How to Play Death Metal Guitar
First up, there are no 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 ingredients that have defined the style over the past decades and a little theory behind the mayhem and misery.
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.
This interactive online tuner provides you with a number of tunings to experiment with.
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.Death metal guitar basics - power chord intervals
In this genre, the aim is typically to create the most brutal music possible. Now, much of this brutality rests on the drummer's attack, but there are intervals used in heavy metal that naturally sound ominous, unsettling and aggressive, (insert dark adjective here).
Click any of the tabs on this page and you'll hear an example in your media player.
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).
These intervals (including the infamous tritone 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 as power chords with heavy distortion, they create the tension we need for heavy metal.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.
Making a simple death metal style riff
What you'll find is, if you use 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 audio clips)...
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 death metal builds on those movements, often inserting chromatic movements in between. They are like harmonic marker points.
Note: you don't always have to start on the lowest open string, these interval movements are relative to where you start your riff. Experiment!
We're by no means limiting ourselves to those intervals, but they act as good links between riffs.Palm muting and sliding in death metal
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.
For the tab below, the / and \ symbols are "slide up" and "slide down" respectively. This is where you fret the chord/powerchord as usual, but emphasise the slide up to the destination fret instead of lifting off the fretboard. For example - 6 / 9 means slide up from fret 6 to 9.
Also try the below exercise which, like above, mixes muted and non-muted power chords.
Down picking
The following exercise will get you down picking from standard power chords on the G string (A string in standard tuning) down to the drop power chord forms 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.
Palm muted 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, 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.
The example below is a typical combo and involves a sharp time signature change...
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).
Deep, single string riffage
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.
Again, click the tab to hear...
In the example above, that single string lead phrase turns into a chunkier power chord phrase along the same lines. 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.
Remember, you can palm mute these phrases for added attack! Mix it up.Making a journey out of your death metal riffage
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.
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".
Let's look at a practical example...
Makes it sound a bit more interesting (in my opinion anyway), even if it is slightly venturing away from traditional 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.
If you want to take your listeners on a journey and keep them interested this is a great way to do it.
Was this lesson helpful? Please let others know, cheers...
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