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Metallica - Orion - Guitar Tab

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Metallica - Orion guitar tab video
Guillaume Vrac
Guillaume Vrac Top Contributor
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Amp Settings

Classic Rock

Gain6
Bass6
Mid7
Treble6
Presence5
Master7
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Roll back the gain slightly and pick near the neck for a warmer, more open crunch.
Metallica Thrash Metal

About Orion

Few tracks in Thrash Metal ask a guitarist to slow down and listen the way "Orion" does. Written primarily by Cliff Burton, this fully instrumental piece from 1986 sits at 120 BPM in E Standard and rewards patience over aggression. The rhythm guitar work is dense and heavy, but the real challenge is the clean, spacey mid-section where melodic lead lines float over a near-ambient backdrop. Nailing the tone and the restrained picking feel of that bridge is harder than it looks, since any tension in your picking hand will kill the mood entirely. Metallica rarely stepped this far into atmospheric territory, which makes the transition back into the heavy riff all the more satisfying to execute cleanly. Use the Practice Toolbar to loop the bridge section slowed down until the phrasing feels natural before bringing it back up to tempo.

  • The clean mid-section bridge demands a very light picking touch and careful volume control to capture its spacey, atmospheric feel.
  • At 120 BPM in E Standard, the heavy rhythm sections use tight, palm-muted low-string riffs that reward slow, deliberate practice before full-speed runs.
  • Because the song is fully instrumental, there are no vocals to mask timing errors, so rhythmic precision between guitar parts is critical throughout.

How to Play Orion

Tuning: E Standard · Tempo: 120 BPM

Use the section loop to isolate a passage, drop the speed below 100%, and set the metronome to 120 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.

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