Since Slayer’s 1983 release, Show No Mercy, Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman have established a brand of sinister, frenetic thrash metal that took the world by storm.
Their fast-paced, 16th-note picking, chromatic sequences, and use of notes both inside and outside of the key make way for an energetic, adrenaline-fuelled sound laced with attitude and tension.
Despite their fair share of riffs based on unrelenting aggression, Slayer also make effective use of mid-tempo, arpeggiated chords, as in Seasons in the Abyss. This creates dynamic space while keeping the listener drenched in the mood and atmosphere of the song.
Slayer have used various tunings over the years, but for this lesson we’ll keep everything at standard pitch, as on the group’s first album.
Get the tone
Amp Settings: Gain 6, Bass 5, Middle 6, Treble 4
For a classic Slayer rhythm tone, use your bridge pickup and the high-gain channel of your guitar amp. To get a chunky sound while keeping things focused, Slayer use less gain than expected, so push the middle frequencies, and roll off some of the treble. The bite and presence should come from the picking-hand attack.
Example 1
The opening phrase alternates between fast flurries of E notes played on the open sixth string and diminished 5th double-stops descending chromatically along the fourth and fifth string. To tighten up the faster passages, palm mute the notes on the sixth string while all other notes remain unrestricted.
Example 2
This study features fast-paced powerchords that outline the root note of each key. This establishes a tonal centre for the ear to lock on to before the chromatic motifs step outside of the key. By bookending the chromaticism with the root chord, our ears can make sense of the harmonic tension.
