Metal music, a genre of rock music developed in the late 1960s and 1970s, originating from the United Kingdom; has grown in popularity amongst musicians and avid music listeners alike! Rooting from Blues, Psychedelic and Acid Rock, Heavy Metal is characterized by its loudness, high distortion, and extended guitar solos.
However, what makes it “tick?” and why is it so important and revolutionary to how we listen to music today? You’ll find these answers as you keep reading, and more importantly, how to play metal on guitar, so you can show off to all your friends and perhaps start your own band!

As mentioned before, Metal music is not only characterized by its loudness, distortion and extended guitar solos but its overall thickness as a whole. It gives a feeling of “brute force” that empowers its listeners to “mosh” or “headbang” along to the music, which is just a brief look into the culture of Metal itself.
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You’ll find that in metal music, its rhythm is very forceful with deliberate stresses. The main groove may be characterized by brief rhythmic figures containing two or three notes. These figures tend to be made of 8th and 16th notes. These notes are played sharply, and detached from the other notes; we call this staccato. Palm-muting is used to aid in the separation of the notes from each other, typically found on rhythm guitar.
Riffs are commonly used throughout metal music. A riff is used to establish a hook by playing a brief phrase, that is then repeated over changing melodies.
Harmony in Metal music is also important! I’m sure many of you are familiar with “the power chord”? For those that aren’t, it’s essentially a fifth chord (containing the root note and a fifth). These are commonly used in not just Metal, but Punk Rock as well!
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The purpose of using power chords is to add weight to the overall sound and create a powerful tone. This can be achieved by playing them on the lower strings with high volume and distortion.
For the slightly experienced music theorists out there, riffs in Metal music normally contain three harmonic traits. These are modal scale, tritone and chromatic progressions. In fact, it’s actually traditional in Metal music to include modal scales, particularly the Aeolian and Phrygian modes.
When it comes to song lyrics and themes some artists prefer to stick to dark and depressing topics. These topics usually consisted of personal trauma, or wider issues, particularly in politics, war, or other subject matter.
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The subject matter of most Heavy Metal music receives a lot of flack and criticism as it’s perceived by music critics as juvenile and dull, while others feel it’s highly misogynistic. When it comes to the subject matter as a whole, however, it’s very universal and easy to grasp for the common listener, as controversial as the lyrical content might be.
The image that most Metal musicians try to cultivate is one adopted from the hippie subculture. Long hair is one of the features that makes it very distinguishable. In fact, the classic image adopted by Metal musicians was ripped, frayed or torn blue jeans, black t-shirts, coated by a black leather or denim jacket, and a pair of boots.
However, when it comes to the band’s image as a whole, it’s expressed through clothing, album art, logos, instruments, music videos, and stage sets.
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There’s a lot about Metal music that people can find blatantly obvious, for instance when it comes to lyrical content. However, when it comes to Metal itself, it often is misunderstood amongst other genres. People may hear it as just noise, grunting and screaming, but there is so much more behind it.
Some people may find it surprising to know that Metal music’s roots trace back to the 1950s and 1960s. It was Memphis Blues guitarists like, Joe Hill Louis, Pat Hare, and Willie Johnson, who captured that real gritty, ferocious nature of the electric guitar.

