Creator Area
Sign in Creator Area

Practice Studio

Metallica - WELCOME HOME SANITARIUM - 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 - WELCOME HOME SANITARIUM guitar tab video
Tabs EM All
Tabs EM All Top Contributor
YouTube: 69Ksubs 683Kviews
Creator Page →
PLAY WITH BACKING TRACK
·
–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.
Master of Puppets (Remastered Deluxe Box Set) album cover
Master of Puppets (Remastered Deluxe Box Set)
1986 6:27
Listen on Spotify
Metallica Thrash Metal 1986 E minor
Capo Advisor 0 E minor · Original key

About WELCOME HOME SANITARIUM

Few Metallica tracks reward patient, methodical practice quite like "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)." The song opens with a clean fingerpicked passage that sits in E minor, and getting those arpeggiated figures to ring clearly and evenly is the first real challenge. The picking hand needs to stay relaxed so each note sustains without buzzing, so use the Practice Toolbar to loop that intro phrase slowed down until the motion feels natural. From there, the song builds toward heavily distorted riffs where tight left-hand muting becomes the priority. The transition between clean and heavy sections also demands quick tonal shifts, so if you are playing live you will need your gain staged carefully. Metallica wrote this track for their 1986 album Master of Puppets, and the layered guitar arrangement rewards learning each part separately before combining them. The slow, deliberate tempo of the intro actually makes small timing errors more audible, not less, so take it seriously before moving to the heavier passages.

  • The clean intro relies on fingerpicked arpeggios in E minor where tone and sustain depend heavily on a relaxed, precise picking hand.
  • Tight palm muting is essential once the heavy riff sections arrive, keeping the low-end defined rather than muddy at higher gain settings.
  • Learning the clean and distorted sections as separate pieces first, then joining them, is the most efficient way to work through the full arrangement.

How to Play WELCOME HOME SANITARIUM

The song moves through: • Clean James, • Melodic Solo #1, • Pré Chorus #1 - Kirk, • Chorus #1, • Melodic Solo #2, • Pré Chorus #2 - James, • Chorus #2 (more longer), • Speed, • Vocal Bridge, • Guitar Solo #3, • Guitar Solo #4.

Tuning: E Standard · Key: E minor · Tempo: 107 BPM

The arrangement runs through 11 distinct sections, and the solo is the steepest jump, so isolate it on its own.

Use the section loop to isolate a passage, drop the speed below 100%, and set the metronome to 107 BPM to build it up to tempo.

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

Play with Backing Track

Play with Backing Track

Solo (Backing Track)

Solo (Backing Track)