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Metallica - FIGHT FIRE WITH FIRE - Guitar Tab

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Metallica - FIGHT FIRE WITH FIRE - Guitar Tab

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Key E minor
Metallica - FIGHT FIRE WITH FIRE guitar tab video
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Ride The Lightning (Deluxe Remaster) album cover
Ride The Lightning (Deluxe Remaster)
1984 4:45
Listen on Spotify
Metallica Thrash Metal 1984 E minor
Capo Advisor 0 E minor · Original key

FIGHT FIRE WITH FIRE

"Fight Fire with Fire" is the opening track by Metallica from their second album, Ride the Lightning, released on July 27, 1984. The album was recorded at Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen, Denmark, with producer Flemming Rasmussen. The song is a landmark in thrash metal, featuring an acoustic guitar intro that gives way to one of Metallica's most aggressive riffs, making it a rewarding and technically demanding piece to study on electric guitar.

  • The song opens with a clean acoustic passage before exploding into thrash metal, a contrast that challenges guitarists to master two distinct styles.
  • Ride the Lightning was recorded in just three weeks, reflecting the raw, high-energy playing heard throughout the album.
  • The album was released through independent label Megaforce Records, capturing Metallica's early underground sound before their mainstream breakthrough.
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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