M E T A L L I C A - S T Y L E A N A LY S I S

M E T A L L I C A - S T Y L E A N A LY S I S
General Notes

While Metallicas debut album was groundbreaking in terms of bringing thrash metal to a wider audience, but it was their second album, Ride
the Lightning where they really nailed their unique sound. Theres combination of quiet introductions, fast tempos, heavy riffs and old-school
twin-guitar harmonies. Heres our little tribute...
Introduction 1

The first intro is like a separate piece of music. For a really clean rhythm sound like this, James Hetfield has occasionally plugged straight into the
mixing desk (no amp). All of the chords are from the E natural minor scale (E F# G A B C D) so thats what were using for the solo.
For the Am chord at the end, weve created a temporary key change, switching to the A natural minor (A B C D E F G).
Introduction 2

This is the second main section of the track and the heavy riffs start here. Right away, weve got a couple of important Metallica traits here... lots
of use of the open E string, and the discordant sound of the b5 (the Bb in this case).
Also, only one rhythm guitar plays this part... the one on the other side (Metallica rhythm parts are always doubled) enters in the next section, for
more emphasis.
Verse

Here again is the mix of E and Bb... the two notes are a diminished fifth apart, and the use of this dark-sounding interval (also called the tritone)
goes right back to the famous riff from Black Sabbath, by the band of the same name. Try to keep the palm-muted notes as even as possible,
and also try to make the non-palm-muted chords jump out more.
Chorus

Longer, sustained chords provide a contrast to the constant muted picking in the verse.
Solo

Kirk Hammetts solos on the early albums had quite a precise, studied sound... he often had to compose them carefully to fit over James Hetfields complex rhythm parts. For our solo, weve used different approaches (and different scales) for each section.
The first section is in F# Phrygian (F# G A B C# D E) and uses a mixture of ascending and descending legato patterns. We then move to A natural minor (A B C D E F G) and play a mixture of bends and smooth sliding patterns. Finally, we return to the verse riff, using the E natural minor
(E F# G A B C D) for the ascending line and then the minor pentatonic (E G A B D) for the fast blues-rock licks at the end.
Intro 2, Verse, Chorus

Heres a quick Italian lesson. See the instruction at the very end... D.S. al Fine? Well, this is an abbreviation of Dal Segno al Fine, and its one
of many musical instructions written in Italian.
Basically, it means go back to the sign (the fancy letter S at the start of Intro 2) and then play through to the finish. In this case, we only want to
go to the end of the Chorus, not repeating the solo, so thats why it says Fine there.
You might also see D.C. al Fine, which is short for Da capo al Fine.

GUITAR HEROES - METALLICA

As recorded by jamtrackcentral.com
(From the 2010 Album GUITAR HEROES 1)
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