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Metallica - Wasting My Hate - Guitar Tab

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Key E minor
Metallica - Wasting My Hate guitar tab video
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Load (Remastered) album cover
Load (Remastered)
1996 3:57
Listen on Spotify
Metallica Heavy Metal 1996 E minor
Capo Advisor 0 E minor · Original key

About Wasting My Hate

From the 1996 *Load* album, "Wasting My Hate" sits in a slightly looser, groove-oriented corner of Metallica's catalogue, and that feel shapes how you need to approach it on guitar. The whole thing is dropped down to Eb Standard, so tune all six strings down a half step before you start. At 120 BPM in E minor, the riffs are mid-tempo but rely on tight, palm-muted down-picking to lock in with the rhythm section. The main challenge is keeping that muted chug consistent and controlled without letting it turn sloppy at the transitions. There is a swagger to the phrasing here that sits slightly behind the beat, and rushing it kills the feel entirely. Pick out any riff change that keeps tripping you up, use the Practice Toolbar to loop it slowed down, and rebuild the tempo gradually. This is a good song for cementing heavy metal rhythm fundamentals in an alternate tuning.

  • The song is played in Eb Standard tuning, meaning every string is tuned a half step down from standard E, which slightly thickens the tone of the rhythm guitar.
  • Palm-muted down-picking drives the main riff at 120 BPM, so right-hand consistency and pick attack control are the core skills to develop here.
  • The groove sits behind the beat rather than on top of it, so practising with a metronome or looping sections slowed down is essential to nail the feel.

How to Play Wasting My Hate

The song moves through: • James Intro, • The Riff, • Verse James, • Chorus James, • Bridge, • Verse Kirk, • Chorus Kirk, • Final.

Tuning: Eb Standard · Key: E minor · Tempo: 120 BPM

It is played in Eb standard, a half step down, so tune down before you start or every position and bend will sit a half step sharp against the recording. The arrangement runs through 8 distinct sections, so it helps to learn it in blocks rather than front to back.

Use the section loop to isolate a passage, drop the speed below 100%, and set the metronome to 120 BPM to build it up to tempo.

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
Amp

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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