How to Play Death Metal Guitar
Part 1 - Death Metal Basics

The gain/distortion/overdrive on your amp should be turned right up for this. I'm also going to tune down to drop C - head over to the drop tuning page to tune your guitar to drop C. 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 tuning and standard.

We'll look more at speed playing and complementing blast beats in part 2, but this lesson will build on the basic metal techniques in the context of death metal.

Death metal guitar basics - powerchord intervals

In this genre, the aim is typically to create the most brutal music possible. Now, most of this brutality rests on the drummer's attack and your guitar tone, 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. phrygian dominant, Arabic) and minor scales (e.g. harmonic minor, Romanian). The diagram above shows (in drop tuning) the typical power chord intervals 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.

Get to know these intervals starting from any point on the fretboard.

Making a simple death metal style riff from the scale above

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 tabs 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 injections or 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 slide up to the destination fret. For example - 6 / 9 means slide up from fret 6 to 9.

Descending dynamics

The following exercise will get you used to descending from powerchords on the G string (A string in standard tuning) down to the drop power chord shapes more quickly. I use all downpicking in this exercise.

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.

Palm muted tremolo/blast 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 gunning" sound heard in a lot of metal) or within a sequence higher up the fretboard.

The example below is a typical combo and keeps the drummer alert because of the sharp 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).

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

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, although certain death metal bands have fused very complex jazz elements into their music.

Again, click the tab to hear...

In the example above, that single-string lead phrasing 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 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 take it on a journey, away from that root drop 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 the traditional death metal style.

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.

Go Straight to Part 2 >

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