Thrash Within

Ok, noobs. Good bands to start listening to is Megadeth, Bathory, Venom, Kreator, Testament, Sadus, Slayer, Metallica, Coroner, and Possessed.

Most commonly used Scales:

Blues(Any key works)
Phrygian Dominant
Chromatic Scale

We'll start with different chords. Ok this is a simple "Power Chord"

E---|
B---|
G---|
D-2-|
A-2-|
E-0-|

This is a "Inverted Chord"

E---| |E---|
B---| |B---|
G---| |G---|
D---| or |D---|
A-3-| |A-2-|
E-5-| |E-3-|

Most commonly used with "Black Metal Bands" Such as Immortal and Gorgoroth.


This is a simple chord I don't know the name of.

| It also sounds cool here.
E---| |E---------------|
B---| |B---------------|
G---| |G-5---2---7---5~| < I made a
D-2-| |D-5---2---7---5~| < Simple Riff
A-2-| |A--0-0-0-0-0-0--|
E---| |E---------------|

Here are some cool techniques to throw into a riff.

1 A pick slide (Take your pick then slide down the strings from the "Bridge"
2 Pinch Harmonic ( I can't really explain)
3 Tremolo Picking
4 Hammer-Ons Pull-Offs (To make a fast riff faster)
5 Slide
6 Bend
7 Drop with the whammy bar if you have one (I don't.)
8 Vibrato
9 Palm Muting

After you noobs learned at least 7 out of 9 of those come back and move on. Here are some thrash riffs using some of those techniques.

For All Those Who Died (Bathory) Pull-Offs

E----------------------------|
B----------------------------|
G----------------------------|
D-2-2-2---2-2-5-2-2-2---2-2-3|
A-2-2-2---2-2-3-2-2-2---2-2-1|
E-0-0-3p0-0-0---0-0-3p0-0-0--|

Crushing The Scepter(Regaining A Lost Dominion) Tremolo Picking

E------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
B------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
G------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
D-999910101010999977779999999999997777777777-----------------------------------------|
A-77777777777777777777777710101010999997777777779999101010109999977779999101010109999|
E-------------------------------------------88888888888888888888888888888888888888888|

The Four Horsemen (Metallica) Sliding and Pick slided

E----------------------------------|
B----------------------------------|
G--9--99/7--77/5--55/4---pick slide|
D--9--99/7--77/5--55/4---pick slide|
A--7--77/5--55/3--33/2---pick slide|
E----------------------------------|

Two Minutes To Midnight (Iron Maiden) Bend, Vibrato and palm muting

E-----------------------------------|
B---------------7b-7~---------------|
G---5--7--5--7--7b-7~---5--7--5---2-|
D---5--7--5--7----------5--7--5---2-|
A-00-00-00-00---------00-00-00-00-0-|
E-----------------------------------|
Pm-- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

I hope you learned something from that. Like common "power chords" and where those chords just above sound cool. See what chords are used most. And experiment with it and think fast, but don't base all your riffs up there. Then your just getting too repetitive. Here you'll learn some basic riff making structure

A
E---------|
B---------|
G---------|Fool around such as putting in some bends and tremolo picking.
D-2-5-7-8-|As you get better with this try to learn all those power chords
A-2-5-7-8-|to 12.
E-0-3-5-6-|
B
E---------|
B---------|
G---------|Do the same with this as you did to the top.
D-2-4-5-7-|
A-2-4-5-7-|
E-0-2-3-5-|
C The most grim of the 3.
E---------|
B---------|
G---------|
D-2-3-5-6-|
A-2-3-5-6-|
E-0-1-3-4-|

Now Do you have all of that down? Do you have at least one riff you are happy with? If not just keep on trying you will get. Don't be afraid to fuse them.


Here is some cool soloing techniques if you already know the blues scale. Every cool kid uses these. Listen for them when listening to Music.

Remember you want a f--king raspy sound.

E-12-----|
B-15(b16)|
G--------|
D--------|
A--------|
E--------|


E--------|
B-15-----|
G-14(b16)|
D--------|
A--------|
E--------|


E----------15|
B--------15--|
G-14(b16)----|
D------------|
A------------|
E------------|


E-12-------12-------12-------|
B---15(b16)--15(b16)--15(b16)|
G----------------------------|
D----------------------------|
A----------------------------|
E----------------------------|


E-12------------|
B---15p12-------|
G--------14(b15)|
D---------------|
A---------------|
E---------------|

Did those sound cool? I bet they did.