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Audioslave

4 guitar songs · Tabs, Lessons & Tone Guide Alternative Rock

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Band Overview

History and Guitar Legacy

Audioslave formed in 2001 from members of Rage Against the Machine and Soundgarden. Guitarist Tom Morello, bassist Tim Commerford, and drummer Brad Wilk united with vocalist Chris Cornell to create a supergroup blending Hard Rock, Alternative Metal, and blues influences. Active from 2001 to 2007, they released three studio albums that remain essential for electric guitarists studying the intersection of creative technique and pure rock power.

Playing Style and Techniques

Tom Morello's approach treats guitar as turntable, synthesizer, and percussion instrument while maintaining riff driven songwriting. Audioslave showcases his signature techniques: toggle switch killswitch effects, feedback manipulation, whammy pedal divebombs, and unconventional pickup selector use. The style shifted from Rage's politically charged noise experiments toward melodic, Classic Rock influenced territory, offering intermediate and advanced players accessible open chord ballads alongside aggressive Drop D riffing.

Why Guitarists Study Audioslave

Audioslave provides a masterclass in combining creative expression with rock fundamentals. The catalog spans from clean, tasteful arpeggios to aggressive palm muted downpicking, teaching both dynamic control and rhythmic precision. Players gain experience with chord embellishments, pickup manipulation, and effects use without requiring shred level technique. The songs reward careful listening and technical study across multiple skill levels.

Difficulty and Learning Path

Audioslave's difficulty varies considerably. Like a Stone offers approachable intermediate material with clean arpeggios and memorable solos emphasizing taste. Show Me How to Live features aggressive drop D riffing with tricky rhythmic accents. Cochise demands palm muted precision and stamina. I Am the Highway provides middle ground, teaching chord embellishments and dynamic control, making Audioslave ideal for developing both rhythm chops and creative expression.

What Makes Audioslave Essential for Guitar Players

  • Tom Morello's toggle-switch killswitch technique is a defining element of his sound. By rapidly flipping the pickup selector between a live and dead pickup, he creates rhythmic, stutter-like effects that mimic a DJ scratching a record. This is a zero-cost technique any guitarist can practice immediately on any guitar with two pickups, just turn one pickup's volume to zero.
  • Drop-D tuning is the backbone of many Audioslave riffs, including 'Cochise' and 'Show Me How to Live.' Morello uses the heavier low string to create powerful, one-finger power chords and open-string drone riffs that hit hard without complex fretting. Learning these songs will build your palm-muting accuracy and downpicking endurance significantly.
  • Morello's lead work in Audioslave often prioritizes texture and effect over traditional scale runs. He employs the Digitech Whammy pedal to create pitch-shifted squeals, dive-bomb effects, and harmonized lines that sound almost electronic. Studying his solos teaches you that creativity with effects can be just as impactful as technical proficiency.
  • Clean tone dynamics are a huge part of the Audioslave sound. Songs like 'Like a Stone' and 'I Am the Highway' feature expressive clean passages with arpeggiated chords and subtle string raking. Morello's clean tone, typically through his neck humbucker, is warm but articulate, and learning these parts develops your right-hand fingerpicking control and volume knob dynamics.
  • Rhythmic precision is arguably the most important skill Audioslave songs will teach you. Morello locks in tightly with Wilk's drumming, and songs like 'Cochise' have deceptively syncopated riff patterns that punish sloppy timing. Practicing these riffs with a metronome will dramatically improve your sense of groove and rhythmic tightness.

Did You Know?

Tom Morello's main guitar, a custom-built 'Arm the Homeless' model, is essentially a no-name parts guitar with a plywood body, a Floyd Rose tremolo, and an EMG humbucker. It proves that tone and creativity come from the player, not the price tag.

The iconic opening riff of 'Cochise' was originally a guitar exercise Tom Morello used as a warm-up. The relentless palm-muted gallop was never intended to be a song until producer Rick Rubin heard it and insisted they build a track around it.

Morello uses a standard Allen wrench wedged behind the nut of his guitar to create unusual droning effects and altered tunings mid-performance. This unconventional tool costs pennies but produces sounds that most players would need expensive gear to replicate.

Despite his futuristic sound, Morello's amp setup is remarkably simple and old-school: a stock Marshall JCM800 2205 head with no modifications. He gets his wild tones entirely from pedals and technique, not from amp tweaking.

Chris Cornell tuned his voice to complement Morello's guitar voicings, and the band often wrote in keys that let Morello use open strings in drop-D for maximum resonance. This guitar-voice interplay is why Audioslave songs feel so powerful even with relatively simple chord structures.

For 'Like a Stone,' Morello recorded the clean arpeggiated intro using his neck pickup with the tone knob rolled back, running through a slight chorus effect. The warmth of that intro has made it one of the most-searched acoustic-style electric guitar tones online.

Morello has a strict practice philosophy rooted in his Harvard-educated discipline: he practiced guitar for eight hours a day in his early years and credits structured repetition, not natural talent, for his unconventional technique. He's proof that creative guitar playing can be systematically developed.

Essential Albums for Guitarists

Audioslave album cover
Audioslave 2002

The self-titled debut is the essential Audioslave album for guitarists. It contains 'Cochise' for developing relentless downpicking stamina and palm-mute precision, 'Like a Stone' for clean arpeggiation and expressive soloing, 'Show Me How to Live' for aggressive drop-D riffing with syncopated accents, and 'I Am the Highway' for chord dynamics and building/releasing tension. Every major Morello technique is represented across these tracks.

