Home > Metal > Death Metal Basics How to Play Death Metal Guitar - Part 1 - Basic Skills First up, there are no set rules when it comes to learning how to play death metal guitar as it's a very experimental style of music and should remain that way.
But as this is the first of two specific death metal guitar lessons, I'm going to first take you through some of the core techniques that have defined the style over the past decades and a little theory behind the mayhem and madness. This is supposed to be a bit tongue in cheek... and a lot of fun.
Before we begin, just a note that the examples in this lesson are in drop C tuning. Most death metal uses some form of down tuning (although not necessarily drop). However, the concepts we're about to look at work for both drop and standard tuning. You can download drum tracks for each exercise and play whatever you want over them.
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We'll look more at fundamental death metal elements such as speed playing over blast beats in part 2, but this lesson will build on the basic metal techniques (such as palm muting) in the context of death metal.
In this genre, the aim is typically to create the most brutal music possible. Now, much of this brutality comes from the drummer's attack, but there are intervals used in heavy metal that naturally sound ominous, unsettling, aggressive, (insert dark adjective here).
The diagram above shows (in drop tuning) some typical power chord intervals relating to that open root of C (as we're in drop C). But remember, you don't always have to play them from the open position.
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These intervals (including the infamoustritone interval - once nicknamed the devil in music - a distance of 6 semitones or frets) have been used in metal for decades to create an atmosphere of impending doom/shit bringing.
Get to know these intervals starting from any root position on the fretboard, because they are the backbone for creating many of those brutal death metal riffs.
What you'll find is, if you use intervals from the scale above, mix it up a little and add some rhythm, you instantly get a riff that sounds very typical of death metal, like the example below (click the tab to hear)...
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That was a very slow riff, inspired by old school DM bands like Obituary, using only the power chords from that initial scale. See what I mean? Not exactly wedding music by a long shot (although it would make a nice change).
Note: you don't always have to start riffs on the lowest open string, these interval movements are relative to where you start your riff. Experiment!
Here's a death metal inspired palm muting and sliding exercise for you to try. If you need the basics on palm muting, see this essential techniques video.
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For the tab below, the / and symbols are slide up and slide down respectively. This is where you fret the note/chord as usual, but keep your fingers on the board as you slide up to the destination fret instead of lifting off the fretboard. For example - 6 / 9 means slide up from fret 6 to 9.
Use a metronome to help get up to speed. Start slow and use increments of 10 BPM, only speeding up when you can play flawlessly at the current tempo.
Down picking & moderate blast beats The following exercise will get you down picking from standard power chords on the G string (A string in standard tuning)to the drop power chord forms. The drum track uses a mid-tempo blast beat commonly heard in death metal.
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When changing from the regular shaped power chords on the G string to the drop power chord shapes directly below, your middle finger can come in handy, as it's not being used.
It's a technique born out of thrash using alternate, down-up-down-up picking that can be welded into a riff as a base (as that low chugging or machine gun sound heard in a lot of metal) or within a sequence higher up the fretboard.
Drummers will often use double-bass during the chug part and what you get is a brutal wall of noise. If played accurately it's truly invigorating (and not like that new herbal shampoo).
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Death metal tends to focus on the deeper tones of the guitar, and will occasionally inject lead phrases low down the fretboard (which is still technically a rhythm guitar style). Chromatics are also commonly applied to this technique, as it creates an aimless, chaotic energy. Kind of jazzy, but often cruder.
In the example above, that single string lead phrase turns into a chunkier power chord phrase on the same frets. You can use the same fingers you used for the lead line, but the only difference in this exercise is you're fretting 2 strings instead of one which gives you some good, crushing tones.
One of the annoying things about death metal is how samey it can all sound if you hang around those first few frets all the time.
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A really good way to make your metal music sound fresher is to take it on a journey, away from that root power chord and then bring it back down as a really satisfying cadence (the end of a musical phrase). It's often called returning home or returning to the tonic.
Makes it sound a bit more interesting (in my opinion anyway), even if it is slightly venturing away fromtraditional death metal dynamics.
This means climbing and descending around the fretboard with your chords and injecting relative movements from that scale we looked at right at the beginning of this lesson.
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If you want to take your listeners on a journey and keep them interested, this is a great way to do it.Home > Metal >Death MetalPart 2 Death Metal Guitar Lesson - Blast Beats & Fast PickingIn the introductory death metal guitar lesson, we looked at the basics of building a riff, using percussive palm muting and other techniques at moderate tempos.
Death metal is schizophrenic, as you know - it can plod through an achingly slow riff and then flick a switch into alternate picking mayhem.
I have to admit, death metal guitar isn't an easyto teach (even if I was face to face with you) because I have to trust you have at least some sense of rhythm and timing here! The fact remains the same though - start slow, and gradually build up speed with a metronome or, even better, use the drum tracks I provide in this lesson!
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Before we begin part 2, you need to be confident with everything covered in part 1 - mainly palm muting and alternate picking. If you don't know them, you probably don't stand a chance with this lesson, so head back to Part 1 where you'll find the appropriate links!
Like in part 1, we're going be playing in drop C. A lot of death metal guitar is played in drop (or standard) B or even lower, but you really need to have at least .52 gauge low E string to make drop B work smoothly, so I thought we'd compromise for those of us with standard gauge strings. You can tune up on the drop tuning page (opens in separate window).
Death metal guitar - playing over blast beats Blast beats are a drumming technique used in most extreme metal genres including thrash, death metal, black metal and grindcore (which drew influence from hardcore punk).
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Now, it's up to you what you play over a blast beat, but we'll come specifically to tremolo picking over the faster beats later on. For now, let's work on the moderate beats using standard picking techniques.
First, take a listen to the 2 blast beats below, each a different tempo. You can download them for backing tracks if you like. Loop them in your computer's media player:
When listening to fasterbeats, it's easy to lose your sense of timing. Focus on the bass drum, as this is the constant, 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 count you need ingrained in your mind.
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For example, you could accent the bass drum in the beat by playing a kind of palm muted durge - click to hear
Notice how I inject phrases around that bass drum targeted palm muting. It's up to you what you use for this, but the techniques in part 1, such as single string phrases or sliding phrases, can be used around this palm muted base. Experiment!
You could also work along side both beats in the blast beat - This means, for the guitarist, a pick stroke on every hit of the bass and snare drum. To accomplish this at higher speeds (e.g. blast beat tempo 2 above), you'll need to use alternate picking.
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Remember, it's up to you whether you palm mute those pick strokes or leave them open. Both have a different effect. My advice? Mix it up!
The drummer will often use double-bass, which might sound something like this. If you spend time working on the regular blast beats from earlier, the addition of
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