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Metallica - For Whom the Bell Tolls - Guitar Tab

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Key E minor
Metallica - For Whom the Bell Tolls guitar tab video
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Classic Rock

Gain6
Bass6
Mid7
Treble6
Presence5
Master7
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Ride The Lightning (Deluxe Remaster) album cover
Ride The Lightning (Deluxe Remaster)
1984 5:10
Listen on Spotify
Metallica Thrash Metal 1984 E minor
Capo Advisor 0 E minor · Original key

About For Whom the Bell Tolls

Few riffs in heavy metal hit as hard as the opening of this track, built on a slow, thunderous descent that sits deep in E minor. Metallica wrote a part that looks deceptively simple on paper but demands real control: the low-end power chords need to land with weight and precision, not speed. The challenge is in the feel, keeping each note full and deliberate without rushing ahead of the groove. Your picking hand has to stay relaxed even while driving hard, because any tension tightens the tone and kills the punch. The main riff also involves a bass-led intro, so when you first come in on guitar you are locking against a very specific rhythmic foundation. Use the Practice Toolbar to loop the riff slowed down and focus on landing every chord cleanly before bringing it back up to tempo. Getting the dynamics right, soft where it breathes and heavy where it hits, is what separates a convincing run from a flat one.

  • The main riff is built on slow, heavy power chords in E minor, where tone and timing matter far more than technical speed.
  • The guitar enters after a bass intro, so locking your rhythm precisely to that established pulse is one of the key practice challenges.
  • Keeping your picking hand loose while striking hard is the central technique to work on, as tension kills the low-end punch the riff needs.

How to Play For Whom the Bell Tolls

The song moves through: Intro, Break, Solo 1, Interlude, Verse, Chorus, Solo 2, Outro.

Key: E minor · Tempo: 117 BPM · Difficulty: Medium

The main riff in E minor is built around a single moveable power-chord shape with heavy palm muting, and the challenge is not speed but consistency: at 117 bpm the groove can feel deceptively easy until your muting gets sloppy and the notes blur together. Focus on keeping your picking hand anchored firmly against the bridge, releasing pressure cleanly on the accented open hits to let them ring through. The intro and verse sections share the same core riff, so locking those down first gives you most of the song. A common pitfall is rushing the rhythm when the chord changes arrive, so loop those transition bars with the speed control reduced until the palm-mute-to-open pattern feels automatic.

Use the section loop to isolate a passage, drop the speed below 100%, and set the metronome to 117 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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