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Metallica - Star Spangled Banner - Guitar Tab

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Key E major
Metallica - Star Spangled Banner guitar tab video
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Classic Rock

Gain6
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Mid7
Treble6
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Metallica Heavy Metal E major
Capo Advisor 0 E major · Original key

About Star Spangled Banner

Few arrangements test a guitarist's control over tone and sustain quite like this one. Metallica's take on "The Star-Spangled Banner" sits in E major at a measured 80 BPM in standard tuning, which might sound approachable until you realise how exposed every note is. There is nowhere to hide: wide interval leaps and long held notes demand clean fretting, precise intonation, and a picking hand that stays composed under pressure. The challenge is not speed but phrasing. Getting each note to sing with enough sustain, while keeping the melody recognisable, takes more attention than most riff-based heavy metal playing does. Use the Practice Toolbar to isolate the trickier melodic leaps and loop them slowed down until your fingers land cleanly every time. Focus on your pick attack and let the notes breathe rather than rushing the tempo.

  • Played in E Standard tuning in the key of E major, the arrangement keeps the melody in a natural register that suits both electric and acoustic guitar.
  • At 80 BPM the tempo is slow and unforgiving, so every note is fully exposed and sustained cleanly rather than buried in distortion.
  • The main technical demand is hitting wide melodic intervals with accurate intonation, making slow looped practice of each phrase essential.

How to Play Star Spangled Banner

Tuning: E Standard · Key: E major · Tempo: 80 BPM

Loop each section and focus on clean, even timing rather than speed, with the metronome at 80 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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