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Guitar Songs, Tabs & Lessons

Motörhead

1 guitar song · Tabs, Lessons & Tone Guide Heavy Metal

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Band Overview

Motörhead emerged from London in 1975, forged by the singular vision of bassist and vocalist Lemmy Kilmister. Often credited as the bridge between Punk Rock and Heavy Metal, the band delivered a relentless, high-volume assault that influenced Thrash Metal, speed metal, and hardcore punk in equal measure. For guitarists, Motörhead is a masterclass in raw aggression, stripped-down riffing, and the sheer power of simplicity played at maximum intensity. The band's approach proves that you don't need sweep arpeggios or seven-string guitars to sound devastating. The guitar chair in Motörhead saw several legendary players, but the most iconic is "Fast" Eddie Clarke, who defined the classic era (1976 to 1982) with records like Overkill, Bomber, Ace of Spades, and Iron Fist. Eddie's style was rooted in aggressive, blues-influenced rock with a punk edge: think power chords driven hard through overdriven Marshall stacks, boogie-influenced shuffle rhythms, and fiery pentatonic lead work that prioritized feel and energy over technical flash. After Clarke's departure, Phil Campbell took over in 1984 and held the spot for over three decades, bringing a slightly more refined technique and a broader palette of influences while keeping the band's signature ferocity intact. Campbell introduced more wah-driven leads and harmonized parts, but never strayed from the core philosophy of volume and attitude. For guitarists looking to learn Motörhead songs, the difficulty level is intermediate. The chord shapes and riffs are not complex, often built on open-position power chords, barre chords, and pentatonic runs. However, the real challenge is in the execution: playing with that level of speed, consistency, and controlled aggression requires serious right-hand stamina. Downpicking at Motörhead tempos will test your endurance, and nailing the loose, swinging groove beneath the distortion is harder than it looks on paper. If you want to build speed, tighten your rhythm playing, and develop a no-nonsense rock tone, Motörhead is essential listening and essential practicing.

What Makes Motörhead Essential for Guitar Players

  • Motörhead's rhythm guitar relies heavily on aggressive downpicking at high tempos. Songs like "Ace of Spades" demand relentless right-hand stamina, making them excellent exercises for building picking endurance and tightening your attack.
  • Fast Eddie Clarke's lead style is rooted in minor pentatonic and blues scales played with raw energy rather than clinical precision. His solos are full of string bends, quick hammer-ons, and pull-offs that prioritize emotion and momentum over note-perfect accuracy.
  • Palm-muting is used sparingly but effectively in Motörhead's catalog. The rhythm tone is more about open, ringing power chords driven through cranked amps than tightly muted chugging, giving the guitar a wide, roaring quality that fills the space left by having no second guitarist.
  • Phil Campbell expanded the band's guitar vocabulary with wah pedal-driven solos, occasional harmonics, and more dynamic lead phrasing. His playing introduced a harder-edged metal influence while respecting the band's punk-meets-rock-and-roll DNA.
  • Playing in a power trio format means the guitar must carry both rhythm and lead duties simultaneously. Studying Motörhead teaches you how to make a single guitar sound massive in a live setting through amp volume, chord voicing choices, and aggressive pick attack.

Did You Know?

Fast Eddie Clarke recorded all of his parts on the Ace of Spades album using a Gibson Les Paul Standard through a cranked Marshall, often tracking live in the studio with Lemmy and Phil Taylor to capture the band's raw energy.

Lemmy's bass tone was so heavily overdriven and mid-heavy that it functionally doubled as a rhythm guitar. This is why Motörhead could operate as a three-piece without ever sounding thin, and it influenced how the guitarist could focus on leads and accents.

The main riff of "Ace of Spades" is deceptively tricky to play at full speed. The combination of rapid downpicked power chords and the shuffle-like rhythmic feel requires coordination that many intermediate players underestimate.

Phil Campbell has cited Jimi Hendrix, Rory Gallagher, and Leslie West as key influences, which explains the bluesy bending and expressive vibrato that colors his otherwise aggressive playing style.

Motörhead famously never used click tracks in the studio during the classic era. The slight tempo fluctuations give their recordings an organic, live feel that's worth studying if you want to understand how groove works outside of a grid.

Fast Eddie Clarke's guitar was often recorded with minimal overdubs. What you hear on records like Overkill and Bomber is essentially one guitar track, sometimes doubled, proving that volume and conviction can replace studio trickery.

The band's legendary volume levels (often cited as the loudest in the world during the early 1980s) meant that natural feedback and amp harmonics became part of the guitar tone, something you can replicate by cranking a tube amp and controlling your position relative to the speaker.

