Metal Tabs: The Ultimate Guide

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Heavy metal is a genre that takes time to learn – we’ve got a comprehensive guide to metal tabs to get you started!

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In this free lesson you will learn…

• 30 metal tunes across beginner, intermediate & advanced levels
• Tips & advice for how to conquer this list
• The importance of stretching before you play
• How to practice effectively

An Introduction To Metal Tabs

Heavy metal is an aggressive genre of music, filled to the brim with tasty guitar licks to learn at every skill level.

Since its invention and through its evolution, metal has always been a genre focused on speed and adrenaline. At first listen, this genre can be intimidating to beginner-level guitarists.

• Thankfully, the internet is chock-full of well-written metal tabs to keep you inspired on your guitar journey.
• We’ve curated a list of some of the best metal tabs on the internet, from some of the best shredders around. 

We’ve also separated this list into three categories (Beginner, Intermediate & Advanced) so there’s something for everyone. 

Pro Tip: It’s important to have good educational resources on hand for every stage of development as a guitarist.

This is a list that you can grow with and revisit whenever you need some new inspiration. 

• These bands will challenge you not only to push your hands, but your ears as well. Never discount the value in good listening.
• Go ahead and bookmark this page now so you can always have a list of killer metal tunes to pick from.

Now, let’s jump into some housekeeping items before we start the shreddage.

What You Should Know In Advance

Having a solid foundation of knowledge is the key to learning anything, especially when you’re shredding through a list of heavy metal tabs like this one.

• If you find that this list is a bit intimidating at first, that’s okay!
• We’ve included links to some other articles that we’ve written below that will help supercharge your guitar playing before you tackle this list.

If you feel like getting an extra warm-up in first, check out these lessons below:

• Guitar Tabs For Beginners
• Palm Muting – An Essential Guide
• Guitar Techniques – 8 Tricks Which Make You Sound Amazing
• Learn Guitar Scales In 8 Easy Steps
• Guitar Arpeggios – The Ultimate Guide
• Intermediate Guitar Lessons – An Essential Guide

Pro Tip: We do our best to create effective learning tools you can use as you grow with your instrument. 

However, it’s important to create a good practice regimen to help you constantly hone your skill set as a musician. 

As you go through the process of learning the riffs in this list of metal tabs, keep a practice journal that details your everyday discoveries on the guitar. 

This will help you gain more musical perspective and visualize your progress better.

What To Focus On

Heavy Metal music is a genre that is rooted in good technique. 

Many of the riffs you see on this list will challenge the limits of your hands, and it’s important to focus on your technique in the process. 

• Proper technique and posture can make a huge difference in our playing. 
• Small things like keeping our fingers closer to the fretboard, and playing with a straightened back can improve not just how we play, but how we sound as well.

Below, you can find a few great practice tips to help iron out your guitar technique for approaching our list of metal tabs:

• Get yourself a foot stool and try playing in the ‘classical style.’
  If you’re right handed, elevate your left foot and place your guitar on that knee. If you’re left handed, flip this position. 

Elevating your foot will in turn raise the angle on which your guitar sits.

This is a more ergonomically-correct position and helps with posture, blood flow in the arms as well as speed and dexterity. 

• Practice to a metronome

Timing is everything in Metal – Whether you’re playing rhythm or lead, you’re going to be playing fast. You’ll want to be as in-time and on-beat as possible. 

Metronomes can help us learn more about time and note placement – Two crucial concepts to master in order to advance our skill set.

• Focus On Your Hands

Your hand positioning and technique will make or break how you play some of these complex metal tabs. 

Developing good communication between your fret hand and pick hand is extremely important.

• Look For Similarities
  No two songs are alike, but many songs on this list make use of similar musical scales, techniques and arrangements. 

As a result, what you learn in one song will help you tackle the next.

Practice Slowly!

We can never stress enough how important slow and effective practice is. 

If you’re having trouble keeping pace with any of these metal tabs, slowing down will always help to tighten the screws where needed. 

• When we slow down, we force ourselves to pay closer attention to what we are playing and how we are playing it. 
• Much like Jazz music, Metal is all about the details. When you play your way through this list of metal tabs, slow your pace and pay attention to what’s happening. 

