Saturday, August 28, 2010

Metal Guitar Lessons: Rock Out Like Your Favorite Metal Gods

By Soudai Kunai

This beginning of this era of music history falls to none other than Alice Cooper. His start happened with The Spiders in 1965. These days, there are tons of metal guitarists. Some include VanHalen, Slash and Kirk Hammett.

You may be an accomplished lead guitarist, but do you have what it takes to be a good heavy metal axeman? Its one thing to know how to play lead guitar, but heavy metal uses a whole range of different techniques. Its just a given that you have to be familiar with these if you want to be credible in a heavy metal band.

What are the techniques that you need to know? Straight out.. you need to know Power Chords. Fast Picking. Palm Muting. And if you dont know these, then you'd better do some fast learning, or better still, take some metal guitar lessons before you even think about putting your foot on the stage with a metal band. Let's take a look at some of these techniques in more detail.

Power Chords are the foundation to all heavy metal music. How do you make them? Two notes are played simultaneously. This results in a chord that sounds really good under distortion, which is an essential part of heavy metal music. Since the fingering involves only two fingers, it also allows for quick chord changes, a big advantage when playing metal, which is usually done at a really fast tempo.

However, because these chords have no minor/major tensions, you have to be really inventive when it comes to using these chords. Power chords are an essential tool in your toolbox as you pickup tricks in your metal guitar lessons. And once you've gotten power chords down pat, then you can start making some very nice metal riffs.

Palm muting is the next technique that all heavy metal guitarists use, whether its death metal, metalcore or thrash. When palm muting, you subdue the guitar sound just a slight bit, by using the edge of your picking hand, while picking the chord at the same time. The secret of effective palm muting is being able to apply just the right pressure on the strings to get the sound that you want. You can also experiment by moving your hand closer or farther from the bridge.

When you are taking metal guitar lessons, you'll have a guide to help you in the right techniques. They'll also correct you when you're doing it wrong. A good teacher will show you hard to find secrets and help you discover some of your own tricks. With the right lessons, you can be flying on the guitar in no time! - 40724

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