Megadeth - Hangar 18 - Famous Riffs - Guitar Lesson

About Hangar 18 - Famous Riffs

Few tracks in heavy metal ask as much of a lead guitarist as "Hangar 18." The song is essentially a string of interlocking guitar solos, and the famous riffs that frame them sit in E minor with a cold, angular precision that rewards clean alternate picking above all else. The main rhythm figure uses tight, palm-muted lower-string runs that need to lock up evenly at speed, so if your pick attack gets sloppy, the whole part falls apart. The solo sections demand position shifts up and down the neck, legato runs, and accurate string skipping, often in quick succession. Megadeth built this track as a showcase of technical interplay between two lead guitars, which means a single player covering the famous riffs has to choose which voice to follow and stay committed to it. Use the Practice Toolbar to isolate any four-bar phrase slowed down before you try chaining the full sequence, because momentum lost early is hard to recover.

• The famous riffs sit in E minor and rely on precise palm-muted alternate picking across the lower strings, where any unevenness in pick attack becomes immediately obvious.
• The song features multiple back-to-back lead guitar sections with position shifts, string skipping, and legato runs that make stamina as important as raw speed.
• Looping individual solo phrases slowed down is the most practical way to build the muscle memory needed before attempting the full-speed sequence.