Until it Sleeps is awesome

Which cd was "Fuel" on?? Reload? Cuz it rocked...

[halison]

gd lesson ****ed up tabs

[thesmartguy50]

Mike's got a point, there. Megadeth's "Symphony of Destruction" solo is almost completely written using the minor pentatonic. Your pentatonics are pretty important in metal.

[SOV]

http://kevan.org/brain.cgi?S.O.V

[Mr.Brightside]

camdon wtf are u talking about? load and reload are both bad, unfortunately not the worst metallica cds. old metallica dominates!

[Punk Rocker]

Dude the tab isnt that confusing...

[the.iron.maiden]

metallica is metallica, no matter how you warp it, unless celene dion messes up another great song ( i.e ACDC). but anyway, try playing the tab forewards and backwards,it should help your mind get the beat.

[blkbelt65]

NICE LESSON, THANKS.

SHEESH!! WHY WOULD SOME OF YOU IDIOTS BASH A GUY WHO'S TRYING TO HELP OUT ON THE FORUM???

[Gman400]

Okay lesson.....not really hekpful to me but yeah, learn how to bad correctly, dude.

[Gman400]

*tab

[XSweeperX]

YOUR ALL FAGS STFU!!!!! and this tab sucks ass so wutever...

[Nyarlathotep]

Sweeper, shut up. We don't need that kind of immature shit from ****ing -core kiddies anyway.

[rickysaid]

no one ever talks about on how easy it is to play on drop d

[gothicallica]

hey man, you helped me learn how to do pinched harmonics. im not a beggining guitarist, or anything *begins to sweat* i just always steered clear of anything that includes pinches. even though im about 80% rhythmn guitarist. ah well. thanks. and anyone who slanders this lesson, even if it is pieced together, the truth is that it cuts the crap and trims away the stuff that isnt needed.
it just explains how to start or advance metal playing in a very simplistic manner.

if you strip metal playing down to it's very essence, it's just powerful emotions put into chaotic but tuneful music. hence, you dont need scales too much, but i guess scales, and this tab, are like wearing a flak jacket in a gunfight. it increases your chances. but im getting off the topic of the tab. which is good.

[teardownwalls]

hold up, i just thought of sumthing..... who gives a shit?? chill the hell out, none of that shit has anything to do with the f***in tab anyway

[Brandon_leigh]

the pinch harmonics are not well axplained enough. actually, they aren't explained at all

[mattrich69]

Hi guys am new to this forum, but had to post something here after reading this thread.
While it is great that someone has taken the time to give the less experienced players out there a few pointers, I think it's probably better to look elsewhere.
For a less experienced guitarist, this just doesn't make too much sense, and to me (25 years live playing experience/Teacher/songwriter etc) it also sounds very misleading because theres some things here which are either not neccasarily correct or are incomplete.

The warm up exercises here are good ones, although i there are further variations of these which if added, will help improve the results of your warmup time by another 50% or so.

There isn't really much written about pinch harminic tecnique here. As with anything to do with guitar playing, there are no rules. It is however no easier to play pinch harmonics with a guitar plugged in at all, or heavily overdriven. I say this, because you have to play the harmonic to be able to hear it, so you only need a guitar to be able to play it. So, I for example can play a harmonic on every note on the whole fretboard with an unplugged electric guitar. Once you know how and you practice, you can call them as needed.

The Scales here are ok....but you guys need to know more about them, how they are put together, what to play them with and how to play the same scale all over the fretboard (in the same key), before worrying about switching to different keys.

I have decided to post my own lessons on here to help you guys out, but you'll have to let me know if that would be of interest first.

happy playing!

[Metalissa]

This is really helpful, since I've been playing metal rythym guitar, because I can't play scales too well. The excersizes withh help alot. Thank you.

[hondoII]

hey maybe hes a lefty??...doubt it tho...i definately as an up and coming am going to use this

[theguywhosmells]

the oswald bloke is a dumbass cos it written upside down so from your view of holding the guitar the thickest string is at the bottom (as in lean over and look at it from the front :P)

[negativcreep187]

hey, im a moron when it comes to certain things, can someone help me out?
what does the Dm mean? does the "m" mean minor?
and what do chords like "Csus2" mean?
i was just wondering what these particular symbols/letters mean

[Luca.]

thanks, it helped me.
maybe some day ill understand it all.
lol

[mark2dude]

Dude, this was helpful

[guitar_freakgr]

hey i was wondering it is really necessery to know theory to become a good heavy metal guitarist who can solo like dime ?

[slayerofsouls]

two points 1. Most metal songs are in Drop tuning now
2. learn to write tab

[Multiplayerjon]

guitar_freakgr wrote:

hey i was wondering it is really necessery to know theory to become a good heavy metal guitarist who can solo like dime ?

well i just play random notes then listen to Dime and then relalize tat it sounds like it so i try to remember wht i played... i don't think so but i think it would help

[Multiplayerjon]

i wish this lesson had some Drop D stuff... maybe i'll go write one... later... next week... hopefully