Get Started Playing Hard Rock and Metal Guitar

This article is intended to show the beginner how to go from having no idea what to do with the electric guitar, to being able to play some of the most common and basic elements of hard rock and heavy metal. It is presented in a light-hearted tone, with more emphasis on learning to make fun sounds than strict theory, which should come in after the student gets addicted to playing the guitar.

This is a crash course in hard rock guitar. It is not intended to make you a well-rounded musician, and it probably won't make you a musician at all. What it will do, if you work at it, is teach you to make some of the sounds that define heavy guitar. Or, alternatively, it may just make you decide that guitar isn't for you - because if you can't master this stuff, you might not want to bother.

Steps

  1. Choose a guitar. The better the guitar, the better the sound. And that means it will be easier and more fun to learn on. That said, it isn't at all necessary to go out and spend tons of money on a nice axe. Don't spend less than $200. There are a lot of poorly made beginner models out there that could just end up leaving you frustrated.
    • For Rock, an entry level Epiphone (by Gibson) or Squier (by Fender) model guitar is a good idea to start with. If your budget can handle it, Fender and Gibson have famous names on the headstock. They make instruments the way they made them in the 50s, 60s and 70s.
    • For metal, some good brands are B.C. Rich, DBZ, Dean, ESP, Jackson, and Ibanez. If you're old school, Gibson and Fender clones can also be used for metal.
    • Now, you may be asking: what's the difference between a rock guitar and a metal guitar? The most important difference is in the pickups. Heavy metal guitars tend to have "active pickups", while rock guitars usually have "passive pickups". Go ahead and look up the difference.
    • Remember, just because a guitar has passive pickups doesn't mean you cannot play metal with it. Vice versa, just because a guitar has active pickups doesn't mean you can't play rock with it.
  2. Buy an amp. Get something small (no more than about 30 watts, no less than 10) to practice with, and spend no more than 100 dollars on it. It should be a "combo amp". You don't need to pay much heed to this term, but if you're curious, look it up elsewhere. Anyway, you can move to higher-end models later once you are more experienced. Line 6, Crate, Epiphone, Fender, all make decent entry level amps. Fender, Vox, and Marshall make higher-end tube amps, among other companies as well. Read on to find out what the difference between tube and solid-state amps is.
    • There are two types of amps: Solid-state and Tube. Solid-state amplifiers are much, MUCH cheaper, and are recommended for a beginner. However, some metalcore and metalcore guitarists prefer solid-state amps because they can sound very harsh (doesn't always apply to cheap entry-level amps).
    • Tube amps (also known as "valve" amps, especially in the UK) are frequently used by professional rock musicians, and a large percentage of heavy metal players use tube as well. Unfortunately for the beginner, they much more expensive than solid-state amps. Tube-driven amps are widely considered to sound highly superior to solid-state amps. They are definitely not recommended for a beginner, as they do require maintenance and care must be taken when using them; they are quite fragile and can be costly to repair.
      • Special note: Some amps use a combination of Tube and Solid-State technology. They are often a good choice for the amateur guitarist who has moved beyond the beginner level. They sound far superior to entry-level Solid-State amps and are a lot cheaper than fully Tube amplifiers.
      • Another special note: "tube" does NOT refer to the shape of the amp.
  3. Buy some picks. Get lots and lots of these. You're going to be losing them, I promise. No guitarist can avoid that, so have backups. Get some with a thin to medium thickness and some that are heavier. You will probably find you like one more than the other. Once you have found a preference, buy primarily that type of picks. Jim Dunlop makes great picks of all thickness.
  4. Buy strings. Guitars are nothing without good strings. Investing in these will produce awe-inspiring sound.
    • D'Addario and Ernie Ball strings are the most commonly used strings for both rock AND heavy metal. It's mostly a matter of personal preference.
    • Keep in mind the string gauge when buying strings. String gauge refers to how thick the strings are. When people refer to string gauges, they usually use the gauge of the high E string (the 1st string). For example, if you buy strings that are .009 gauge, that means that the 1st string gauge is {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} thick. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guitar_Strings#Electric_Guitar for an accurate list of string gauges.
    • The thicker the string gauge, the more bass you can hear and powerful-sounding the strings will be, but it will be more difficult to do string bends. A string bend is when you bend the string so you can change the pitch of the note. The thinner the string gauge, the easier it will be to do string bends, but the strings will sound more like treble. Make sure you try many different kinds so you can figure out what suits you best.
  5. Learn to understand tablature, often shortened to "tab" or "tabs". Tablature is a system that uses numbers to represent positions on the fretboard. Remember, the 1st string is the one closest to your feet when you play, and the 6th string is closest to your head.
    • The long lines represent the strings:
      • E (1st)---------------------------------------------
      • B (2nd)---------------------------------------------
      • G (3rd)---------------------------------------------
      • D (4th)---------------------------------------------
      • A (5th)---------------------------------------------
      • E (6th)---------------------------------------------
  6. Learn from examples. Here is a tablature staff telling you to play a note at the 3rd fret on the 6th string, then a note at the 6th fret on the same string, then a note on the 3rd fret of the 5th string, and finally two notes together - 2nd fret 4th string and the fifth string open (not fretting any note). Whenever notes are shown directly over or under other notes, all of them are played together as a chord.
    • E (1st)---------------------------------------------
    • B (2nd)---------------------------------------------
    • G (3rd)---------------------------------------------
    • D (4th)-------2-------------------------------------
    • A (5th)-----3-0-------------------------------------
    • E (6th)-3-6-----------------------------------------
  7. Tune your Ax. If you don't know how to tune the guitar, buy a tuner. Everybody uses them anyway, because tuning by ear is impossible for a beginner. If you cannot get a tuner, use a pitch pipe or some point of reference to:
    • Tune the fifth string to A.
    • Then match the sound of the 5th fret on the 6th string to the open A.
    • Match the D string to the 5th fret of the 5th string.
    • Match the G string to the 5th fret of the 4th string.
    • Match the B string to the 4th fret of the 3rd string.
    • Match the high E string to the 5th fret of the 2nd string.
  8. Learn about key. Key, is a big mystery to a lot of beginners. It's going to remain one too - because we aren't going into the swamp of music theory here. Next is this nifty chart which will tell you what fret (position) you can play your pentatonic scale at over any chord and stay in key. If this confuses you, remember that the scale starts on the 6th string, and the first note in the pattern is the root. Even if you skip the 6th string and start playing on the 4th, whatever fret you started on is your position. If you started anywhere on the 5th fret, you're playing in the key of A, etc. Still confused? Have a look at this:

