How to Play Death Metal Guitar
Part 1 - the Basics

Ok, first up, no one can actually TELL you how to play death metal guitar because it's a very experimental genre of music, like jazz (and the two genres have in fact fused brilliantly). But as this is the first of two specific death metal guitar lessons, I'm going to first take you through the basic core techniques and a little theory behind the mayhem and misery.

The gain/distortion/overdrive on your amp should be turned right up for this, and to make things sound a little more authentic we're going to tune down to drop C - head over to the drop tuning page to tune your guitar to drop C!

Death metal has two extremes - "blast beat" and "doom". We'll look more at the technical speed involved with complimenting blast beats in part 2. The doom side of death metal is about the slow, lumbering riffs that add some atmospheric weight to the genre.

Death metal guitar basics - the "death" scale

Sorry about the lame title! In this genre, the aim is often to create the most brutal music possible. Now, most of this brutality rests on the drummer's skill and the vocalist's warped childhood, but there are intervals used in heavy metal that naturally sound ominous and aggressive...

Click any of the diagrams on this page and you'll hear an example in your computer's media player.

The scales most associated with death metal are exotic (e.g. Spanish) and minor scales (e.g. harmonic minor, Phrygian). The diagram above shows (in drop tuning) the typical power chord positions relating to that open root of C (as we're in drop C).

These intervals (including the infamous "tri-tone" between the open C powerchord and the 6th fret F# powerchord) are what have been used in metal for decades to create an atmosphere of impending doom. Played one after the other as powerchords, they create the tension we need for heavy metal.

As you probably know, drop tuning changes the shape of the power chord only on the lowest two strings.

Making a simple riff from the scale above

What you'll find is if you use the scale above, mix it up a little and add a rhythm pattern, you instantly get a riff that sounds very typical of death metal, like the example below...

That was a very slow riff using only the power chords from that initial scale. See what I mean? Not exactly wedding music by a long shot.

Most extreme heavy metal builds on those movements.

Note: you don't always have to start on the lowest open string, these interval movements are relative to where you start your riff - also known as the "tonic".

We're by no means limiting ourselves to those 'chords anyway, but they act as good injections or links between riffs.

Palm muting in death metal

Here's just a quick extra palm muting exercise for you to try but you should learn this technique properly here.

(for the tab below the / and \ symbols are "slide up" and "slide down" respectively.)
 

Palm muting can also be used more subtly just using the bottom, open C string as part of a more kinetic riff like below...

Downward dynamics

Death metal often uses descending dynamics, the final root being that open drop C power chord. This is a naturally satisfying cadence to hear for any metal fan, but doesn't mean the riff has to be predictable.

The following exercise will get you used to descending from powerchords on the G string down to the drop power chord shapes more quickly...

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 and can hammer on to the chord on the string below.

Again, start slow with a metronome and build up your speed. Or, even better, use the techniques covered in the Burning Metal Series to really build up your speed and stamina to the level of a pro.

Basics of tremolo picking in death metal

This is covered in more depth in the fast guitar picking for metal section.

It's a technique born out of thrash using alternate, up down up down, picking that can be welded into a riff, as a base (as that low "chugging" sound heard in a lot of metal) or within a melody higher up the fretboard.

The example below is a typical combo and keeps the drummer alert because of the time signature changes!

Drummers will often use double-bass during the chugga part and what you get is a brutal sequence of noise. If played accurately it's truly invigorating (and not like that new herbal shampoo).

You have to know when to switch out of the machine gunning, so count 1 2 3 4 while you're alternate picking. It will form something like this (with your pick, d= down stroke u= up stroke):

...start that off slow and build up, preferably with a, yep, metronome.

Moderate speed playing

As this is part one, we'll start of at moderate speed, which is still quite fast. We're going to fuse that palm mute picking above with speed strumming. In the tab below I've put upstroke and downstroke markers to help you with the speed strumming...

So it's just like before, but this time we're not palm muting on that speed picking riff and we're alternate strumming the whole powerchord, not just the bottom string note.

To create that "stop" where the X's lie on the tab, simply rest your finger over the first 3 strings on the 1st fret, barely touching them, but not fretting them. This creates a thudding sound when the strings are hit.

This technique takes time to get accurate, and we'll be looking at faster, more technical riffs in part 2 of how to play death metal guitar.

You can use this alternate picking playing in inventive ways by mixing palm muted and non-palm muted riffs, in quick sharp bursts or in grinding rhythms. Try working through the exercise below for diversity...

Note: those sharp high pitched tones are harmonics (if you didn't know) and are represented in tab by a < > bracket symbol surrounding the fret number. The harmonic can be achieved by juuust resting your finger over the string in line with the fret wire. More on this in the lead guitar section!

Turning lead notes into riff explosions

Death metal tends to focus on the deeper tones of the guitar, even with lead.

Pretty simple this one - you start with a basic single-string riff (typically low down the fretboard in death metal) and then explode into a full-on power chord attack along those same positions:

e.g...

This sounds absolutely awesome if the drummer puts in his 2 pence correctly. Because the initial lead part is done in palm mute, the power chord explosion is even more of a smack in the face.

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 amidst the chaotic rhythm.

This is all about groove (for lack of a better word!). To really get to grips with this type of riffing, try the Burning Metal Series.

Making more of a journey out of your death metal riffage

One of the annoying things about death metal is how "samey" it can all get if you hang around those first few frets all the time.

A really good way to make your metal music sound fresher is to make it go on a journey, away from that root drop chord and then bring it back down as a really satisfying cadence. It's often called returning home or returning to the "tonic" and is used in jazz a lot.

Let's look at a practical example...

Makes it sound a bit more interesting (in... uh... my opinion anyway).

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.

If you want to take you're listeners on a journey and keep them interested this is a great way to do it.

Ready for something a little more... technical?

The Burning Metal Series is the perfect continuation from this lesson and provides you with all the info and tools you need to become a metal guitar pro in very little time (at your own pace of course!). I reviewed it recently on this page.