Hi everyone! im 15 years old and i played guitar for about a year now. I was wondering how i can make my guitar sound metal like metallica (my favorite band). the stuff i use is a Behringer guitar that came with its own mini amp. and just recently i bought a guitar effects pedal g1 by zoom. so can someone please help me out?

Do you mean what amp settings to use for metal or are you asking how to play metal?

What i do for the amp is turn down the treble to about half way and the bass up maybe 3/4  and the mid a little past half and of course add gain or  distortion. Also try tuning your guitar to drop D  for lower heavy sound like in metallicas "Sad But True"

also if you have more than 1 pickup use the pickup thats next to your bridge and for metalish sounding leads turn the guitar's tone knob all the way down to increase harmonics and sustain.

This is how I get the METAL sound from my guitar:
on my amp I use:
Distortion/Gain=full
Bass=about 50% to 75%
Middle/Treble=full
volume set to an understandable level accordingly
and on guitar:
"tone" set all the way back, "bassy". Full volume.
I try to play mostly riffs and 'heavier' sound.
I mostly use the bridge pickup and sometimes the middle-bridge one.

I also use palm muting a lot. Coupled with fast picking, that helps me a lot, to sound METAL.
If u try to "sound" like Metallica, that might help too. Try to see how THEY play certain songs. That'll help.

zuhairreza wrote:

This is how I get the METAL sound from my guitar:
on my amp I use:
Distortion/Gain=full
Bass=about 50% to 75%
Middle/Treble=full
volume set to an understandable level accordingly
and on guitar:
"tone" set all the way back, "bassy". Full volume.
I try to play mostly riffs and 'heavier' sound.
I mostly use the bridge pickup and sometimes the middle-bridge one.

I also use palm muting a lot. Coupled with fast picking, that helps me a lot, to sound METAL.
If u try to "sound" like Metallica, that might help too. Try to see how THEY play certain songs. That'll help.

more or less what i do lol

personally for metal i prefer the "scooped" type sounds.

i set the gain to full
i set the bass to full
i set the mids all the way back
i set highs about 3/4 of the way up.
i use my bridge pickup
i set the volume and tone knobs on my guitar all the way full

if you are using a pedal to determine your sound:

use your amps clean channel
set the eq on the amp relatively flat (booost bass or treble a little to taste)
and set your pedal according to the specs above for a scooped sound
or boost the mids and cut the highs for a heavier sound.
Most of metallica's songs utilize the scooped sound, especially on the older records (kill 'em all to black album)

Get a Mesa Dual Rectifier or Mark IV head. Then get a few Marshall JCM series heads (or a few 9100 series power amps). Run from the Slave out on the Rec to the Marshall power sections. Run each head into at least one Mesa Recto 412 cabinet. Next turn the Mids down to Zero.

Then what you want to do is get a Gibson Explorer in either white or black. No other axe will do. If you're going for an early Metallica sound you have to put Seymour Duncan pickups in it and stickers on it. If you're going for a new Metallica sound (~Justice or newer) you'll want to load it with EMGs (81/85 or 81/60 set, the neck pickup is only for looks though) and then etch something into it. Make it something that would be vulgar if you hadn't spelled it wrong (remember to spell even non-vulgar words incorrectly).

If you want a real authentic tone you need to snap the headstock off the guitar and then have it glued back on by an experienced luthier. Engulfing it in fire is also acceptable but the recovery time is longer and I hear grafts hurt.

As for technique, just down pick EVERYTHING and you'll be fine.

Man I had this long post (a serious one about dialing in amps and stuff) all typed up and the freakin' site timed out on me. I'll do it later and I don't really feel like retyping it.

Suffice it to say for now:

Don't max your gain, bass, or treble.
Don't cut out your mids entirely.
Do experiment and learn what the different adjustments do.
Do read the manual (if you get bored).
Do try to find your own sound.

I'll explain more on the two former points later.

shaidtan wrote:

Get a Mesa Dual Rectifier or Mark IV head. Then get a few Marshall JCM series heads (or a few 9100 series power amps). Run from the Slave out on the Rec to the Marshall power sections. Run each head into at least one Mesa Recto 412 cabinet. Next turn the Mids down to Zero.

Then what you want to do is get a Gibson Explorer in either white or black. No other axe will do. If you're going for an early Metallica sound you have to put Seymour Duncan pickups in it and stickers on it. If you're going for a new Metallica sound (~Justice or newer) you'll want to load it with EMGs (81/85 or 81/60 set, the neck pickup is only for looks though) and then etch something into it. Make it something that would be vulgar if you hadn't spelled it wrong (remember to spell even non-vulgar words incorrectly).

If you want a real authentic tone you need to snap the headstock off the guitar and then have it glued back on by an experienced luthier. Engulfing it in fire is also acceptable but the recovery time is longer and I hear grafts hurt.

As for technique, just down pick EVERYTHING and you'll be fine.

shhh you're crazy lol
j/k man =P funny stuff