This concept doesn’t just count for the guitar, either. 

Pay attention to every instrument in the band and what they contribute to the arrangement. 

This will help to give you a more detailed perspective on your role in the song as a guitarist. 

As stated above, using a metronome helps immensely.

Like many forms of complex music, Heavy Metal makes use of a variety of different note subdivisions to create technical and jaw-dropping rhythms.

Pay close attention to how things are played, as this is the most important part of reading metal tabs. It’s one thing to play the notes you see, another to play the notes that you hear.

Pro Tip: As a musician, your ears are your most valuable tool and your secret weapon. 

Put them to good use, and you’ll be shredding through this list from Beginner to Advanced metal tabs in no time!

The Importance Of Stretching Before Approaching Metal Tabs

No matter what genre you play, stretching is vital to keeping our hands, wrists and forearms both happy and healthy.

• Physical strains can happen quicker than you might think. By playing guitar, you are subjecting your hands, wrists and forearms to quite a bit of physical stress. 
• With this in mind, creating a stretching routine is extremely important. 

Click here to check out a great video by GuitarLessons365 on how to stretch for a productive and effective guitar session.

Pro Tip: It’s well and good to want to be a fast metal shredder (and you’ll get there if you aren’t already). 

What’s more important though, is taking care of our hands. 

• Remember that these are your gate keys to playing, writing and performing music – and you only get one set.
• Give your hands the care they deserve. Take care of them and they will always take care of your music. 

Now, without further adieu – on to our list of the top 30 metal tabs!!

** = Writer’s Personal Favourite

Beginner Metal Tabs

• System Of A Down – ‘Lonely Day’ – This song helps us practice our arpeggios as well as our power chord strumming. The only part of these metal tabs that isn’t ideal for beginners is the solo, but it serves as a nice challenge for goal-setting and practice.

TAB LINK

• Judas Priest – ‘You’ve Got Another Thing Coming’ – This Metal anthem is nice and easy on the hands and helps us focus on steady rhythm throughout.

TAB LINK

• Avenged Sevenfold – ‘This Means War’ – The chords in this song are easy to get down, and the rhythm helps us focus on our punctuation and staccato-playing.

TAB LINK

• Megadeth – ‘Symphony of Destruction’ – The rhythm guitar in this song is spread out nicely, helping us focus on our interaction with the drummer in the song. Focus on palm muting!

TAB LINK

• Metallica – ‘One’ – A classic tune by Metallica, these metal tabs are easy to follow along to. The rhythm guitar focuses on tight playing and firm palm muting.

TAB LINK

• Clutch – ‘Mercury’ ** – The intro riff to this song is super catchy, and incorporates single notes as well as power chords. Focus on sliding power chords in the rhythm section.

TAB LINK

• Black Sabbath – ‘Electric Funeral’ – Simple and straightforward, focus on letting each note ring out properly in this classic doom metal tune.

TAB LINK

• Ozzy Osbourne – ‘Crazy Train’ – We all know it, we all love it. These timeless Ozzy metal tabs are a must-learn for every guitarist with a passion for Heavy Metal.

TAB LINK

• DIO – ‘Holy Diver’ – A staple in the world of standard metal tabs to learn, ‘Holy Diver’ helps us focus on driving rhythms and palm muting. Bonus points if you can figure out what Dio was singing about.

TAB LINK

• Cancer Bats – ‘Hail Destroyer’ ** – Scott Middleton’s rhythms on ‘Hail Destroyer’ have the weight equivalent of an industrial wrecking ball. Hit your strings hard, and with plenty of purpose. 

TAB LINK

Intermediate Metal Tabs

• Van Halen – ‘Hot For Teacher’ – This song may sound advanced, but what makes it more of an intermediate tune is Eddie Van Halen’s use of patterns in his playing. Pay attention to this one and practice bar-to-bar.

TAB LINK

• Slayer – ‘Raining Blood’ – This classic piece of Heavy Metal art challenges our use of triplets as well as palm muting. Grip that pick and don’t let go.

TAB LINK

• Mastodon – ‘Crystal Skull’ – Once you get through the beautiful drum arrangement, it’s all on you as the guitarist. Alternate picking will get you through these metal tabs with little issue.

