AI Wiki - Music - Metal Music

# AI Wiki - Music - Metal Music ## Overview Heavy metal grew out of blues rock and psychedelic rock in the late 1960s and early 1970s, mainly in the UK and the US. Wikipedia names Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple, all formed in 1968, as the genre's best-known pioneers, and Black Sabbath's self-titled 1970 album is "generally accepted as the first heavy metal album". From there the family tree split again and again: the new wave of British heavy metal in the late 1970s (Iron Maiden, Saxon, with Judas Priest alongside), thrash in the early 1980s, death and black metal later that decade, then groove, nu-metal, metalcore and djent. Metal keeps the core of [[AI Wiki - Music - Rock Music|rock]]: [[AI Wiki - Music - Electric Guitar|electric guitar]], bass and drums, riffs and [[AI Wiki - Music - Power Chords|power chords]]. What changes is the degree. Wikipedia sums up the guitar sound as "high volumes and heavy fuzz", with the power chord as "one of the signatures of the genre" and palm muting for "a tighter, more precise sound". Harmony moves to dark modes and the tritone, tunings go lower, tempos go to both extremes, and drumming leans on double kick and, in the extreme styles, blast beats. For a guitarist, metal is two skill sets, each with its own article: - [[AI Wiki - Music - Metal Rhythm Guitar Techniques]]: downpicking endurance, palm-muted chugs, gallops, tremolo picking, pedal-point riffs, string skipping, and the timing that makes a riff sound tight. - [[AI Wiki - Music - Shred Techniques]]: alternate and economy picking, sweep picking, tapping, legato runs and sequences, and how to practise them safely. This article is the map: subgenres, the theory behind the sound, tunings, rhythm, arrangement, keyboards and songs to study. ## Subgenres and their theory signatures Every subgenre can be recognised by a handful of choices: tempo, tuning, scale, picking and vocals. The table is a simplification, since most bands mix several. | Subgenre | Era and key bands | Rhythm and tempo | Harmony and riffs | Guitar | Vocals | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | Heavy / traditional | 1970s–80s: Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden | mid to fast, gallops | Aeolian and Phrygian, pedal point, twin-guitar harmonies | palm-muted power chords, melodic solos | high, clean, often operatic | | Doom | Black Sabbath's early records, Candlemass (mid-1980s) | very slow, heavy sustained chords | minor, tritone, chromatic descents | low tuning, ringing chords | clean and mournful, or growled | | Thrash | early 1980s: Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, Anthrax | fast, often well over 200 bpm in eighth notes | chromatic riffs, Phrygian and Locrian, tritones | downpicked chugs, gallops, fast solos | shouted | | Death | mid-1980s on: Possessed, Death, Morbid Angel | fast, blast beats, sudden tempo changes | heavy chromaticism, atonal-sounding riffs | low tuning, tremolo picking, complex alternate picking | deep growls | | Black | first wave early 1980s (Venom, Bathory), Norwegian second wave early 1990s | fast, blast beats | minor and chromatic, tremolo-picked chord melodies | thin, trebly, high-gain tone | high shrieks | | Power | mid-1980s on: Helloween, Blind Guardian, Stratovarius | fast double-kick sixteenths | major keys and harmonic minor, singable melodies | neoclassical solos, gallops | high, clean | | Progressive | late 1980s–90s: Queensrÿche, Fates Warning, Dream Theater; later Tool, Opeth | odd meters, changing meters, long forms | modal, extended chords, key changes | technical riffs and solos, often seven-string | clean, sometimes mixed with growls | | Nu-metal | mid-1990s on: Korn, Deftones, Slipknot, Limp Bizkit | mid-tempo, syncopated, hip-hop grooves | one- or two-note riffs, few chord changes | down-tuned seven-strings, rarely solos | rapped, sung and screamed | | Djent | mid-1990s roots (Meshuggah), late 2000s scene: Periphery, Tesseract, Animals as Leaders | polymeters and syncopation over a steady 4/4 | single-note or single-chord rhythmic riffs, clean ambient sections | seven- to nine-string guitars, tight palm mutes | clean and screamed | Extreme metal (thrash, death, black, grindcore) usually runs between 150 and 250 bpm, per Wikipedia; doom goes the other way and takes "heaviness and slowness to extremes". A remark quoted in Wikipedia's metal article captures nu-metal's effect on technique: by tuning down and simplifying riffs, "nu-metal effectively drove a stake through the heart of the guitar solo". Djent is named after the onomatopoeia of its palm-muted, high-gain chord sound; even its own bands argue about whether it is a genre or a guitar style. ## Scales and modes Metal lives in minor