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Out of Exile album cover
Out of Exile 2005

Out of Exile pushes Morello's melodic side further and features some of his most inventive Whammy pedal work alongside more blues-influenced soloing. Tracks like 'Be Yourself' and 'Your Time Has Come' are great for intermediate players learning song structure and dynamic shifts, while 'Man or Animal' delivers crushing riff work that challenges your rhythmic tightness.

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Revelations album cover
Revelations 2006

Revelations is the most diverse Audioslave album in terms of guitar textures, incorporating funk rhythms, soul-influenced chord voicings, and even some wah-heavy lead lines. 'Original Fire' features a funk-rock riff that teaches clean-channel rhythmic strumming, and 'Revelations' itself has layered guitar parts that are great for learning how to build arrangements.

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Tone & Gear

Guitar

Tom Morello's primary guitar is the legendary 'Arm the Homeless', a custom-assembled parts guitar with a plywood body, a Performance brand neck, a single EMG-81 humbucker in the bridge, and a Floyd Rose tremolo. He also frequently uses a 1982 Fender Telecaster (nicknamed 'Sendero Luminoso') with a single humbucker routed into the bridge for cleaner, twangier tones heard on songs like 'I Am the Highway' and 'Like a Stone.' Both guitars are kept stock with no internal modifications beyond the pickup routing.

Amp

Morello's amp is a completely stock Marshall JCM800 2205 50-watt head, typically paired with a Marshall 4x12 cabinet loaded with Celestion G12T-75 speakers. He runs the amp's gain channel at moderate settings, the heavy saturation in songs like 'Cochise' comes more from his pedal chain than from cranking the amp itself. For clean passages, he switches to the amp's clean channel, which stays relatively uncolored and lets his guitar's natural tone and effects shine through.

Pickups

The EMG-81 active humbucker in his 'Arm the Homeless' guitar is central to Morello's high-gain sound, it's a hot ceramic pickup with around 10–11k output that delivers a tight, compressed attack ideal for palm-muted riffs and cutting through a loud mix without getting muddy. On his Telecaster, he uses a standard single humbucker setup that produces a slightly warmer, more open tone suited for the cleaner Audioslave tracks. The active EMG's battery-powered preamp means consistent output and low noise, which is critical when using extreme gain and effects.

Effects & Chain

Morello's pedalboard is where the real magic happens. His core chain includes: a Dunlop Cry Baby wah, a Digitech Whammy (WH-1 or WH-4) for pitch-shifting effects and artificial harmonics, a DOD FX40B Equalizer used as a clean boost, and a Boss DD-3 Digital Delay for rhythmic echo effects. He also uses a Boss TR-2 Tremolo on occasion. The signal chain runs wah → Whammy → EQ boost → amp, with the delay in the effects loop. Crucially, Morello uses NO distortion pedals, all his overdrive comes from the Marshall's gain channel pushed by the EQ boost. His most extreme sounds come from creative manipulation of the Whammy pedal, toggle-switch killswitch technique, and feedback control.

Recommended Gear

Fender Telecaster
Guitar

Fender Telecaster

Morello uses this 1982 Telecaster on Audioslave's cleaner tracks like 'I Am the Highway' and 'Like a Stone,' where its single humbucker delivers warmer, more open tones than his high-gain primary guitar. The Telecaster's natural twang lets his effects and subtle playing dynamics shine without heavy saturation.

Marshall JCM800
Amp

Marshall JCM800

This stock 50-watt head is Audioslave's foundation, with its gain channel providing moderate saturation that Morello pushes via pedal boost for heavy riffs like 'Cochise.' The clean channel remains uncolored, allowing his effects and guitar tone to dominate the mix without amp-based distortion.

Dunlop Cry Baby Wah
Pedal

Dunlop Cry Baby Wah

Morello's wah sits first in his chain, shaping the expressive, vocal-like character of Audioslave's lead work and adding dynamic sweep to both rhythm and solo passages. It's essential for his signature technique of blending nu-metal aggression with funk-influenced texture.

Boss DD-3 Digital Delay
Pedal

Boss DD-3 Digital Delay

Running in the effects loop after the amp, this digital delay creates the rhythmic echo effects that add space and dimension to Audioslave's atmospheric moments. It lets Morello layer repeating patterns without muddying his core tone or high-gain riffs.

DigiTech Whammy
Pedal

DigiTech Whammy

This pitch-shifting pedal is where Morello creates Audioslave's most extreme and experimental sounds, enabling artificial harmonics and dramatic pitch drops that define songs like 'Cochise.' The Whammy's creative manipulation combined with his killswitch technique generates the band's signature metallic textures.

How to Practice Audioslave on GuitarZone

Every Audioslave song page on GuitarZone includes a built-in Practice Toolbar. No app to download, no account needed. Open any song, then use the toolbar to slow the video to 0.5× speed, set an A/B loop around the exact riff you're working on, and jump between song sections instantly.

The toolbar appears automatically on every guitar tab, lesson, and cover page. Pick a song below, hit play, and start practicing at your own pace.

Practice Like A Stone - Guitar LessonPractice Show Me How To Live - Guitar LessonPractice I Am the Highway - Guitar Lesson