Slayer - Seasons in the Abyss - Guitar Lesson

About Seasons in the Abyss

Few Thrash Metal songs sit as comfortably at a mid-tempo groove as "Seasons in the Abyss." At 120 BPM in Eb Standard tuning, the song feels deceptively approachable until you dig into the picking demands. The main riff is built on tight, palm-muted low-E chugging with precise rhythmic accents that punish any sloppy right-hand technique. Getting that locked-in, mechanical feel requires your pick attack and muting pressure to stay completely consistent, which is harder than it sounds when the riff runs long. The lead work calls for controlled vibrato and accurate bends in E minor, so intonation in Eb Standard matters. If the fast unison bend passages are giving you trouble, use the Practice Toolbar to loop them slowed down until the motion feels natural. Slayer wrote a song here that rewards patience: clean fundamentals at this tempo will expose weaknesses that higher-speed thrash lets you hide.

• The song is in Eb Standard tuning, so drop all six strings one half-step before playing along with the recording.
• Palm-muted, single-string riffing at 120 BPM forms the backbone, making consistent right-hand muting the core technique to nail.
• The guitar solos sit in E minor and demand controlled vibrato and accurate string bends, making them a useful target for slow practice.