Speed Metal began in the 70-80's when metal began to get big in clubs. The first band to really exercise it was Motorhead; but Metallica's James Hetfield perfected it.

When it comes to technique palm muting and alternate picking are big parts in Speed Metal so please make sure you have these down first or else you'll be making this lesson a lot harder on yourself. Let's take the main riff of "Eye of the Beholder" by Metallica as an example:

Speed Metal is all about rhythm, so playing most Speed Metal songs without having listened to the song first is usually hard, bordering on impossible. But when you hear the song, you have to say these are some really good rhythms and it is well worth having a few good rhythms under you're belt. The song we used as an example has relatively steady rhythm throughout. This isn't the case in most songs.

EXPERT TIP: IF YOU'RE HAVING TROUBLE GETTING THE HANG OF THE UPSTROKES AND DOWNSTROKES ANGLE YOUR PLECTRUM SO THAT ITS EDGE IS HITTING THE STRINGS SLIGHTLY. BEWARE, THOUGH - IF YOU OVERDO THIS, YOU'LL DEVELOP A SCRATCHY SOUND.

E STRING RHYTHMS

Almost all of Speed Metal is based around the open low E (6th) string. Some parts of songs are simply composed of striking the lower open E string in a variety of rhythms. Most songs, though, have power chords integrated into that rhythm. Triplets are usually a good first step as they are ultra quick but add a lot of energy.

I'll give you the main riff of "The Four Horsemen:"

Play all the triplets palm muted and everything else open. Don't forget the alternate picking. At high speeds like this, it isn't quite as important to get the power chords on the right strokes, but it is still a very good idea. HOWEVER, the triplets must be hit using alternate picking. Again, listen to the song for speed and rhythm.

GOOD LISTENING: THE ALBUM, MASTER OF PUPPETS, BY METALLICA IS A GOOD INTRODUCTION TO SPEED METAL, ALONG WITH ALL THE METALLICA CLASSICS. IT WILL GIVE YOU A GOOD IDEA OF THE PACE OF SPEED METAL.

Next, let's examine double stops, which are simply playing two notes as opposed to one. I'll take the main riff from "Creeping Death" by Metallica for this example.

This is a very hard riff! It took me about a week just to get it down. But it's a very good example, the best advice I can give you to master double stops is to start slow and build up. And once again, listen to the song.

HAMMER-ONs AND PULL-OFFs

Although these are commonly used in other songs, in Speed Metal they're used incredibly fast. They add colour to the basic rhythm. I'll give you the intro to "The Trooper" by Iron Maiden, although they weren't a band that were based around speed metal, their guitar work is heavily based on it.

When writing Speed Metal, most people would use a combination of these two techniuqes along with power chords. You don't necessarily have to have all the above pieces down just as long as you know what I'm talking about. But I would strongly recommend using these examples as they give you a good launch pad into future songs.

SOLOING OVER THE RHYTHM

Most guitarist's when soloing use the pentatonic scale and if you ever had to improvise for just a few seconds I would highly recommend it! Many lead players use the pentatonic scale in their solos. The solo in "Enter Sandman" by Metallica is pretty much just Kirk Hammet playing an ascending pentatonic in E minor.

The only advice I can give you on how make it sound "metal-ly" is to use every single technique, especially hammer-ons, pull-offs and, most important, tremolo.To add tremolo, rock your finger (fretting the note) from side to side after you've played the note to give it a wavy tone. Speed again is key, just go as fast as you can with everything without messing up literally like lightning! Finger exercises are excellent way of speeding up your playing such as

Do this first with your index and middle fingers, then with your middle and ring, and finally your ring and pinky. Although playing with all four fingers isn't necessary (I don't and neither does Gary Moore), it is still very, very handy. Once you can do these finger exercise's perfectly even and back and forth then do them with hammer-ons and pull-offs.

If you can get these perfectly even back and forth your playing will seem a lot more fluid and less of a struggle.

That's all I have for you for now I'm afraid, if you want to contact me with questions I'd be more than happy to answer them! Contact me at: thomashood10@yahoo.com
Good Luck!

Thomas Hood - 2003-06-14