keys. Wikipedia: "Traditional heavy metal tends to employ modal scales, in particular the Aeolian and Phrygian modes." E is the default key on guitar (the low open string is the tonic and the pedal note), so every scale here is shown on E. The background is in [[AI Wiki - Music - Minor Scales]] and [[AI Wiki - Music - Modes]]. | Scale | Formula | Notes on E | Sound and use | |---|---|---|---| | Natural minor (Aeolian) | 1 2 ♭3 4 5 ♭6 ♭7 | E F# G A B C D | the default dark sound; i–♭VI–♭VII riffs | | Phrygian | 1 ♭2 ♭3 4 5 ♭6 ♭7 | E F G A B C D | the E–F half step above the root: the most "metal" interval after the tritone | | Phrygian dominant | 1 ♭2 3 4 5 ♭6 ♭7 | E F G# A B C D | Phrygian with a major third; Middle Eastern, flamenco, "exotic" | | Harmonic minor | 1 2 ♭3 4 5 ♭6 7 | E F# G A B C D# | the raised 7th gives a major V chord (B) and a strong pull to the root; neoclassical metal | | Locrian | 1 ♭2 ♭3 4 ♭5 ♭6 ♭7 | E F G A B♭ C D | ♭2 and ♭5 together; used for thrash riffs rather than as a key | The fretboard below shows the open position (frets 0–7) of the four main ones. Compare them string by string: Phrygian is natural minor with F instead of F#, Phrygian dominant adds G# for G, and harmonic minor is natural minor with D# instead of D. ```fretboard frets: 0-7 labels: intervals --- title: E natural minor (Aeolian) scale: E minor --- title: E phrygian (b2 marked) scale: E phrygian --- title: E phrygian dominant (b2 and 3 marked) scale: E phrygian dominant highlight: b2 3 --- title: E harmonic minor (7 marked) scale: E harmonic minor highlight: 7 ``` **Phrygian dominant and harmonic minor are relatives.** Phrygian dominant is the fifth mode of harmonic minor: E Phrygian dominant uses the same seven notes as A harmonic minor (A B C D E F G#), started on E. Wikipedia lists other names, among them Spanish Phrygian, Freygish and Hijaz, and in the Berklee method Mixolydian ♭9 ♭13. In practice: over an E or E5 chord in a song in A minor, the A harmonic minor notes give you E Phrygian dominant, which is why neoclassical players (Yngwie Malmsteen and those he influenced) move so easily between the two. On piano, E harmonic minor against the natural minor; the only difference is the leading tone D#: ```keyboard scale: E harmonic minor range: C4-B5 labels: intervals compare: E minor ``` **The pentatonic and blues scales stay.** Solos in heavy metal and hard rock still lean on the [[AI Wiki - Music - Pentatonic Scale|minor pentatonic]] and [[AI Wiki - Music - Blues Scale|blues scale]]; the modes above add colour. The [[AI Wiki - Music - Intervals|intervals]] that set metal apart are the ♭2 and the ♭5. ### Chromaticism and the tritone The tritone (augmented fourth or diminished fifth, six semitones: E to B♭) was described by medieval and Renaissance theorists as unstable and was nicknamed *diabolus in musica*. Metal adopted it on purpose. The title track of Black Sabbath's 1970 debut opens with what Wikipedia describes as "a G5 power chord followed by an octave into a tritone away from the chord's root" (G, then G an octave up, then C#), one of the earliest uses of the interval in heavy metal and a strong influence on doom. Chromaticism, moving by half steps, is the other dark device. Thrash and death riffs often walk a power chord up or down one fret at a time, or alternate the root with its ♭2 and ♭5. Since power chords have no third, the riff's "key" is defined only by which roots it uses: E5 to F5 says Phrygian, E5 to B♭5 says tritone, E5 to C5 to D5 says Aeolian. ## Power chords and riffs The riff is metal's main musical idea: a short, repeated figure, usually on the low strings, often doubled by the bass. Three kinds of material make most riffs: 1. **Power chords** (root and fifth, sometimes the octave): shapes, muting and the fret map are in [[AI Wiki - Music - Power Chords]]. 2. **Single-note lines** on the low strings, built from the scales above. 3. **Pedal point**: the open low string repeated between the other notes. Wikipedia: "Heavy metal songs often make extensive use of pedal point as a harmonic basis." The open string is the tonic; everything else is heard against it. Drop D makes the power-chord vocabulary physical. The bottom three strings, D A D, form a D5 open, and one finger flat across them at any fret gives a power chord ([[AI Wiki - Music - Alternate Tunings]]). Here is every root a D Phrygian or D minor riff typically uses, with the tritone added. The number in brackets is the root's distance from D: ```chord tuning: Drop D columns: 4 --- symbol: D5 frets: 000xxx title: D5 (1) --- symbol: Eb5 frets: 111xxx fingers: 111xxx title: Eb5 (b2, Phrygian) --- symbol: F5 frets: 333xxx fingers: 111xxx title: F5 (b3) --- symbol: G5 frets: 555xxx fingers: 111xxx title: G5 (4) --- symbol: Ab5 frets: 