Mercyful Fate - Gypsy - Guitar Tab

About Gypsy

"Gypsy" sits in E minor at a steady 120 BPM, which sounds approachable until you start unpacking what Mercyful Fate are actually doing underneath the surface. The riff work here is rooted in classic Heavy Metal movement, but the guitar parts carry the kind of chromatic tension and intervallic choices that demand real attention to your fretting hand accuracy. Staying clean and articulate at tempo, without letting notes blur into one another, is the central challenge. The rhythm playing needs to feel locked and deliberate, so spend time with the Practice Toolbar slowing the main riff down until your pick attack and left-hand muting are exactly where they need to be before you bring it back up to 120 BPM. E Standard tuning means no retuning required, so you can focus entirely on the phrasing and getting the darker, minor-key character of each phrase to come through with conviction.

• The song is in E minor with E Standard tuning, so no retuning is needed and you can focus on fretting-hand accuracy and muting.
• At 120 BPM the riff feels moderate, but keeping chromatic passages clean and articulate at full tempo is the real difficulty.
• Practise the main riff in short loops slowed down, paying close attention to pick attack consistency and left-hand damping between notes.