Death metal guitarists really have a way with flying all over the guitar neck during a brutal song. They can give you a lesson in going between chords and riffs effortlessly while putting on a great show too.

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!

A lot of guitarists might enjoy their jazz, country, rock, or blues, but some of the most technical and interesting riffs can come from a death metal guitar lesson. For some, there’s nothing better than that intense grinding break-down or shredding intro riff in a metal song.

Even though more than one type of metal is known in music, death and black metal are considered extremely intense and brutal compared to others. Take some time to try out these easy but effective tips as part of a short death metal guitar lesson.

1. Learn more by watching. When it comes to guitar skills, seeing usually means believing. Whenever you get the chance, watch a short video online about your favorite artist, their band, or skills that are explained well in a tutorial.

2. Separate your hands. This tip isn’t exactly how it sounds, but you should actually try out skills and techniques with just one hand at a time until it feels comfortable. You might not really get any cool sounds out of it, but your hands will definitely learn to fend for themselves a bit quicker.

3. Find out how your favorite musicians make their distortion. If there’s something about the tone of musician that really catches you off guard, try to find out what they’re using. Check out their web page or forum and look up their equipment list to find out their secrets.

4. The more fingers you use, the faster you can play. One of the most effective ways to slow your progress down when learning new guitar skills is to neglect some of your fingers. One way or another you’re going to need to use four fingers on the guitar neck and you don’t want it to be a shock when that day comes.

5. Learn a couple songs from your favorite metal artists. There’s only so much that you can learn from guitar lessons and courses about death metal, but there’s a lot more you can obtain from actual songs. Research a few easy metal songs and try your hand. You might realize that some techniques are more valuable while others are worthless.

Learning to become a good metal guitarist with a vast array of skills can make you quite marketable as a musician. Put a few of these tips into action and you’ll see your guitar skills begin to improve.

If you’re looking to push your brutal metal guitar skills past all the competition, check out Kyle Hoffman’s FREE report on the bestfast electric guitar courses for a limited time!