666xxx fingers: 111xxx title: Ab5 (b5, the tritone) --- symbol: A5 frets: 777xxx fingers: 111xxx title: A5 (5) --- symbol: Bb5 frets: 888xxx fingers: 111xxx title: Bb5 (b6) --- symbol: C5 frets: 10-10-10-x-x-x fingers: 111xxx title: C5 (b7) ``` A two-bar riff in Drop D using three of them: chugs on the open D5, the Phrygian E♭5, the ♭III, and the tritone A♭5 resolving down to G5. Down-pick every eighth note and palm-mute the [[AI Wiki - Music - Guitar Open Chords|open chords]]: ```chords {title: Drop D riff: Phrygian b2 and tritone} {time: 4/4} {comment: Bottom three strings only, one finger flat across them. Fret 1 = Eb5, 3 = F5, 6 = Ab5 (tritone), 5 = G5} {start_of_tab} e|----------------|----------------| B|----------------|----------------| G|----------------|----------------| D|0-0-0-1-0-0-3-1-|0-0-0-1-0-0-6-5-| A|0-0-0-1-0-0-3-1-|0-0-0-1-0-0-6-5-| D|0-0-0-1-0-0-3-1-|0-0-0-1-0-0-6-5-| 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & {end_of_tab} ``` ## Drop tunings and extended range Lower tunings make riffs heavier and suit lower voices. They came early: after a factory accident cost him two fingertips, Tony Iommi down-tuned to loosen string tension, reaching C# (three semitones below standard) on Black Sabbath's *Master of Reality* (1971), according to American [[AI Wiki - Music - Songwriting|Songwriter]]. The main options, low to high: | Tuning | Strings | Used for | |---|---|---| | Drop D | D A D G B E | one-finger power chords; grunge, nu-metal, metalcore | | E♭ standard (half step down) | E♭ A♭ D♭ G♭ B♭ E♭ | 1980s metal and hard rock; same shapes, slightly darker | | D standard | D G C F A D | heavier riffs with standard shapes | | Drop C | C G C F A D | modern metal and metalcore; Drop D shapes a whole step lower | | Seven-string standard | B E A D G B E | an extra low B; progressive metal, nu-metal, modern metal | | Eight-string | commonly F# B E A D G B E | djent and progressive metal | Wikipedia credits the Ibanez Universe, a Steve Vai model from 1990, as the first mass-produced seven-string, and Korn's 1994 debut with making it prominent in metal; Trivium, Dream Theater and Haken use the low-B tuning. Lower tunings need heavier strings to keep the tension and intonation usable; that and the floating-bridge problem are covered in [[AI Wiki - Music - Alternate Tunings]] and [[AI Wiki - Music - Guitar Setup and Maintenance]]. ## Rhythm Metal drumming rests, in Wikipedia's words, on "speed, power, and precision", and the guitar is locked to it. The main patterns: - **Driving eighths and sixteenths.** Palm-muted chugs on the low string, downpicked or alternate picked, often doubling the kick drum. - **The gallop.** An eighth note and two sixteenths ("1 & a"), not a triplet. Guitar World: "The first eighth note lasts as long as the two 16ths combined." Wikipedia's examples include Iron Maiden's "Run to the Hills" and "The Trooper"; the reverse gallop (two sixteenths and an eighth) drives Slayer's "Raining Blood". - **Double kick.** Two bass-drum pedals playing continuous sixteenths, the motor of power and thrash metal. - **Blast beats.** "A repeated, sixteenth-note figure played at a very fast tempo", traditionally alternating kick and snare, usually around 180–280 bpm. From hardcore punk and grindcore, now associated with black and death metal. - **Odd and changing meters.** Progressive metal uses 5/8, 7/8 and frequent meter changes (Tool's "Schism" is a famous study piece). See [[AI Wiki - Music - Rhythm and Time Signatures]]. - **Polymeter.** Djent riffs often repeat a figure of an odd length (say, 23 sixteenths) over drums that stay in 4/4, so the riff lines up with the bar again only after several bars. - **Breakdowns.** In metalcore and deathcore, a section where the band drops to slow, heavy, syncopated chugs on the lowest strings, palm-muted, in a low tuning. The guitar side of these rhythms, with tabs, counts and picking, is in [[AI Wiki - Music - Metal Rhythm Guitar Techniques]]. Rhythm reading and counting are in [[AI Wiki - Music - Rhythmic Ear Training]]. ## Vocals and arrangement - **Vocals**: from the high, operatic style of Rob Halford and Bruce Dickinson, through thrash shouting, to death growls and black-metal shrieks. Wikipedia notes that metal "demands the subordination of the voice" to the band's overall sound. - **Twin guitars**: two guitarists harmonising a melody, often a third apart within the scale, is a trademark of Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. To try it, play a melody from E natural minor, then play it again starting a third higher in the same scale ([[AI Wiki - Music - Melody and Phrasing]]). - **Double-tracked rhythm guitars**: on record, the same rhythm part played twice and panned left and right; it only sounds huge if both takes