However, the genre truly began to develop in the mid-1960’s, as British Rockers were heavily influenced by these American Blues artists formerly mentioned. This ultimately lead to the congregation of several musical talents to form bands such as “The Rolling Stones”, and “The Yard Birds”, which developed “Blues Rock”.
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As these bands experimented with music, bands in the UK and U.S. were influenced and really took a liking to the loud and heavily distorted guitar sound. This is ultimately what began Metal music.
Avant-garde Metal, Christian Metal, Extreme Metal, Black Metal, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Thrash Metal, Speed Metal, Glam Metal, Groove Metal, Latin Metal, Pirate Metal, Power Metal, Symphonic Metal… Etc.
Alternative Metal, Funk Metal, Nu Metal, Rap Metal, Crust Punk, Drone Metal, Folk Metal, Gothic Metal, Grindcore, Grunge, Industrial Metal, Kawaii Metal, Metalcore, Neoclassical Metal, Progressive Metal, Sludge Metal, Stoner Rock…
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When it comes to Metal icons throughout the history of Metal’s existence, there are so many people we can talk about… musicians from, Dimebag Darrell, Bucket Head, Maynard James Keenan, to others like Ozzy Osbourne, Geddy Lee and Neil Peart. These people really helped pave the way and created the Metal we all know and love.
Known for his role in the band Iron Maiden, and is quite possibly the heart and soul of the band for his numerous talents. He was not only their bassist but occasionally on the keyboard and backup vocals. To top it off, he was also more than just the band’s primary songwriter, but the founder of Iron Maiden as well!

He has been credited for being known as one of the best, if not the best bass player in all of heavy metal.
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If you’re interested in checking out one of his most amazing songs written for Iron Maiden, simply YouTube “Hallowed Be Thy Name”. The subject matter of the song itself relates to a man condemned to be executed. He cannot understand his fear of death, as he believes his soul will carry on after he is gone.
Ranked number 16 on Guitar World’s “100 Greatest Metal Guitarists of all time”. Ranked 50 in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of “Greatest Guitarists of All Time”. He is primarily known for his work as a songwriter and guitarist for the Hard Rock/Metal bands Deep Purple and Rainbow. In 2016 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the original members of the band Deep Purple.
The singer, songwriter, lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for the Heavy Metal band, Metallica. He is also credited for being a co-founder of said band. Talented on multiple instruments, drums and bass included, it’s no wonder he deserves much recognition.
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Born and raised in Canada, Ontario, and founder of band Annihilator. Known for his skills as a lead guitarist, and much appreciated for his fast riffs and solos. On top of that, he was also a songwriter for the band, and multiple times has taken on the role of the lead singer, bass player, producer, and sound engineer! Which is very impressive!
American born musician, singer, and songwriter, who also happens to be an actor and author as well! He is widely known for being a pioneer of Thrash Metal, as Metallica’s former lead guitarist, before he was dismissed from the band. After this, he formed his own band as the frontman of Megadeth.

American born Heavy Metal singer, songwriter, and musician! He was credited for the founding of several bands, “Elf”, “Rainbow”, “Black Sabbath”, “Dio”, and “Heaven and Hell”. He was also credited for the hand gesture “Metal Horns”.
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As far as lyrical content goes, he is known for writing very medieval themes. His vocal range alone was extremely versatile; being able to sing ballads and heavier Rock music. In the span of his career, he sold 47 million albums. He was a very successful artist.
When you think about Metal music, or just about any genre of music out there — there’s always a few songs that instantly come to mind. These songs tend to be iconic to their genre and strike a chord with the people of that scene. As you keep reading, we’ll discuss a few iconic songs to the Metal genre and what they’re about!
Master of Puppets was their third studio album, written by James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich Kirk Hammett, and Cliff Burton. In 1986 it was released just about everywhere except for France. It is one of their most famous songs and talks about drugs and drug abuse. “The master is what controls you and your life, pulling the strings.”
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The album went on to become Gold almost immediately with 500, 000 copies sold in America, and two years later went Platinum, 1, 000, 000 copies sold.
Lastly, Master of Puppets made history, being the first Metal song to preserved in the National Recording Registry by the United States Library of Congress in 2016, as the song was deemed “culturally, historically and/or aesthetically significant.”

Holy Wars… The Punishment Due was Megadeth’s first song on the 1990 album, “Rust In Peace” written by Dave Mustaine. The lyrics of the song are about global religious conflict, mainly in Israel and Northern Ireland.
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Guaranteed to be one of Megadeth’s best songs,
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