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Metallica - The Four Horsemen - Guitar Tab

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Key E minor
Metallica - The Four Horsemen guitar tab video
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Kill 'Em All (Remastered) album cover
Kill 'Em All (Remastered)
1983 7:13
Listen on Spotify
Metallica Thrash Metal 1983 E minor
Capo Advisor 0 E minor · Original key

About The Four Horsemen

Few early Metallica tracks demand as much stamina from a rhythm guitarist as this one. "The Four Horsemen" is built on relentless down-picked riffing in E minor, a technique that defines the Metallica sound and will expose any weakness in your pick grip or right-arm endurance almost immediately. The song also shifts between driving thrash passages and a slower, groovier mid-section, so you need to be comfortable switching feel without losing tightness. That mid-section is deceptively tricky: the tempo drops and the phrasing becomes more deliberate, which means sloppy fretting has nowhere to hide. Lead work appears too, with melodic phrases that reward attention to vibrato and bending accuracy. Use the Practice Toolbar to isolate the transition between the fast riff and the slow groove, looping it slowed down until the timing change feels natural. Getting the down-picking clean before bringing it up to full speed is the single most important thing you can do with this track.

  • The backbone of the song is aggressive down-picked power chords in E minor, so building right-hand endurance before attempting full speed is essential.
  • A mid-song tempo shift to a slower, groovier feel requires you to control your rhythm carefully and avoid rushing back into the fast sections.
  • Both rhythm and lead guitar parts appear throughout, giving you productive material to practise whether you are focused on riffing technique or melodic phrasing.

How to Play The Four Horsemen

The song moves through: • Intro, • Pré Verse / Verse 1, • Chorus 1, • Live Way - Verse & Chorus, • Bridge, • Guitar Solo 1, • Verse 3, • Chorus 3, • Guitar Solo 2.

Key: E minor · Tempo: 204 BPM

The arrangement runs through 9 distinct sections, and the solo is the steepest jump, so isolate it on its own. At 204 bpm it moves fast, so the real test is building picking stamina and keeping every note clean at speed.

Loop the hardest passage and creep the speed up from around 70 percent until it holds at 204 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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