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Metallica - Ride the Lightning - Guitar Tab

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Key E minor
Metallica - Ride the Lightning guitar tab video
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Ride The Lightning (Deluxe Remaster) album cover
Ride The Lightning (Deluxe Remaster)
1984 6:37
Listen on Spotify
Metallica Thrash Metal 1984 E minor
Capo Advisor 0 E minor · Original key

About Ride the Lightning

Few thrash metal tracks from 1984 hit as hard as this one, and learning it on guitar reveals exactly why Metallica were operating on a different level from most of their peers. The song opens with a clean, arpeggiated intro that demands careful right-hand control and a relaxed touch before the distortion even kicks in. Once the main riff arrives in E minor, the challenge shifts to picking aggression and left-hand accuracy at tempo. The rhythm parts require tight downpicking stamina, which is genuinely tiring to sustain, so build it up in short bursts rather than grinding through the whole song at once. The solo section involves fast alternate-picked runs and bends that reward slow, deliberate practice, so use the Practice Toolbar to loop those passages slowed down until each note speaks cleanly. Pay particular attention to the transitions between the clean intro and the heavy sections, because the dynamic shift has to feel intentional, not accidental.

  • The clean arpeggiated intro is played fingerstyle or with a pick using careful dynamics, making it a useful warm-up exercise for right-hand control.
  • The main rhythm riff relies heavily on sustained downpicking in E minor, which builds the picking-hand endurance that is central to the thrash rhythm style.
  • The lead sections feature fast alternate-picked scalar runs that are easier to learn by looping them slowed down before gradually pushing the tempo back up.

How to Play Ride the Lightning

The song moves through: Intro, Riff 1, Verse, Chorus, Riff 3, Riff 4, Solo, Riff 5, Outro.

Key: E minor · Tempo: 151 BPM · Difficulty: Medium

The song opens with a clean fingerpicked intro in E minor before launching into the main thrash riffs at 151 bpm, so mastering the dynamic shift from clean to heavy is essential and often trips up intermediate players who rush the transition. The main riffs rely on tight, palm-muted alternate picking, and the biggest pitfall is losing that muting consistency when the tempo pushes your picking hand. The solo section is genuinely demanding, combining fast legato runs with aggressive picked passages, so isolate it with the loop tool before connecting it to the surrounding riffs. Keep your fretting hand anchored during the muted riff sections rather than letting it float, which is the most common source of unwanted string noise at this speed.

Loop the hardest passage and creep the speed up from around 70 percent until it holds at 151 BPM.

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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