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Metallica - The Outlaw Torn - Guitar Tab

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Key E minor
Metallica - The Outlaw Torn guitar tab video
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Load (Remastered) album cover
Load (Remastered)
1996 9:49
Listen on Spotify
Metallica Heavy Metal 1996 E minor
Capo Advisor 0 E minor · Original key

About The Outlaw Torn

Few songs in the Heavy Metal world ask for this kind of slow-burn patience. "The Outlaw Torn" closes the Load album with nearly ten minutes of brooding, E minor heaviness, and at 82 BPM in Eb Standard tuning the challenge is not speed but control. The riff work is deceptively simple on the page but demands a thick, deliberate pick attack to get the right weight behind each note. Staying locked in with the groove at this tempo, without rushing or dragging, is where most players slip up. Muting and note sustain also need careful attention, since the open, ringing quality of certain phrases depends on knowing exactly when to let the string speak. Metallica lean hard into dynamics here, so practice moving between restrained verses and heavier hitting sections smoothly. Use the Practice Toolbar to loop any phrase slowed down until the feel is completely under your fingers before bringing it back up to tempo.

  • Tuning down to Eb Standard lowers string tension, giving the riffs a heavier, looser feel that suits the song's dark, dragging atmosphere.
  • The main challenge is sustaining a locked, even groove at 82 BPM across a long song, making right-hand consistency and pick attack the skills to drill.
  • Because the song runs close to ten minutes, use the Practice Toolbar to isolate and loop specific sections slowed down rather than running the whole piece each time.

How to Play The Outlaw Torn

The song moves through: • Intro, • Chorus Riff, • Verse 1, • Chorus 1, • Verse 2, • Chorus 2, • Vocal Bridge 1, • James Violin, • Guitar Solo, • Vocal Bridge 2, • Outro James, • Outro Kirk.

Tuning: Eb Standard · Key: E minor · Tempo: 82 BPM

It is played in Eb standard, a half step down, so tune down before you start or every position and bend will sit a half step sharp against the recording. The arrangement runs through 12 distinct sections, and the solo is the steepest jump, so isolate it on its own. At 82 bpm the slow tempo leaves every note exposed, so timing, vibrato, and dynamics matter more than raw speed.

Loop each section and focus on clean, even timing rather than speed, with the metronome at 82 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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