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Mayhem - Freezing Moon - Guitar Tab

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BPM
Key E minor
Mayhem - Freezing Moon guitar tab video
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Classic Rock

Gain6
Bass6
Mid7
Treble6
Presence5
Master7
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Roll back the gain slightly and pick near the neck for a warmer, more open crunch.
De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas album cover
De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas
1994 6:23
Listen on Spotify
Mayhem Black Metal 1994 E minor
Capo Advisor 0 E minor · Original key

About Freezing Moon

Few songs in Black Metal demand as much cold precision from a rhythm guitarist as "Freezing Moon." Tuned down to Eb Standard, the riffs sit in E minor and carry a distinctly bleak, minor-key weight that depends on clean left-hand muting to stay articulate at the 100 BPM tempo. The signature tremolo-picked passages are where most players struggle: keeping the pick attack even and the notes separated rather than blurring into mush is the real test. Fretting-hand tension is a common trap here, so keep your grip relaxed and let the pick do the work. The slower, almost dirge-like sections that bookend the tremolo runs need careful attention to dynamics, because the contrast between those heavy, plodding chords and the fast-picked lines is what gives the song its atmosphere. Use the Practice Toolbar to loop the tremolo sections slowed down until your pick motion is consistent before bringing it back up to tempo. Mayhem wrote this arrangement to feel relentless, and that feeling only lands when the technique is locked in.

  • The song is played in Eb Standard tuning, which drops every string a half step and gives the riffs a heavier, darker feel without changing the fingering patterns.
  • Tremolo picking is the central technique demanded here, requiring a relaxed but controlled picking arm to sustain clean note separation across repeated fast passages.
  • The contrasting slow, chord-driven sections alongside rapid tremolo runs mean you need to practise both picking styles and the transitions between them.

How to Play Freezing Moon

Tuning: Eb Standard · Key: E minor · Tempo: 100 BPM

It is played in Eb standard, a half step down, so tune down before you start or every position and bend will sit a half step sharp against the recording.

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

Gibson Les Paul Standard
Guitar

Gibson Les Paul Standard

While Euronymous favored the Custom model, the Les Paul Standard shares the same moderate-output humbuckers that preserve note clarity within Mayhem's heavily distorted, dissonant chord voicings. The guitar's inherent sustain and midrange body are essential for letting those icy, chainsaw-like intervals cut through without muddiness.

Gibson Les Paul Custom
Guitar

Gibson Les Paul Custom

Euronymous relied on this guitar for its stock humbuckers and rich sustain, which allowed his dissonant intervals to ring distinctly even under extreme distortion. The Les Paul Custom's midrange-focused character became foundational to Mayhem's thin, icy black metal tone when paired with his scooped Marshall JCM800.

Marshall JCM800
Amp

Marshall JCM800

Euronymous used the JCM800's natural tube saturation and scooped midrange setting to create Mayhem's signature thin, icy tone rather than thick gain. Driven hard with minimal effects beyond the Boss HM-2, the amp's inherent character defined the band's raw, chainsaw-like distortion sound.

Peavey 5150
Amp

Peavey 5150

Blasphemer adopted the 5150 for its tighter gain structure and precise articulation, which suited his more rhythmically complex tremolo picking. The amp's focused response kept note definition clean at high gain, complementing his shift toward EMG 81 pickups for compressed clarity.

EMG 81
Pickup

EMG 81

Blasphemer and Teloch use EMG 81s in the bridge position for their tight, compressed response that maintains note definition during fast tremolo picking at extreme gain levels. These active pickups suit Mayhem's precision-focused approach more than ultra-high-output alternatives.

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