Tips on How to Play 80s Heavy Metal Guitar
Heavy metal exploded into the public eye during the 1980s. From Metallica's rise from an underground trash band to a worldwide musical force to the mainstream hair and glam metal bands like Ratt and Poison, heavy metal permeated many faucets of pop culture in the '80s. Although the term '80s Metal can apply to a fairly wide range of guitar styles, some basic guitar tips and techniques can help you play any of these styles.
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Sound
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Much of '80s heavy metal is defined by highly distorted guitar sounds. While any guitar can be used to play '80s metal, a guitar equipped with a humbucker (or humbucking) pickup in the bridge position (Les Paul-type guitars, ESP guitars, etc.) will make it easiest to achieve the proper '80s metal distorted tones. Acoustic guitars were often used to create the clean sounds in '80s heavy metal, but many power ballads can be played using a warm sound from an electric guitar's neck or middle pickup.
Chords
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Three-note power chords are among the most common chords used in '80s heavy metal. Major and minor diads (two note chords) are often used in distorted '80s metal as well, particularly in between fast-picked drone notes. Many of the guitar harmonies in '80s heavy metal were based off of two guitars each playing one note of these diads. For clean song sections, major and minor chords tend be used, with the occasional diminished or augmented chord as well. Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Randy Rhodes in particular used a wide variety of chords in his classically-inspired compositions.
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Rhythm Techniques
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Palm-muted open notes on one of the low strings (usually very quickly) are one of the trademarks of '80s thrash metal rhythm guitar. When learning to play these quick, sometimes complex rhythm parts, use a metronome to start slowly and work your way up to full speed. Tapping (popularized by Eddie Van Halen) is one of the major lead techniques that defined 1980s metal guitar. Tapping requires you to sound a note by tapping a string with one of your pick-hand fingers, and then immediately removing the tapping finger, thus sounding a regularly fretted note further down the neck. This technique is often accompanied by rapid-fire pull-offs or hammer-ons (fretting one note then pulling off the finger to sound a lower note on the same string, and playing one note then sounding a second finger higher on the string, respectively) . Metal leads of this era were often played as fast as possible, so if you are having trouble playing anything, remember to use a metronome to help build speed.
Play Songs
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Make a list of your favorite '80s metal songs and learn to play them. The bigger variety of songs you learn to play, the better overall '80s metal guitarist you will become. Use guitar tablature -- which can be found for free online as well as in completely accurate guitar tab books that can be bought at most music stores -- if you are having trouble figuring out any riffs or leads. Remember to start off slowly; focus on getting the notes down first, and the speed can come later with practice.
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References
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