Even though some of the methods and tricks for playing death metal guitar chords are challenging, they are important to learn since most of the skills are easily transferable to rock and jazz playing. If you want to develop better skills of pounding out awesome chords for metal, try these 6 effective tips to play metal guitar chords.

1. Put your fingers near the frets when pressing on strings. When you first started playing the guitar, you may have learned to place your fingers in between the frets on the fret board. Something you may have not learned is that your chords are more effective when they are nudged up against the lower fret marking of the fret your finger is occupying.

2. Put your fingers in a position that prepares them for the next riff. Throughout a death metal song, you’re going to encounter chords and riffs of varying difficulty, so you need to be prepared. Be mindful of where you play each chord so that you can be in the best position to execute the next riff that’s coming.

3. Transition your chords smoothly by sliding. As brutal as metal might sound to the audience, it is still an action of creating a very continuous sound between a group of musicians. Help that consistency along by sliding between each chord in a very smooth style.

4. Prepare for more calluses. If you’re playing death metal guitar, you’re most likely playing in one of the drop tunings of ‘D’ or ‘C’. With these tunings you’ll be laying your index finger across three strings at a time to create power chords. You’ll find out soon enough that more calluses will begin to form along the length of your finger.

5. Play your chords ugly and proud. Contrary to other lessons you may have learned about other guitar genres, death metal is as ugly and evil as it gets. Don’t be afraid to create dark chord progressions of only three chords that are adjacent to each other. If you can get them to grind, then you have made something brutal.

6. Partially palm-muted chords make the guitar growl. If there are sections in a song that seem like they need to strike hard but with some eerie reverberation, then maybe you want a partial palm mute. Get into a palm-muting position with your strumming hand, release the pressure by 25%, and then strike a chord for a hard hit followed by a low hum.

Death metal has a very rigid and brutal style about it, and mastering its characteristics is how you truly master the genre. Put these tips to some good use and see if you can really amp up the power and control of your chords.

Kyle Hoffman has performed in a number of successful bands as an experienced guitarist with enthusiasm in the rock and metal genres. To learn his valuable tips on learning fast electric guitar for FREE, visit his popular guitar blog, How To Guitar Tune!