Motörhead - Ace of Spades - Guitar Lesson

Ace of Spades (Expanded Edition)

1980 2:48

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About Ace of Spades

Few riffs in Heavy Metal hit as hard and as directly as the opening of this one. Motörhead built the whole track around a driving, palm-muted E minor riff played in E Standard tuning at 120 BPM, and that deceptive simplicity is exactly what catches players out. The picking hand does the heavy lifting here: tight, consistent palm muting with aggressive alternate picking is what gives the riff its grinding, locomotive feel. Relax the muting even slightly and you lose the character entirely. The main riff is worth isolating with the Practice Toolbar, looping it slowed down until your right hand can lock in the muting and picking simultaneously without thinking. Beyond the riff, the chord transitions need to land with real conviction, because at this tempo any hesitation is immediately obvious. Get the right hand absolutely solid first, then bring the tempo up.

• The signature riff is built on palm-muted power chords in E minor, making right-hand muting technique the central challenge for players learning this song.
• Running in E Standard tuning at 120 BPM, the track demands consistent alternate picking stamina to keep the riff tight across its full runtime.
• The stripped-back two-guitar arrangement means there is nowhere to hide, so clean chord transitions and precise muting are worth drilling in isolation before playing along.