Dio - Holy Diver - Guitar Tab

Holy Diver

1983 5:54

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About Holy Diver

Few heavy metal tracks from 1983 announce themselves as confidently as this one does through its opening guitar riff. Vivian Campbell's work on "Holy Diver" is a lesson in building tension with a relatively simple repeating figure that locks in hard with the bass before the verse even begins. The song sits in C minor with the guitars tuned down to Eb Standard, so make sure you're tuned correctly before you start or everything will feel slightly off against a backing track. At 108 BPM the tempo is moderate, but Campbell's riff depends on tight palm muting and clean note separation, which is harder to pull off than the speed suggests. The pre-chorus shift and the lead breaks demand that you keep your pick attack consistent. Use the Practice Toolbar to loop those transitional sections slowed down until the muted and open-string contrasts feel natural. Dio made Heavy Metal melody-forward, and that sensibility runs right through the guitar parts here.

• The guitars are tuned to Eb Standard, so tune down a half step before playing along or the riff will clash against any reference track.
• The signature riff relies on palm-muted low strings contrasted with open-sounding power chords, and keeping that contrast crisp is the main technical challenge.
• Vivian Campbell's lead playing on this track mixes melodic phrasing with minor-key runs, making it a solid study in expressive heavy metal soloing.