Creator Area
Sign in Creator Area

Metallica - Ride the Lightning - Guitar Tab

Practice Studio

Metallica - Ride the Lightning - Guitar Tab

Sections · Loop · Speed · Metronome

Not in tune?

SECTIONS

Select a Loop

Start of your loop
End of your loop

Speed Control

Speed
100%

Tools

BPM
Key E minor
Metallica - Ride the Lightning guitar tab video
Mr. Tabs
Mr. Tabs Top Contributor
YouTube: 1.1Msubs 1.6Mviews
Creator Page →
·
–50¢ 0 +50¢
· Tap to start

Your browser will ask for microphone permission.

Amp Settings

Classic Rock

Gain6
Bass6
Mid7
Treble6
Presence5
Master7
AI tone preset

AI-selected preset based on genre and era — adjust the knobs to taste.

Roll back the gain slightly and pick near the neck for a warmer, more open crunch.
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

Ride the Lightning

"Ride the Lightning" is a track by Metallica from their second album of the same name, released on July 27, 1984, through Megaforce Records. Recorded in just three weeks at Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen, the album marked a significant step forward in Metallica's technical and musical complexity. For electric guitar players, the song offers an excellent study in thrash metal riffing, dynamic shifts between clean and heavy passages, and the dual-guitar interplay that became a defining characteristic of Metallica's early sound.

  • The album was recorded in only three weeks with producer Flemming Rasmussen at Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen, Denmark.
  • The title originates from Stephen King's novel The Stand, where the phrase refers to execution by electric chair.
  • The album's cover art, conceived by the band, depicts an electric chair struck by lightning emanating from the Metallica logo.
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.

Recommended for You