beginner metal songs for new guitarist?

[Sabin Frost]

Mayhem's Deathcrush, otherwise Smoke on the Water as Zephyrus mentioned is a good one

Edit: I largely learnt to play bass copying Peter Steele's bass lines from T.O.N so I advise you pick a band you have a strong interest in... there is no point learning to play simple yet brutal grind riffs if you want to land up playing Power Metal in the future.

 

[Unfaithfully Metalhead]

my suggestion is to learn to pay metal guitar from the beginning... from the beginning of it's history... and the bands that influenced it... so you would start with the late 60's to 70's:

Sabbath
Deep Purple
AC/DC
Led Zep etc.

^^ These will teach you easy riffs, rhythm guitar and easy solos that will give your fingers some exercices and get you used to changing from chord to chord without so much the hyperspeed of bands nowadays... then after this move on to later 70's early 80's :

Van Halen (especially Eruption off the first album)
Motorhead
Venom
Iron Maiden
Judas Priest
Metallica (and the thrash bands they spawned or followed them)
Twisted Sister
Ozzy (with Randy Rhoads and Jake E. Lee.. forget Zakk's playing)
Dio etc.

Then move on to the more extreme bands that developed from early 80's and beyond:

Bathory
Mayhem
Death
Immortal
Emperor etc.

By doing this way you will learn the development of metal and gain influences that may even give you a unique style. But don't move from one period/era to another without first mastering the period you were in. Play say Sabbath perfectly before moving on to Maiden and master Maiden before moving on to Metallica etc... also by starting with Sabbath and the early metal founders you build up speed gradually for both rhythm and solo guitaring.... Sabbath solos are easy and fun imo to learn as is the other bands...

But like others suggested do not limit yourself to just metal... perhaps some non metal rock bands like Hendrix, Pink Floyd (I'm a big fan of David Gilmour and like his solo's.. solos do not have to be over the top to be good and his solos are better then 90% of what is out there in metal imo), Chuck Berry (get's ya a feel for where Angus Young came from since he's like a metalized Chuck Berry in his solos), Clapton (from Cream to his solo stuff and everything in between) etc. you get the idea... also blues is very good to learn try :

Allman Brothers - Statesboro Blues
Stevie Ray Vaughn - Take your pick.. there all good
Freddy King
Robert Johnson
Albert King
Sonny Boy Williamson
Muddy Waters
Hendrix (Red House and also Hear My Train a Comin')
Albert Collins etc.

 

[Koude Haat]

anyone know any easy death metal riffs?

 

[Unfaithfully Metalhead]

anyone know any easy death metal riffs?

Try Bloodbath... they are easy imo ...

 

[Sabin Frost]

Anything Cannibal Corpse have done is pretty easy to play.

 

[Valerie]

Anything by obituary minus the solos.

Yeah. Try Redneck Stomp.

 

[zim18]

its hard for me to practice when i dont know shit all about technique, thats why im hoping learning songs will teach me a thing or two...btw im having an awesome time reading all the sarcastic song recommendations

 

[Unfaithfully Metalhead]

its hard for me to practice when i dont know shit all about technique, thats why im hoping learning songs will teach me a thing or two...btw im having an awesome time reading all the sarcastic song recommendations

That is why I suggested you learn metal guitar from it's beginnings from late 60's and progress to the current time... you will develop technique that way instead of trying to jump full in to things that are too difficult for a beginner... the problem with "guitarists" nowadays is they are always in a rush to be a maestro without learning the basics first... do yourself a favor... learn every Sabbath song you like first and move on from there... like i suggested in my previous post... With Sabbath and other metal founders from that era you will learn basic techniques like hammer ons and pull offs, pentatonic scales, simple chord changes/power chords etc... when you can do that without batting a eye then you try something a little more difficult and the next logical step up from the evolution of metal guitar... and on and on...

 

[Thoth-Amon]

Anything Cannibal Corpse have done is pretty easy to play.

How about NO!

