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Metallica - 10 Great Riffs - Guitar Tab

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Metallica - 10 Great Riffs guitar tab video
Guillaume Vrac
Guillaume Vrac Top Contributor
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Metallica Heavy Metal

About 10 Great Riffs

Learning riffs from Metallica is one of the most practical ways to build a foundation in Heavy Metal guitar. Their catalogue covers an enormous range of techniques: palm-muted downpicking, galloping alternate picking, chromatic runs, and precise syncopated rhythms that demand both hands working in tight coordination. The challenge is not just hitting the right notes but maintaining consistency at tempo, keeping your picking hand locked in and your fretting hand clean under pressure. Start each riff slowly and use the Practice Toolbar to loop a short section, nudging the speed up only when the passage feels effortless at the current setting. Pay close attention to pick attack and muting: a sloppy mute turns a driving metal riff into noise, while a controlled one gives it that punchy, aggressive clarity. Work on one riff at a time rather than rushing through all ten.

  • Metallica riffs frequently demand sustained downpicking at high tempos, which builds serious right-hand endurance but can strain the wrist if practised without proper technique.
  • Palm muting is central to most of these riffs: the contact point between your picking-hand edge and the strings controls how tight or open the tone sounds.
  • Looping each riff slowed down in the Practice Toolbar is the most reliable way to lock in the rhythm before pushing back up to full speed.
Gibson Les Paul Standard
Guitar

Gibson Les Paul Standard

Kirk Hammett's vintage 1959 'Greeny' Les Paul Standard delivers warmer, more dynamic PAF-style tones that contrast his EMG-equipped ESP guitars, adding organic sustain to his lead work. This guitar's traditional construction gives his solos a thicker, less compressed character than his signature models.

Gibson Les Paul Custom
Guitar

Gibson Les Paul Custom

While not Hammett's primary choice, the Les Paul Custom shares the Les Paul's warm PAF pickup character and thick body resonance, offering heavier players an alternative to Strat-style designs for achieving Metallica's crushing rhythm tones.

Gibson Explorer
Guitar

Gibson Explorer

James Hetfield's early Gibson Explorer established his signature angular shape and thick body tone, delivering the aggressive midrange attack essential to Metallica's crushing rhythm style before his ESP signature models became his primary tool.

Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier
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Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier

Kirk Hammett's Dual Rectifier heads provide the high-gain, midrange-forward aggression that lets his solos cut through Hetfield's scooped rhythm tone, creating definition and clarity in Metallica's dense wall of distortion.

EMG 81
Pickup

EMG 81

Hetfield's bridge EMG 81 delivers the hot, compressed output with tight low-end that defines Metallica's palm-muted riffs, the ceramic magnet and active preamp cutting through heavy arrangements with focused, aggressive attack.

EMG 60
Pickup

EMG 60

Both guitarists use the neck EMG 60 for warmer, more articulate rhythm tones and smoother lead voicings, balancing the 81's aggression with clearer note definition across Metallica's dense arrangements.

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