Beginners Guide To Playing Black Metal

This lesson is here just because there are no black metal guitar tutorials anywhere on the
unholy network called the Internet.

ZynosOrcah Posted Oct 03, 2006 11:22 AM

0
Myself I am not the best black metal guitarist, and suppose I never will be, I don't know a lot
about the style either, I mean, things like history and stuff, but I can give you a good start.
We'll start out with Venom. Venom Venom, the band that is said to have brought the
expression black metal into being by naming a song "Black Metal," is one of the most
important bands in the history of black metal. They were one of the first bands to bring the
real evil into the metal genre. They did this, using a lot of already used, common metal
techniques, as with most other old school black betal bands (Merciful Fate, Bathory etc).
Venom's music sounded a lot like thrash though, and they are sometimes accused of starting
that scene to, together with Metallica and Slayer of course. I'll give you two riffs from their
early history:
"Welcome to hell"
|---------------------------------------|
|---------------------------------------|
|--------5-------5------5--------5---7^-|
|--------5-------5------5--------5---7^-|
|-0--0-----0--0---0--0----0--0----------|
|---------------------------------------|
"Black Metal"
|---------------------------------------|
|---------------------------------------|
|-5-------4--------3------------------9-|
|-5-------4--------3------5--2-------9--|
|-3--0"---2--0"---1--0"--5--2-------7---|
|--------------------------3--0--0"-----|

Note that " means tremolo picking (in case you don't know what tremolo picking is, we'll
discuss that later), or here, just to repeat the note for a while. Do also note that Venom always
use the guitars tuned down one and a half step (C#, F#, B, E, G#, C#). Look at the first one. Is
it evil? No it isn't. It's still traditional metal. The other one? Is that evil? Well, today it isn't,
but back then I guess it was. And the lyrics on that song. And the drill in the beginning. That
is/was evil. Wish I could write something more educational here, but I think the riffs actually
should be enough. Let's go on to the next book in our darker and darker bible. Mayhem If you
asked anyone who listens to black metal to mention two bands, he/she would probably
mention Venom and Mayhem. That's why I'll do that to. Mayhem were the one band who
started what is often called the second wave of black metal -- a wave of really evil bands in
the early '90s of which most were from Norway (and they say that Norway has the highest
living standard in the world). I won't go into their story, it's to easy to find, like, everywhere,
but I'll introduce a very useful (and sometimes overused) technicue, called tremolo picking
and give you some Mayhem riffs. So, tremolo picking. That means, to repeat the same note
(fast) for a while, often just to change it and play a new one for a while. This technique is
often used on the banjo in Irish folkmusic, but I have no idea how it came into black metal

from there. I guess It's just a coincidence. If you want to call yourself a black metal guitarist,
you should practise this technique a lot. And, remember, a slower but tight tremolo picked riff
sounds faster then a fast and uneven one. Never do it too fast, unless your practising were
noone can hear you! Perhaps it should be mentioned than, when tremolopicking a whole
chord, not all strings have to be tremolopicked. Just do it to the one where the root of the
chord is located.
"De Mysteries Dom Sathanas"
|----------------------------------|
|----------------------------------|
|----------------------------------|
|--------9"--10"--9"-10"--9"-------|
|-----7"------------------------7"-|
|-0"-------------------------------|

"Symbols of Bloodswords:
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|--------------2"---3"--------2"--------2"----------------2"--1"----------|
|--------------------------------------------------------2"---------------|
|-0"---1"-0"----------2"--3"-------0"---------0"---3"-------------4"---0"-|

Burzum Burzum sometimes uses another way to play black metal, wich I have chosen to call
strange chords. I'll discuss some good-to-use chords in the next chapter, but in this one I will
give you, guess. But just one this time!
"Nakkel Til Dar"
|--------------------------------|
|------------------------0-----0-|
|---0-9-0----0-9-0---5-5---7-7---|
|--8------8-8------8-6---6-8---8-|
|-7--------7---------7-----9-----|
|--------------------------------|

Scales 'n' Stuff

Most black metal songs don't follow any particular scales. And if they do, they really don't
follow the major scale. Either use a minor or harmonic minor. Or, one of these (*** is chort
for "I don't have a clue what it is called"):
***: E F G G# Bb C# D
***: E F G# A C C#
Dim: E G A# C#

If you're interested in that strange chords-style I mentioned, here are some good ones
(remember that they must be perfectly fitted together if you want tem to sound evil):
Bbmin-5 (not sure about the name)
|-0-|
|-2-|
|-3-|
|-3-|
|-1-|
|---|

Bb5-9add-5 (not sure about the name)

|-0-|
|-0-|
|-3-|

|-3-|
|-1-|
|---|
C7add-5 (not sure about the name)
|-0-|
|-0-|
|-0-|
|-4-|
|-3-|
|---|
Emin-5/C# (not sure about the name)
|-0-|
|-0-|
|-3-|
|-5-|
|-4-|
|---|

Now, you should be able to find your own evil chords. Pick them with much distortion and
you will hold the powers of hell in your fingertops! Avoid using jazzysounding combinations
by the way. I'm sure Lucifer doesn't pay attention to big bands. To hear some good
combinations of strange chords, listen to Hrafn or Burzum. Do also listen to Ozzy Osbourne's
"Diary Of A Madman," though it's not black metal.

Mixed Licks
I'm gonna end this lesson with some riffs and licks of a bunch of different black metal bands.
Although there is much missing in this tutorial, I hope you have learned something. If you
want to learn about the history of black metal, it seems to be a good one at
http://www.historyofblackmetal.com/, though it is mostly speaking about english black metal
(and it's calling CoF black).
Magog "Follow Me"
|---------------2h3-------------------------------|
|----4h5-------------------4h5--------------------|
|---------4h5-------4h5--------4h5--------5--5--5-|
|-2-----------2----------2-----------(2)--5--5--5-|
|-2-----------2----------2-----------(2)--3--3--3-|
|-0-----------0----------0-----------(0)----------|
Dark Funeral "Satanic Blood" (the whole song)!
|------------|
|------------|
|------------|
|-9"---------|
|-7"--8"-9"--|
|-----6"-7"--|
Dark Funeral "My Dark Desires"
|------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-9"--8"-------8"--9"--8"-------8"---------------------------------------|
|---------10"--------------10"------10"--9"---------9"--10"--9"-------9"-|
|-----------------------------------------------11"---------------11"----|

Darkthrone "Transilvanian Hunger"

|--------------------------------------------------|
|--------------------------------------------------|
|--------------------------------------------------|
|-12"---10"-----9"----10"---10"----9"----10"----9"-|
|-0"----0"-----0"----0"-----7"-----7"----7"-----7"-|
|--------------------------------------------------|

If you want to play guitar, you must know how to trem pick. Trem-picking is
simply rapid up and down picking one one string or chord. You also need to know
how to sweep pick, how to do tapping, your basic chords, and maybe a few scales
and keys to do lead work.