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Pantera - Cemetery Gates - Guitar Tab

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Key E minor
Pantera - Cemetery Gates guitar tab video
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Classic Rock

Gain6
Bass6
Mid7
Treble6
Presence5
Master7
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Cowboys from Hell album cover
Cowboys from Hell
1990 7:03
Listen on Spotify
Pantera Groove Metal 1990 E minor
Capo Advisor 0 E minor · Original key

About Cemetery Gates

"Cemetery Gates" from Pantera's 1990 album Cowboys from Hell is one of the more demanding pieces in the heavy metal catalog for a guitarist to pull apart. The song moves between clean, arpeggiated chord work and full-on aggressive electric passages, so you need to be comfortable switching between a delicate picking touch and a heavier, driven tone within the same track. The clean intro and verse sections reward careful right-hand control: sloppy picking gets exposed quickly when there is no distortion to mask it. In E minor, the chord shapes are approachable, but the transitions need to feel fluid rather than mechanical. Dimebag Darrell's soloing sections are a serious step up in difficulty and involve fast legato runs and wide vibrato that take real time to internalize. Use the Practice Toolbar to loop those solo passages slowed down, isolating each phrase before you try to connect them at full tempo.

  • The song contrasts fingerpicked clean arpeggios with heavy distorted riffing, so practicing both tones separately before combining them is essential.
  • Dimebag Darrell's solo sections feature wide expressive vibrato and fast legato runs that benefit from slow, isolated repetition using the Practice Toolbar.
  • The song is in E minor, giving the riffs and solo a natural home on the lower strings where Dimebag's aggressive picking attack is most effective.

How to Play Cemetery Gates

The song moves through: Intro, Break, Verse, Pre-Chorus, Chorus, Solo, Outro.

Key: E minor · Tempo: 104 BPM · Difficulty: Medium

The arrangement runs through 7 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 104 BPM to build it up to tempo.

Gibson Les Paul Standard
Guitar

Gibson Les Paul Standard

Dimebag used the Les Paul in the studio for thicker, warmer rhythm tones that contrasted with his signature Dean ML's aggression. Its fuller low-end body resonance complemented Pantera's groove-metal foundation without sacrificing the clarity his Randall amp demanded.

Gibson Les Paul Custom
Guitar

Gibson Les Paul Custom

While not his primary choice, the Les Paul Custom's increased weight and tonal thickness gave Dimebag an alternative for studio layers needing more body. Its humbuckers provided a warmer saturation against his Dean's tight, articulate bite.

Dunlop Cry Baby Wah
Pedal

Dunlop Cry Baby Wah

Dimebag's expressive wah work, especially on 'Floods,' became iconic through the Cry Baby's responsive sweep and vocal character. The pedal's interaction with his scooped Randall tone created that signature mid-scoop wah sound defining Pantera's lead vocabulary.

DigiTech Whammy
Pedal

DigiTech Whammy

The Whammy pedal delivered Dimebag's dramatic pitch-shifting solos heard throughout Pantera's catalog, adding otherworldly texture to his already aggressive tone. Its polyphonic tracking kept clarity even with the high-gain saturation from his solid-state Randall amplifier.

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