Shrumatica Guitar Guide

Death Metal Guitar Lesson – 7 Easy Tips To Play Brutal Metal

There’s a lot of different guitar courses out on the internet that promise blues riffs and jazz chords, but what happened to the death metal guitar lesson? Sometimes there’s nothing better than hearing fast and brutal riffs that make your head bang and your fists swing.

As amazing as most of these guitarists sound live and on their records, the level of difficulty is not as high as you think, which is why more and more of these bands are beginning to surface. Here are 7 easy and fast tips to start your metal guitar obsession.

1. Get yourself a beastly guitar that’s made for metal.

You can’t expect to be blasting out insane death metal guitar riffs of dark proportions if you’re using something made for pop or standard rock. Check out guitars made for heavy music and fast action like Jackson, LTD., Esp., and Schecter.

2. Make sure you have enough distortion on your amp, even though you won’t be using it all.

Let it be a lesson that having an amp with an adequate amount of distortion is good, but using it all isn’t necessary. Keep your distortion level to 75% or 80% of the way up to avoid piercing your fans with irritating white noise.

3. Tune your guitar to drop ‘D’ or ‘C’.

Using a tuner from a music store or from an applet off the internet you should tune your guitar to drop ‘D’ or ‘C’ so you can play death metal guitar riffs with ease. In drop ‘D’ tuning, the strings from largest to smallest should be ‘D’,'A’,'D’,'g’,'b’, and ‘e’ respectively.

For drop ‘C’ tuning, take those notes and tune everything down one full step to get ‘C’,'G’,'C’,'f’,'a’, and ‘d’. This tuning now allows fast movement between chords since playing chords requires you only to lay your index finger across the three largest strings and strum.

4. Single notes can be used in place of chords.

Another part of this death metal guitar lesson is realizing that not every heavy part with a shred of a melody needs to have full chords in it. Using only the thickest strings to play progressions like frets 3 then 5 and then 2 create pretty awesome guitar sections.

5. Double-picking is your bread and butter.

Lots of riffs in death metal songs are used with fast double-picking methods. Practice palm-muting the three thickest strings and picking quickly between notes on the lowest string and the very next one to create driving licks to bulk up a metal song.

6. You can really grind on just the first four frets alone.

Some of the most brutal parts in a death metal guitar song involve only a couple frets at a time. Try palm-muting the strings and picking the three lowest strings on fret 3, open, and then 1.

This should create a relatively dark sound that sounds awesome with a nice distortion on it. Create your own heavy parts by just messing around in the first four or five frets.

7. Hit the break downs on your open chords with palm-muting.

Any time that there’s a break down in a death metal song, it’s usually played with the palm-muted open chord. Palm-mute the strings and strum the guitar without pressing on any frets.

You should hear a nice crunch. Now, pick out a rhythmic pattern to create a brutal break-down in the midst of any chaotic metal song.

Death metal guitar is all about speed and harsh tones to give your fans a lesson in adrenaline so they’ll go nuts on each other. Work on loosening those fingers on the frets and getting more crunch on those palm-muted chords and you’ll be sounding brutal.

About the Author

For information about this death metal guitar lesson and other great guitar tips, visit How To Guitar Tune.

Metal Distortion Pedal Shootout – Andertons Music

Social Distortion – Skelli Shot Glass $2.99 …

Social Distortion – Slammer Tapestry $9.45 Social Distortion brings you this Slammer tapestry. Their skeleton with a martini glass logo is seen on the right hand side, and a dark image is on the left. This great tapestry from Social Distortion measures 29″ x 43″. Great tapestry from Social Distort…

High Quality Epitaph Records Social Distortion Hard Times & Nursery Rhymes Type Compact Disc Punk Domestic $30.55 Exceptional customer service and unparalleled product expertise….

Gwar: Phallus in Wonderland $19.95 This DVD features the Phallus in Wonderland music and stor yline including Crack in the Egg, Gor-Gor, Have You Seen Me, & more plus a cameo by Gibby from the Butthole S urfers. Special DVD features include option to play songs o nly, instant scene access, and images of cast….

GWAR: Phallus in Wonderland $7.79 PHALLUS IN WONDERLAND – DVD Movie…

Magnifying Glass Set – 6x-3 & 8x-2,5 – High Power, Metal Frame + 2X Bonus $9.99 Excellent-quality set for hobbies, school or work where extra subject-size increase is required. BONUS: Credit Card Magnifier 2X. Flat, small, sturdy and lightweight. Fits right into the wallet or pocketbook….

Social Distortion – Lil Monster Refillable Lighter $12.95 Skelli along with the title to Social Distortion’s 1983 release “Mommy’s Little Monster” is featured on this black lighter. Flip-top style and refillable for years of use….

2pc X-Strong Reading Aid Magnifier 6x-3 & 8x-2 Chrome + 2X Bonus $9.99 Excellent-quality set for hobbies, school or work where extra subject-size increase is required. BONUS: Credit Card Magnifier 2X. Flat, small, sturdy and lightweight. Fits right into the wallet or pocketbook….

ASUS N53SV-XE1 15.6-Inch Versatile Entertainment Laptop (Silver Aluminum) $849.99 Feel the Power. Hear the Power. Turn up the volume on the 15.6-inch N53Sv-XE1 notebook and prepare to be impressed. Featuring ASUS SonicMaster Technology—co-developed by the audio experts at Bang and Olufsen ICEpower—and a unique top-mounted speaker design, this multimedia powerhouse combines hardware and audio for an unsurpassed, ear-pleasing experience. Powered by the 2nd generation I…

AIR802 Coaxial 50 Ohm Lightning or Surge Protector With N Plug (Male) to N Jack (Female) Bulkhead Connector – Tri-Metal Albaloy Plating $25.00 AIR802® model LPNMNF06 is a very high quality coaxial gas discharge suppressor. This surge or lightning arrestor is an excellent coax protector operating from 0 to 6 GHz. This model has an N plug (male) to N jack (female) bulkhead connector. In order to provide superior performance and longevity AIR802 has designed and manufactured the protector body material with Tri-Metal Albaloy (Copper/Tin/…