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Venom - Countess Bathory - Guitar Tab

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Speed Control

Speed
100%

Tools

BPM
Key E minor
Venom - Countess Bathory guitar tab video
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Amp Settings

Classic Rock

Gain6
Bass6
Mid7
Treble6
Presence5
Master7
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Roll back the gain slightly and pick near the neck for a warmer, more open crunch.
In League With Satan album cover
In League With Satan
1981 3:48
Listen on Spotify
Venom Heavy Metal 1981 E minor
Capo Advisor 0 E minor · Original key

About Countess Bathory

Few tracks from 1981 announce themselves as bluntly as this one. Venom built "Countess Bathory" on a driving, stripped-back riff in E minor that sits right in the meat of the low strings, and keeping it locked and aggressive at 120 BPM is the first real test. The track is squarely in E Standard tuning, so no retuning is needed, but the raw, slightly overdriven tone and the relentless down-picked attack are what define the feel. Getting that brutish forward momentum without letting the notes blur together takes more control than it looks. The riff itself is not technically complex, but nailing the attitude means keeping your picking hand tight and your palm mute consistent across the whole run. If the main riff keeps slipping, use the Practice Toolbar to loop it at a reduced speed and lock in the picking pattern before you push the tempo back up. As a cornerstone of Heavy Metal guitar writing, the song rewards players who prioritise feel and attack over flash.

  • The main riff runs in E minor using E Standard tuning, making it immediately accessible without any retuning.
  • A firm, consistent palm mute is essential to capturing the aggressive, driving feel that defines the track's guitar tone.
  • At 120 BPM the picking hand endurance is the real challenge, so practise the riff slowly with a metronome before pushing the speed.

How to Play Countess Bathory

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

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

Mantas switched to the Les Paul Standard for later Venom albums, leveraging its thicker body and stock PAF humbuckers to generate sustain-rich droning lead tones. The guitar's weight and resonance complemented his transition toward longer, wailing solos while maintaining the clarity needed to cut through Marshall saturation.

Gibson Les Paul Custom
Guitar

Gibson Les Paul Custom

The Les Paul Custom shares the same tonal DNA as Mantas' Standard: thick body resonance, warm humbuckers, and sustained leads ideal for black metal's droning aesthetic. Though less documented in his rig, the Custom offers comparable sustain and compression for his minimalist, vibrato-driven soloing approach.

Gibson Explorer
Guitar

Gibson Explorer

Venom's early signature sound relied on the Gibson Explorer's angular body and aggressive weight, which suited Mantas' punishing downpicking style and raw distortion attack. The Explorer's solid construction and stock humbuckers delivered the sharp, cutting aggression that defined Venom's primitive black metal assault.

Marshall JCM800
Amp

Marshall JCM800

The Marshall JCM800 2203 is the heart of Mantas' tone, delivering thick power-tube saturation at high volumes with minimal EQ tweaking. Running the amp cranked at 7-8 volume forced him to rely on picking dynamics and vibrato for tone shaping, creating Venom's signature compressed, uncontrollable wall of distortion.

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