Heavy Metal Guitar Riffs

Metal riffs are where rhythm guitar becomes an athletic discipline. The genre runs on heavy distortion, palm muted low strings, and picking that has to stay tight even at high gain, because distortion exposes every sloppy note. These riffs teach control more than any other style. A clean palm mute, a locked picking hand, and good string muting are the foundations that carry over into everything else you play.

The character of a metal riff comes from the contrast between chugging muted notes and open ringing chords or single note lines. Galloping rhythms, chromatic runs, and pedal point figures on the low E string are everywhere in the genre. The way to learn them is slow and exact. Loop the riff, drop the speed until the gallop is even, and only push the tempo once the picking hand stops tensing up. Each riff below comes with a full tab and a loopable section so you can isolate the hardest bars.