Are you ready to unleash the power of the heavy metal guitar?
With a combination of aggressive riffs, blistering solos, and thunderous rhythms, Metallica is one of the genre’s pioneers and masters of the riff.
So whether you’re a beginner looking to add some metal to your repertoire, or an advanced player looking to hone your skills, Metallica’s tracks are always a source of inspiration.
In this article, we’ll dive into the world of Metallica and explore 15 of their easiest and most iconic songs to play on guitar.
From headbanging anthems and blistering tunes to introspective ballads, these songs capture the essence of Metallica’s signature sound and are perfect for aspiring metal guitarists.
With straightforward song structures and memorable guitar parts, these easy Metallica songs will have you headbanging and riffing in no time.
So grab your guitar, crank up the distortion, and get ready to shred like Kirk Hammett and James Hetfield and unleash your inner metal god!
1. Nothing Else Matters
To begin with, we have this track which is a beautiful and iconic ballad that showcases the band’s versatility and songwriting prowess.
Included in their emblematic 1991 self-titled album (also known as The Black Album), this song is one of the best-known pieces of the band.
The song’s intro starts with an arpeggio and revolves around a few simple fingerpicked lines including hammer-ons, pull-offs, and harmonics.
The pattern of this section relies on plucking the root notes in the lower strings with your thumb.
After that mellow introduction, the verse section is played using the chords Em, G, C9, D, and B7.
The guitar plays an arpeggio in open Em followed by a strummed D, a C9, and finishes with a descending fill that leads you to the Em again.
That pattern continues three times and then plays an arpeggiated G and a B7. You can strum them and it sounds nice as well.
The chorus consists of some open chords: C – A – D – Em. The two first chords, C and A, are strummed just once, and while playing D it varies between Dsus2 and Dsus4.
That progression is played twice and on the third time finishes with an open Em. What comes next is the interlude, a picked slow section featuring two guitars that connects this part with the next one.
Up to this point, the song is almost completed, the only section that lasts is the solo.
If you intend to learn Metallica songs, get used to playing solos because they are everywhere but in this case is not so hard.
The solo involves some bendings and hammer-ons but as it is quite slow I bet you can master it after some time playing it.
To finish the track, you must play the intro’s first part again.
2. Enter Sandman
Featured in the album Metallica released in 1991, this heavy metal tune is probably the most famous track of the group.
With strong aggressive distorted chords, Enter Sandman has become a metal anthem.
Composed on Em, the track begins with a chorus effect in the intro and a repetitive riff that builds by adding small variations and slowly getting more and more distorted as the song progresses.
The main riff is played towards the end of the intro and consists of the distorted line on Em but adds a palm-muted power chord fill playing G5 – F#5 – G5 – F#5.
The verse is quite simple, consisting of a palm-muted F5 chord hit just once and then an E5.
This progression is played three times and the final sections of the verse include the same power chord fill that is played in the main riff.
Once in the pre-chorus, the guitar plays a variation of the main riff, but instead of being on Em, it is on F#m.
This line is played three times and ends with an F#5 that leads you into the chorus.
This section is made up of power chords and riffs, it plays F#5 – C5 – B5 three times, adding an E5 in the last one and then a fill on Em.
It continues with the same progression that was played once with the riff on Em as well, but this time it ends with G5 – F#5 – G5 – F#5 as in the main riff.
The last parts are the interlude, which consists of the intro riff played eight times and the pre-chorus riff played seven times, and the solo.
As mentioned in Nothing Else Matters, the solos can be the most difficult challenge in a Metallica song, and this is no exception.
Be prepared to play fast melodic lines with bendings, hammer-ons, pull-offs, and, of course, distortion.
The solos in this song use a wah pedal effect but don’t worry if you don’t have one, you can play it and it will still sound amazing!
3. For Whom The Bell Tolls
For Whom The Bell Tolls is a dark track featured in the band’s 1984 album Ride The Lightning.
This song is perhaps as simple as famous, just a bunch of palm-muted distorted chords and the raw power of metal.
The intro is made up of several sections, the first of which is the bass grabbing all the attention while the guitar hits an F#5 and then lets an Em ring out.
After four bars, there is a palm-muted descending line that plays E5 – G5 – F#5 – F5 three times, then E5 – F5 – G5 – A5, and the descending line three times again, but this time ending with E5 – F5 – G5 – B5.
This whole part is played twice to make way for the next section, which involves two guitars, lead, and rhythm.
One of them follows the progression E5 – G5 – E5 – G5 – C5 – A5, with all the chords strummed once, letting them ring, while the lead guitar plays a melodic, sharp, and repetitive line.
The following section concludes the introduction and later serves as the chorus of the piece.
It consists of the progression E5 – G5 – E5 – A5 – E5 – G5 – Bb5 – F#5 played for the most part, but in bars 2 and 4 an F5 is added after F#5.
The verse uses the chords E5 – G5 – E5 – G5 – C5 – A5 played in precisely the same way, strumming them and letting them ring.
Then the chorus is like the last part of the intro.
Luckily we don’t have any solos this time, so the lasting parts are the instrumental and the outro.
The first contains a lead guitar playing a high melody similar to the one in the intro, while the rhythm plays E5 – G5 – E5 – B5 twice.
The outro is really like the first part of the track, but this time it follows a different tempo and adds a new chord.
The final progression is E5 – F#5 – E5 – G5 and the song ends with a fade out.
4. Seek And Destroy
5. Am I Evil?
6. Whiskey In The Jar
7. Better Than You
8. Hero of the Day
9. Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
10. Turn The Page
11. The Day That Never Comes
12. Die, Die, Die My Darling
13. The Unforgiven
14. Fade To Black
15. Fuel
Hello there, my name is Ramiro and I’ve been playing guitar for almost 20 years. I’m obsessed with everything gear-related and I thought it might be worth sharing it. From guitars, pedals, amps, and synths to studio gear and production tips, I hope you find what I post here useful, and I’ll try my best to keep it entertaining also.