are tight. - **Bass**: usually doubles the guitar riff an octave down, or holds the root under it. - **Guitar solos**: "an essential element of the heavy metal code", per Wikipedia, at least until nu-metal. Techniques in [[AI Wiki - Music - Guitar Lead Techniques]] and [[AI Wiki - Music - Shred Techniques]]. - **Song form**: verse–chorus with riff-based intros and instrumental sections, but progressive and doom bands write long multi-part pieces ([[AI Wiki - Music - Song Form and Structure]]). Clean, quiet intros followed by a heavy entry are a staple contrast. ## Piano and keyboards in metal Wikipedia: "Keyboard instruments are sometimes used to enhance the fullness of the sound", and by the 1990s synthesizers appeared in almost every subgenre. The main roles: - **Hammond organ** in early heavy rock: Jon Lord in Deep Purple, playing riffs in unison with the guitar and trading solos. - **Keyboard intros and solos** in 1980s metal: Don Airey's organ intro to Ozzy Osbourne's "Mr. Crowley". - **Power and neoclassical metal**: keyboard solos in harmonic minor that duel with the guitar (Jens Johansson in Stratovarius, Janne Wirman in Children of Bodom). - **Symphonic metal**: orchestral and choir sounds as the main layer (Nightwish, keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen); Wikipedia notes that keyboard-based bands such as Nightwish and Stratovarius sometimes use orchestras and opera singers. - **Progressive metal**: a full keyboard part with its own riffs and odd-meter lines (Jordan Rudess in Dream Theater). - **Black metal**: sustained synth pads for atmosphere (Emperor, Dimmu Borgir). On piano, a metal riff translates to **left-hand octaves or root–fifth shapes in the low register** (the piano's power chord) with the right hand on harmonic-minor arpeggios, pedal-point sixteenths (alternating the tonic with a melody, as on guitar) or sustained minor chords. The piano power chord on E: ```chord symbol: E5 instrument: piano pitches: E2 B2 E3 title: E5 on piano (root, fifth, octave) ``` Playing riffs in octaves with both hands is the quickest way to hear how a guitar riff is built. [[AI Wiki - Music - Left-Hand Accompaniment Patterns]] covers the left-hand side. ## Songs to study | Song | What to study | |---|---| | Black Sabbath – "Black Sabbath" (1970) | the tritone, doom tempo, sustained chords | | Black Sabbath – "Iron Man" (1970) | a slow power-chord riff doubled by the bass | | Judas Priest – "Breaking the Law" (1980) | a simple, memorable single-note riff in a minor key | | Iron Maiden – "The Trooper" (1983) | gallops, harmonised twin-guitar melodies | | Metallica – "Master of Puppets" (1986) | downpicking endurance, chromatic riffs | | Slayer – "Raining Blood" (1986) | the reverse gallop, chromatic thrash riffs | | Helloween – "I Want Out" (1988) | power metal: major-key chorus, double kick | | Dream Theater – "Pull Me Under" (1992) | progressive metal riffing and keyboard parts | | Rage Against the Machine – "Killing in the Name" (1992) | Drop D riffs (rap metal) | | Korn – "Blind" (1994) | nu-metal: down-tuned seven-string, syncopated grooves | | Darkthrone – "Transilvanian Hunger" (1994) | black metal: tremolo-picked melodies over blast beats | | Tool – "Schism" (2001) | changing meters | | Nightwish – "Nemo" (2004) | symphonic keyboards and orchestration | | Meshuggah – "Bleed" (2008) | polymeter and djent-style rhythm on extended-range guitar | ## How to approach metal as a returning player 1. **Power chords and palm muting first.** Root-6 and root-5 power chords with clean muting ([[AI Wiki - Music - Muting Techniques]]), downpicked eighth notes at a slow tempo. 2. **One Drop D song.** Retune, learn one-finger power chords, play along. 3. **The scales in E.** Learn E natural minor and E Phrygian in the open position from the fretboard above; write a two-bar riff that alternates the open E with notes from each. 4. **One gallop riff and one downpicked riff** at a slow tempo with a metronome, building endurance gradually ([[AI Wiki - Music - Metronome and Speed Building]]). 5. **Lead later.** Pentatonic and blues-scale soloing first ([[AI Wiki - Music - Guitar Lead Techniques]]); shred techniques once the basics are clean. 6. **Use less gain than you think.