Become A Heavy Metal Badass By Creating Fast Metal Guitar Licks Using Modes
Playing metal guitar as a style gives you a wide selection of expressive musical ideas to work with. A lot of metal guitar playing creates a heavy and intense sound using scales that involve dissonant notes.
Learning how to use these scales helps you play fast metal guitar licks that give your playing the intensity needed to brand you as a true metalhead!
Check out these modes and start playing cool metal licks:
Phrygian Mode
Phrygian is one of the most iconic modes that gives a distinctly metal guitar sound. Outside of context, Phrygian sounds very mysterious, exotic and intense. However, adding distortion and cranking out riffs with it transforms the mode into a whole new monster!
E Phrygian:
What Notes Make This Mode Special:
Phrygian contains the scale degrees of 1-b2-b3-4-5-b6-b7. Emphasizing the flat second is key to separating it from sounding like a minor scale.
How To Remember This Mode’s Pattern On Guitar:
Phrygian mode is like the minor scale, except with a lowered 2nd. It is the 3rd mode of the major scale.
A Great Chord To Solo Over With This Mode:
This mode is great for soloing over minor 7 chords. Example: Em7 or Em7b9
Phrygian Dominant Mode
If you thought Phrygian was intense and exotic, Phrygian Dominant takes everyone one step further. Adding a raised 3rd creates a big gap between the 2nd and 3rd note of the scale, making your metal guitar playing demand attention.
E Phrygian Dominant
What Notes Make This Mode Special:
Phrygian Dominant contains the scale degrees of 1-b2-3-4-5-b6-b7. Emphasizing the flat second and major third degrees gives your playing a very exotic sound.
How To Remember This Mode’s Pattern On Guitar:
Phrygian Dominant mode is like Phrygian mode, except with a raised 3rd. It is the 5th mode of the harmonic minor scale.
A Great Chord To Solo Over With This Mode:
This mode is great for soloing over major chords or other, more jazzy chords. Example: E Major or E b7b9
Hear how this mode sounds as it is being used to improvise exotic guitar licks in the following video:
Locrian Mode
Locrian is one of the most intense modes that has the power to give your metal guitar playing a dark and sinister feel!
E Locrian
What Notes Make This Mode Special:
Locrian contains the scale degrees of 1-b2-b3-4-b5-b6-b7. Emphasizing the flat second and flat fifth scale degrees really brings out the dark, exotic feel of the mode.
How To Remember This Mode’s Pattern On Guitar:
Locrian is just like Phrygian mode, except with a lowered 5th. It is the 7th mode of the major scale.
A Great Chord To Solo Over With This Mode:
Diminished chords. Example: Edim or Edim7
Mixolydian Mode
Mixolydian is a staple for any guitar player. This mode is great for playing in any blues, rock or metal guitar song.
E Mixolydian
What Notes Make This Mode Special:
Mixolydian contains the scale degrees of 1-2-3-4-5-6-b7. Emphasize the flat seventh, especially while playing in a blues context.
How To Remember This Mode’s Pattern On Guitar:
Phrygian Dominant mode is like the major scale, except with a lowered 7th. It is the 5th mode of the major scale.
A Great Chord To Solo Over With This Mode:
This mode is great for soloing over major and dominant 7 chords (especially in bluesy situations). Example: E Major or E7
Aeolian Mode (Natural Minor)
The natural minor scale is by far one of the most commonly used guitar scales in metal music. It is used much more frequently than its counterpart, the major scale for its less “happy” and more dark sound. Soloing with the minor scale is great for creating a sad or melancholic feeling, and goes great with minor pentatonic or blues as well.
E Minor / E Aeolian
What Notes Make This Mode Special:
The Aeolian/Minor mode contains the scale degrees of 1-2-b3-4-5-b6-b7. The lowered 3, 6 and 7 combine to give it its distinct “sad” sound.
How To Remember This Mode’s Pattern On Guitar:
Aeolian/Minor mode is like the major scale, except with a lowered 3rd, 6th and 7th. It is the 6th mode of the major scale.
A Great Chord To Solo Over With This Mode:
This mode is great for soloing over minor chords. Example: Em or Em7
Now that you’ve learned some killer scales to use in metal, improvise using each one.
Create short, fast metal guitar licks by doing the following:
- Improvise using the 1 octave scale for the first mode on the page for several minutes.
- Turn on your amp and find a distortion setting.
- Use the information given to improvise 5 of your own metal guitar licks using the mode.
Note: Either play it by itself, or record it over power chords/the chords suggested.
- Then move onto the next mode and repeat the process.
After doing this, you will have created 25 new metal guitar licks with a wide variety of sounds!
Want to learn how to transform any of these scales into intense and expressive music? Get started playing killer guitar licks now using this free guide to expressing yourself with guitar.