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Metallica - Am I Evil? - Guitar Tab

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Key E minor
Metallica - Am I Evil? 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.
Garage, Inc. album cover
Garage, Inc.
1998 7:50
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Metallica Thrash Metal 1998 E minor
Capo Advisor 0 E minor · Original key

About Am I Evil?

Originally recorded by Diamond Head, "Am I Evil?" became a defining cover for Metallica, cementing it as a Thrash Metal essential. Running at 120 BPM in E minor and standard tuning, the track is deceptively demanding across its runtime. The song opens with a slow, doomy intro built on heavy, palm-muted power chords before erupting into a galloping main riff that requires tight right-hand control and consistent pick attack. That gallop is the heart of the track, and getting it to sit cleanly at full tempo takes real work. Use the Practice Toolbar to loop just the gallop sections slowed down, focusing on keeping your muting even and your picking hand relaxed. The lead work throughout is aggressive and phrased in E minor, so knowing that scale cold will help you follow the solos and improvise your own fills. Stamina is as much of a challenge here as technique, since the song runs long and rarely lets up.

  • The signature galloping riff demands strict palm-muting and consistent alternate or downpicking throughout, which will expose any weakness in your right-hand technique.
  • At 120 BPM in E Standard tuning, the track is approachable for intermediate players but builds endurance demands quickly over its extended runtime.
  • The doomy intro relies on slow, heavy power chords, making it a useful contrast exercise to the fast gallop sections that follow.

How to Play Am I Evil?

The song moves through: • Intro, • Heavy Riff, • Kirk Hammer On, • Verses 1 & 2, • Pré Chorus 1 & 2, • Chorus, • Interlude, • Speed Riff, • Speed Verse, • Speed Chorus, • Guitar Solo, • Outro.

Tuning: E Standard · Key: E minor · Tempo: 120 BPM

The arrangement runs through 12 distinct sections, and the solo is the steepest jump, so isolate it on its own.

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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