TAB LINK

• Lamb of God – ‘Redneck’ – This song is a pure adrenaline blast with some tricky rhythms. Lamb of God create complex grooves that keep us guessing, so pay attention and keep a tight pick hand. Smooth alternate picking is the goal.

TAB LINK

• Motorhead – ‘Ace of Spades’ – Once again, tight rhythms are the main goal in this song. There are a few moments of switching between rhythm and lead that will test your reflexes. Stay sharp.

TAB LINK

• Pantera – ‘Cowboys From Hell’ – Pay close attention to the drums. Keep your hammer-ons & pull-offs quick; and your palm-muting tight.

TAB LINK

• Arch Enemy – ‘We Will Rise’ – This song appears simple enough on the surface, but Arch Enemy are clever in their songwriting. 

Keep a close ear for the distinction between the kick drum and the rhythm guitar, as it can be difficult to tell who is playing what rhythms.

TAB LINK

• Tool – Forty-Six & Two – Tool teaches us how to space out our playing. Rather than focus on speed, Adam Jones focuses on note placement. You can lay back a bit with this one.

TAB LINK

• He Is Legend – ‘Air Raid’ ** – He Is Legend is a groove-first band through and through, and Air Raid is no exception. Get ready to rock hard with this one.

TAB LINK

• The Dillinger Escape Plan – ‘One Of Us Is The Killer’ ** – The unnerving chords in this song will challenge our ears and our fingers. Get ready for some clean arpeggios and a nasty chorus. 

TAB LINK

Advanced Metal Tabs

• Periphery – ‘Pale Aura’ ** – Get ready to watch your fingers dance. Our pick hand should be tight, with bursts of tremolo picking at the ready.

TAB LINK

• SiKth – ‘Scent of the Obscene’ ** – UK powerhouse SiKth write some downright confusing guitar riffs. This song is a rhythmic tongue twister that will leave us feeling accomplished when we learn it.

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• Van Halen – ‘Eruption’ – These classic metal tabs are a great exercise in finger-tapping. Watch out for those patterns!

TAB LINK

• Revocation – ‘Alliance & Tyranny’ ** – This song brings us in easy, but gets harder as it progresses. Ride the wave and practice bar-to-bar.

TAB LINK

• The Dillinger Escape Plan – ‘Milk Lizard’ ** – Prepare for some weird but fun grooves. You’ll come back to this song again and again, guaranteed.

TAB LINK

• Every Time I Die – ‘Glitches’ ** – This song is downright frantic and so much fun to play. Keep an ear out for the full-stops and artificial harmonics.

TAB LINK

• Gojira – ‘Silvera’ – Tight rhythms, pull-offs and palm muting are the three keys to mastering ‘Silvera.’

TAB LINK 

• Protest The Hero – ‘Bloodmeat’ ** – Once ‘Bloodmeat’ starts, it doesn’t stop until it’s over. This songs’ metal tabs are a rollercoaster of learning opportunity.

TAB LINK

• Iron Maiden – ‘Aces High’ ** – The Kings of metal riffage, Iron Maiden spare no expense in shredding your face off. Take some time with this one. 

TAB LINK

• Between The Buried & Me – ‘Selkies: The Endless Obsession’ ** – This last one is an adventure waiting to happen. Have fun.

TAB LINK

Where Do I Go From Here?

If you haven’t yet gotten enough out of this list of metal tabs, here are some suggestions to help you along your guitar journey with these epic tunes:

• Practice everything to a metronome to keep things sounding tight
• Practice to the song using one of the links provided above
• Listen to the parts that you’re having trouble with using headphones in order to hear the details that you might have missed on the first few listens
• Watch someone else perform a cover of the song on YouTube to see how they play it
• Go check out one of these amazing bands live and see how they play it first-hand!

Recommended Resources

If you loved this guide to metal tabs at every skill level, you’ll love some of the other free resources we’ve created for you below!

• Intermediate Guitar Lessons – An Essential Guide
• Guitar Chords – The Ultimate Guide
• Guitar Arpeggios – The Ultimate Guide
• Spanish Guitar Lessons – 4 Essential Lessons
• Palm Muting – An Essential Guide