Essential Albums for Guitarists

Ace of Spades 1980

The definitive Motörhead album for guitarists. The title track is a must-learn for building downpicking speed and stamina at high BPM. Tracks like "Love Me Like a Reptile" and "(We Are) The Road Crew" showcase Fast Eddie's blues-rock soloing and chunky rhythm work, while "The Chase Is Better Than the Catch" demonstrates dynamic shifts within an aggressive framework.

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Overkill 1979

This album features some of Fast Eddie Clarke's most energetic and inventive playing. The title track's relentless riff is a stamina workout, and songs like "No Class" and "Damage Case" teach you how to blend punk aggression with rock and roll swing. The solos are raw and improvisational, perfect for studying how to solo with attitude over technical perfection.

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Bomber 1979

Often overlooked, Bomber contains some of the band's most guitar-forward arrangements. "Dead Men Tell No Tales" and "Stone Dead Forever" feature thick, boogie-influenced riffs that teach you how to groove hard within a heavy context. Eddie's tone on this record is especially fat and warm, a great reference for dialing in a cranked Marshall sound.

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Orgasmatron 1986

Phil Campbell's first fully realized album with the band. The title track features one of metal's most iconic slow-burn riffs, teaching you about dynamics, sustain, and building tension. "Deaf Forever" is a thrash-adjacent ripper that shows Campbell's tighter, more metal-influenced picking technique compared to Clarke's looser rock style.

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Tone & Gear

Guitar

Fast Eddie Clarke was synonymous with the Gibson Les Paul Standard and occasionally a Les Paul Custom, both with stock PAF-style humbuckers. Phil Campbell has used a wide variety of guitars over the years, but is most associated with Gibson Les Pauls and later his own signature models, as well as various Superstrat-style guitars with humbuckers for the added sustain and thickness needed to fill Motörhead's sonic space as the sole guitarist.

Amp

Marshall is the only name that matters here. Fast Eddie Clarke ran through cranked Marshall JMP and JCM800 heads paired with 4x12 cabinets, relying on pure power-tube saturation for his distortion rather than pedals. Phil Campbell continued the Marshall tradition, often using JCM800s and later JCM2000 DSL heads pushed hard for a tight, aggressive crunch. The key to the Motörhead guitar sound is volume: these amps need to be loud enough for the power section to compress and break up naturally.

Pickups

Both Clarke and Campbell favored humbuckers with moderate to hot output. Clarke's PAF-style pickups in his Les Pauls had enough warmth and midrange to cut through Lemmy's massively overdriven bass tone without sounding shrill. The moderate output (roughly 8 to 10k ohms) kept the dynamics responsive and allowed for cleanup when rolling back the volume knob. Campbell sometimes used hotter ceramic pickups for a tighter, more compressed attack suited to his faster lead runs.

Effects & Chain

Motörhead's guitar signal chain is famously minimal. Fast Eddie Clarke ran almost entirely straight into his Marshall with no pedals, letting the amp's natural overdrive and his pick attack shape the tone. Phil Campbell introduced a wah pedal (Dunlop Cry Baby) for expressive lead work and occasionally used a chorus or delay for specific passages, but the core philosophy remained the same: guitar into amp, volume up, play hard. If you want to nail the Motörhead sound at home, a good tube amp or a high-quality amp modeler set to a cranked Marshall profile is the essential starting point.

Recommended Gear

Gibson Les Paul Standard
Guitar

Gibson Les Paul Standard

Fast Eddie Clarke's weapon of choice, the Les Paul Standard's PAF-style humbuckers delivered warm midrange that cut through Lemmy's bass without shrillness. The guitar's weight and sustain were essential for Motörhead's heavy, sustained riffs played at punishing volume.

Gibson Les Paul Custom
Guitar

Gibson Les Paul Custom

Clarke occasionally paired this variant with his stock PAF pickups for the same tonal character, offering a slightly different aesthetic while maintaining the thick, responsive tone needed for Motörhead's raw power.

Marshall JCM800
Amp

Marshall JCM800

The JCM800 became the sonic backbone of Motörhead, delivering natural power-tube saturation and tight crunch when pushed hard. Both Clarke and Campbell relied on this amp's ability to compress and break up at volume, eliminating the need for distortion pedals.

Dunlop Cry Baby Wah
Pedal

Dunlop Cry Baby Wah

Phil Campbell's primary effect pedal, the Cry Baby added expressive dynamics to his lead work while staying true to Motörhead's minimal signal chain philosophy. Its sweep complemented faster, more technical passages without cluttering the band's signature heavy crunch.

How to Practice Motörhead on GuitarZone

Every Motörhead 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 Ace of Spades - Guitar Lesson