** Heavy distortion hides mistakes while you play and exposes them on a recording ([[AI Wiki - Music - Guitar Amps and Tone]], [[AI Wiki - Music - Recording Yourself]]). ## Key Points - Metal grew from blues rock in the late 1960s; Black Sabbath's 1970 debut is generally taken as the first heavy metal album. - Subgenres differ in tempo, tuning, scale, picking and vocals: doom slow, thrash fast and downpicked, death and black with blast beats and tremolo picking, power major-key and neoclassical, progressive in odd meters, nu-metal down-tuned and syncopated, djent polymetric on extended-range guitars. - Harmony: Aeolian and Phrygian modes, Phrygian dominant and harmonic minor (the fifth mode of harmonic minor is Phrygian dominant), the tritone, chromaticism, pedal point. - Power chords and riffs carry the songs; with no third, the roots alone define the mode. - Lower tunings (Drop D, D standard, Drop C, seven- and eight-string) make riffs heavier. - Rhythm: gallops, double kick, blast beats, odd meters, polymeter, breakdowns. - Keyboards range from Hammond organ to symphonic orchestration; on piano, metal riffs become low octaves and root–fifth shapes. ## Open Questions - Which subgenre does Sébastien want to play first? The answer decides whether rhythm endurance (thrash), tuning (nu-metal, djent) or lead technique (power, neoclassical) comes first. - **Answered** ([[AI Wiki - Music - Guitar Strings and Gauges|Guitar Strings and Gauges]]): Does his electric guitar have a fixed bridge and string gauges that suit Drop D or lower? In general Drop D works on 10-46 and feels tighter on 10-52; C needs about 11-56 and B about 12-60, with a setup check, and a fixed bridge keeps tuning changes simpler than a floating vibrato. Whether his own guitar qualifies still needs checking. - **Answered** ([[AI Wiki - Music - Modes of Melodic and Harmonic Minor|Modes of Melodic and Harmonic Minor]]): How far can harmonic-minor and Phrygian-dominant soloing be learned before the pentatonic and blues vocabulary is secure? The one-note switch over the V chord and Phrygian-dominant riffs over an E pedal can come early, alongside the pentatonic; full harmonic-minor positions and 3NPS runs are best left until pentatonic phrasing, bends and vibrato are secure, since every metal solo still relies on them. - Which metal songs are realistic at his level in the first months: slow doom and heavy riffs, or simplified thrash parts at reduced tempo? ## References - Wikipedia, "Heavy metal music": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_metal_music - Wikipedia, "Extreme metal": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_metal - Wikipedia, "Djent": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djent - Wikipedia, "Black Sabbath (song)": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sabbath_(song) - Wikipedia, "Phrygian dominant scale": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrygian_dominant_scale - Wikipedia, "Seven-string guitar": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven-string_guitar - Wikipedia, "Heavy metal gallop": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_metal_gallop - Wikipedia, "Blast beat": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blast_beat - Wikipedia, "Breakdown (music)": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakdown_(music) - Wikipedia, "Shred guitar": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shred_guitar - American Songwriter, "4 fun facts about Black Sabbath's Master of Reality": https://americansongwriter.com/4-fun-facts-about-black-sabbaths-master-of-reality-in-honor-of-recording-anniversary-this-week/ - Guitar World, "Gallop guitar": https://www.guitarworld.com/lessons/techniques/gallop-guitar ## Related - [[AI Wiki - Music - Metal Rhythm Guitar Techniques]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Shred Techniques]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Rock Music]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Blues Music]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Power Chords]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Muting Techniques]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Alternate Tunings]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Guitar Lead Techniques]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Minor Scales]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Modes]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Pentatonic Scale]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Blues Scale]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Intervals]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Rhythm and Time Signatures]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Rhythmic Ear Training]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Melody and Phrasing]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Song Form and Structure]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Left-Hand Accompaniment Patterns]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Guitar Amps and Tone]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Guitar Setup and Maintenance]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Metronome and Speed Building]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Recording Yourself]]