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Heavy
Metal Guitar
Heavy Metal is a popular style for
guitar players, especially beginning guitar players. I
probably don't need to explain what it is, but its simply a
fast and aggressive style of rock music, with a lot of
emphasis on the guitar. This lesson is designed to be an
introduction to metal guitar playing.
Sound
The Heavy Metal sound requires lots
of distortion from your amplifier. Some amplifiers are
better for this than others, such as Marshall or
Mesa-Boogie. If your a beginning guitar player, don't get
too carried away with amps. A simple 75-100 watt amp will do
just fine. But no matter which amp you are using, you will
need to adjust your amp settings accordingly. First,
turn the Master Volume and Reverb all the way down. Then, turn
the Gain and Bass all the way up, or close to it. Now slowly
turn the Master Volume and Reverb to the desired level (see
image below). High gain will ensure heavy distortion, even
at low volumes.
Image from marshallamps.com
Distortion pedals are also used to get a
heavy sound. An overdrive pedal would be essential for any
Metal guitarist.
| On your guitar, turn
the volume control knob on to level 10. The tones
can vary as you wish . I would suggest somewhere
between 5 and 10.
Use the neck pickup, which is position 5 on the
pickup switch.
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Tuning
Nearly all metal
guitarists will tune their guitar strings
down
at least half a step, meaning they tune the top E string
to an Eb, and so on. This gives the guitar a much deeper
sound. Some guitarists will even tune down 2 whole steps.
Bands like Soundgarden were well known for this. Although
this makes for a very heavy sound, the disadvantage is that
solos get a bit muddy sounding.
Sometimes a metal guitarist will tune the
top E string to a D, leaving the other strings as they are.
This is called
Drop D tuning.
Chords
| Since
metal guitarists are looking for a heavy sound, the
high notes of a chord are seldom used. Take a look
at the picture to the right. That is Max Cavalera of
Soulfly, formerly of Sepultura. Look closely, you
will notice he only has 4 strings on his guitar.
That is not a bass guitar. He has removed the high E
and B strings. They are never used in his style of
playing. This is a pretty extreme measure, you will
probably want to keep those strings on your guitar.
Metal guitarists will
usually just use the first 2 or 3 notes of of a
Barre
Chord, and ignore the rest. This is called a
Power
Chord. The use of power chords in metal
music cannot be overstated.
Here is a classic metal riff using power chords:
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"Ironman" by Black Sabbath
E||--------------|----------------|---------------|-----------|
B||--------------|----------------|---------------|-----------|
G||-----7--7--9--|--9---12-11-12--|--10-12--7--7--|--9--9-----|
D||--9--7--7--9--|--9---12-11-12--|--10-12--7--7--|--9--9-----|
A||--9--5--5--7--|--7---10-9--10--|--9--10--5--5--|--7--7-----|
E||--7-----------|----------------|---------------|-----------|
Power chords are often
used with
palm muting. Here is
an example of a well known metal riff which combines
power chords along with palm muting.
"For Whom the Bell Tolls" by
Metallica
E||--------------------|-----------------|--------------------|
B||--------------------|-----------------|--------------------|
G||--------------------|-----------------|--------------------|
D||-----------------2--|-----------3-----|-----------------2--|
A||--------5--------0--|--------5--1--4--|--------5--------0--|
E||--0-0-0-3--0-0-0----|--0-0-0-3-----2--|--0-0-0-3--0-0-0----|
E||-------------------------||
B||-------------------------||
G||-------------------------||
D||---------------3---------||
A||--------5------1--4---3--||
E||--0-0-0-3-0-0-----2---1--||
Although you will probably use power chords
more than any other in metal music, be sure to at least
learn the basic major and minor chords, then the barre
chords. This will really help your understanding of how
chords work.
Scales
Minor scales are primarily used because of
the dark mood the convey. The Most commonly used is the
Minor
Pentatonic scale. This is similar to the blues
scale, which is used a lot in blues and rock music. Since
blues gave birth to rock, and rock gave birth to metal, it's
not surprising that these genres would use some of the same
scales. Learn how to play this scale in the keys of A, B, D
and E. Once you have done that, learn other minor scales,
this will be helpful when soloing.
Conclusion
Heavy Metal guitar playing is a combination
of tone and technique. This is a general overview of metal
guitar, but enough to get you started. The following lessons
are all found on this site, and were discussed in this
lesson and are relative to metal guitar. Take the time to
read the material here, it should help you.
WRITTEN EXCLUSIVELY FOR
GUITARMX.COM
This copyrighted guitar lesson is free for personal use.
May not be republished without the authors consent.
Copyright by
www.supersonic.net
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