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Metallica - Welcome Home (First Solo) - Guitar Lesson

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Key E minor
Metallica - Welcome Home (First Solo) guitar lesson video
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Master of Puppets (Remastered) album cover
Master of Puppets (Remastered)
1986 6:27
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Metallica Heavy Metal 1986 E minor
Capo Advisor 0 E minor · Original key

About Welcome Home (First Solo)

The first solo in "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" sits inside one of the more deceptively relaxed moments on the 1986 Metallica record, and it rewards careful, slow study before you try it at full pace. In E minor and Drop D tuning, the solo leans on melodic phrasing rather than pure speed, so your vibrato and string bending precision matter more here than sheer picking velocity. At 120 BPM the tempo is moderate enough to feel approachable, but the expressive bends and smooth legato runs still demand clean left-hand technique. The real challenge is matching the vocal, singing quality of the lines: every bend needs to reach its target pitch and sit there with controlled vibrato rather than wobble. Use the Practice Toolbar to isolate individual phrases and loop them slowed down until the intonation on each bend is consistent. Once that is solid, gradually bring the speed back up. This kind of melodic solo is a strong exercise in phrasing for anyone moving beyond purely technical heavy metal playing.

  • The solo is played over a clean, arpeggiated section, so any sloppy bends or missed notes are fully exposed without distortion to cover them.
  • Drop D tuning is used throughout the song, though the first solo focuses on upper-string melodic work rather than the low open-D riffing.
  • Practising the bends in isolation with the Practice Toolbar slowed down is the most efficient way to lock in the target pitches before running the full solo.

How to Play Welcome Home (First Solo)

Tuning: Drop D · Key: E minor · Tempo: 120 BPM

The drop D tuning lets you fret the low power chords with a single finger, which is central to the heavier riffing here.

Use the section loop to isolate a passage, drop the speed below 100%, and set the metronome to 120 BPM to build it up to tempo.

Gibson Les Paul Standard
Guitar

Gibson Les Paul Standard

Kirk Hammett's vintage 1959 'Greeny' Les Paul Standard delivers warmer, more dynamic PAF-style tones that contrast his EMG-equipped ESP guitars, adding organic sustain to his lead work. This guitar's traditional construction gives his solos a thicker, less compressed character than his signature models.

Gibson Les Paul Custom
Guitar

Gibson Les Paul Custom

While not Hammett's primary choice, the Les Paul Custom shares the Les Paul's warm PAF pickup character and thick body resonance, offering heavier players an alternative to Strat-style designs for achieving Metallica's crushing rhythm tones.

Gibson Explorer
Guitar

Gibson Explorer

James Hetfield's early Gibson Explorer established his signature angular shape and thick body tone, delivering the aggressive midrange attack essential to Metallica's crushing rhythm style before his ESP signature models became his primary tool.

Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier
Amp

Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier

Kirk Hammett's Dual Rectifier heads provide the high-gain, midrange-forward aggression that lets his solos cut through Hetfield's scooped rhythm tone, creating definition and clarity in Metallica's dense wall of distortion.

EMG 81
Pickup

EMG 81

Hetfield's bridge EMG 81 delivers the hot, compressed output with tight low-end that defines Metallica's palm-muted riffs, the ceramic magnet and active preamp cutting through heavy arrangements with focused, aggressive attack.

EMG 60
Pickup

EMG 60

Both guitarists use the neck EMG 60 for warmer, more articulate rhythm tones and smoother lead voicings, balancing the 81's aggression with clearer note definition across Metallica's dense arrangements.

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