Rhythm chord or Key with "Safe Frets" (positions) to solo at

  • A - open, 5, 12
  • B flat - 1, 6, 13
  • B - 2, 7, 14
  • C - 3, 8, 15
  • C sharp - 4, 9, 16
  • D - 5, 10
  • E flat - 6, 11
  • E - open, 7, 12
  • F - 1, 8, 13
  • F sharp - 2, 9, 14
  • G - 3, 10, 15
  • G sharp - 4, 11, 16

This chart is based on something monstrous and foul called the "Circle of Fifths," which you can feel free to ignore until you become more advanced. Learning about it now will only cause a headache and (in the state of California) tooth decay. There are also tons of other scales you can play and other positions you can use in each key, but this is a basic crash course and there is no use in making you want to toss the guitar out the window before you learn to play it. That sort of information is available elsewhere. With this one scale (the pentatonic), played in the positions indicated by the chart above over the rhythm chords, you can be tearing it up in not so much time. At least 75% of hard rock solos are based around this concept anyhow, including a lot of the mega-classics.



Tips

  • Make sure you keep good technique. You don't want to develop bad habits, especially as a beginner. Habits developed now will be very difficult to break later on.
  • For understanding music theory, learning piano helps.
  • If you are a fairly experienced guitar player but are having difficulty with heavy metal, don't worry. Keep at it, and you'll get it. Though it may not appear it, metal guitar is one of the hardest types to get good at. Also, consider learning how to play classical guitar. While it sounds very different from heavy metal, a lot of the technique used for classical guitar can help you be a better metal player.
  • Sometimes, try to warm up on a bass guitar, it strengthens your fingers and makes playing on the guitar easier. This is not necessary however, and most guitarists don't bother with this.

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