 

[Life Sucks]

Celtic Frost - Circle of the Tyrants

 

[Vacant_Planets]

Do NOT pick the easiest song out there, instead collect some different riffs and trying to play them to the same tempo, meter the riff was intended for. If you play easy shit you'll not notice improvement for a while, and yes get off the damn internet and practice.

 

[Life Sucks]

Anything Cannibal Corpse have done is pretty easy to play.

Not really. Some of their stuff is a bit fast for a beginner to handle.

Pretty much anything Black Sabbath have done is very easy to play. Mind you, this is NOT the reason I think that they are exceedingly overrated.

 

[Hatebreeder]

Pretty much anything Black Sabbath have done is very easy to play. Mind you, this is NOT the reason I think that they are exceedingly overrated.

Speaking of Black Sabbath, I just heard Vader's cover of their s/t song and it is IMMENSE.

 

[Unfaithfully Metalhead]

Speaking of Black Sabbath, I just heard Vader's cover of their s/t song and it is IMMENSE.

What album is it on?

 

[WNxScythe]

Do NOT pick the easiest song out there, instead collect some different riffs and trying to play them to the same tempo, meter the riff was intended for. If you play easy shit you'll not notice improvement for a while, and yes get off the damn internet and practice.

Truth. Play difficult stuff. Example, I started Vivaldi's first movement of the summer portion of the four seasons a good 6 months ago. I'm now about 2/3rds the way through, I've only been playing about a year, and I've improved significantly BECAUSE I practice HARD songs.

Don't do easy 2 chord Nirvana crap. You won't improve. That said, practice the hard stuff SLOWLY.

 

[Unfaithfully Metalhead]

Truth. Play difficult stuff. Example, I started Vivaldi's first movement of the summer portion of the four seasons a good 6 months ago. I'm now about 2/3rds the way through, I've only been playing about a year, and I've improved significantly BECAUSE I practice HARD songs.

Don't do easy 2 chord Nirvana crap. You won't improve. That said, practice the hard stuff SLOWLY.

I have to disagree... easy stuff should be learned first to get his fingers used to the fretboard plus making chord changes for rhythm guitar... starting with the difficult stuff first can only lead to bad habits that can affect a player when he tries difficult pieces later.. so really he should start out with Sabbath with it's easy riffs, rhythms and solo's and progress from there... it will do his fingers a service... plus you giving him advice to practice the hard songs "slowly" , he might as well start with bands/songs that are already "slowly" such as i suggested with Sabbath and just progressively try harder and faster material after he masters Sabbath... remember he's a total beginner...

 

[CF87]

Not really. Some of their stuff is a bit fast for a beginner to handle.

A beginner guitarist could not pull off Vile onward. Rob Barret Pat O'Brien are not slackers. I am pretty sure Pat was taught actually.

 

[Sabin Frost]

A beginner guitarist could not pull off Vile onward. Rob Barret Pat O'Brien are not slackers. I am pretty sure Pat was taught actually.

I was being sarcastic and kind of making fun of the fact a lot of their earlier stuff was quite simplistic and at time redundant. In any case, it has been said a couple of times but you really are best learning to play what you like and playing music from a lot of your favourite bands influences such as Black Sabbath is good advice.

 

[hibernal_dream]

If you need tabs to play an Ac/Dc song...just give up now

Shut up srsly. The highest experts in any instrument will always learn even the simplest songs by reading the music. That's how they got to where they are, and why you are still playing pantera songs incorrectly by ear.

 

[Sabin Frost]

It is possible to learn music entirely from ear but not everyone can and some of the people that can cannot learn music from sheet music at all later on. A good knowledge of theory is never a bad thing but it is not always interesting or necissary for all people. An example, Dave Lombardo, Slayer's drummer (as if he needs an introduction) learnt to play drums entirely from ear and playing along and only ever took one lesson which he got bored to death with and chose not to go back to. James Hetfield is another example, maybe a better one as he is a guitarist. James knows pretty much nothing of musical theory and writes from feel and by picking up a guitar and experimenting. However in his case he works with someone who takes a theoretical approach to music (Lars Ulrich, and earlier Cliff Burton who had a classical background).