How to Play Death Metal Guitar

Learn basic guitar skills., Listen to some death metal., Find a "slower" song to learn at first., Examine the options of death metal you have., Get equipment for the job., Adjust your guitar, amp, and effects settings., Find someone to practice...

9 Steps 2 min read Medium

Step-by-Step Guide

  1. Step 1: Learn basic guitar skills.

    Power chords, hammer-ons and pull-offs, harmonics, and other basic skills are needed to play any genre of music, not just death metal.
  2. Step 2: Listen to some death metal.

    Google "death metal bands" and see what you come up with.

    Some of the best bands to learn from are Obituary, Death, Morbid angel, Necrophagist, but these bands have highly technical guitar parts that might take years to get down tight. , Before you run off buying equipment to play, try learning a song or two.

    A good place to start is Cannibal Corpse's "Infinite Misery."

    There's technical death metal, which is more complex.

    Melodic death metal includes more melody then an all out assault of sound. , A good distortion pedal is necessary, and an overdrive pedal is good too.

    Make sure your amp sounds good with death metal.

    You don't need an entire stack, but waging a metal war on a little 8-watt practice amp is a bad idea. , Boost your guitar signal into amp with overdrive pedal.

    Set the level to max and distortion to min.

    Amp EQ settings should accent the highs and diminish the middle a bit.

    Most death metal uses de-tuned (and sometimes 7-string) guitars, so adjust accordingly. , Ideally, this should be another guitar or bass guitar player.

    Death metal drumming is hard to keep up with at a beginner level. , If your joints start to hurt or your fingers bleed, take a break.
  3. Step 3: Find a "slower" song to learn at first.

  4. Step 4: Examine the options of death metal you have.

  5. Step 5: Get equipment for the job.

  6. Step 6: Adjust your guitar

  7. Step 7: and effects settings.

  8. Step 8: Find someone to practice with.

  9. Step 9: Practice about an hour a day.

Detailed Guide

Power chords, hammer-ons and pull-offs, harmonics, and other basic skills are needed to play any genre of music, not just death metal.

Google "death metal bands" and see what you come up with.

Some of the best bands to learn from are Obituary, Death, Morbid angel, Necrophagist, but these bands have highly technical guitar parts that might take years to get down tight. , Before you run off buying equipment to play, try learning a song or two.

A good place to start is Cannibal Corpse's "Infinite Misery."

There's technical death metal, which is more complex.

Melodic death metal includes more melody then an all out assault of sound. , A good distortion pedal is necessary, and an overdrive pedal is good too.

Make sure your amp sounds good with death metal.

You don't need an entire stack, but waging a metal war on a little 8-watt practice amp is a bad idea. , Boost your guitar signal into amp with overdrive pedal.

Set the level to max and distortion to min.

Amp EQ settings should accent the highs and diminish the middle a bit.

Most death metal uses de-tuned (and sometimes 7-string) guitars, so adjust accordingly. , Ideally, this should be another guitar or bass guitar player.

Death metal drumming is hard to keep up with at a beginner level. , If your joints start to hurt or your fingers bleed, take a break.

About the Author

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Abigail Vasquez

Enthusiastic about teaching hobbies techniques through clear, step-by-step guides.

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