Many people have a misconstrued belief that heavy metal music is music that is for insane people. They believe that this music is the kind of music that is appreciated by people who are violent and brutal. The stereotypes could not be any further from the truth because the fact is that metal music is far from violent or brutal. One may watch a concert and see some eccentric and strange performances by metal bands but this does not serve to make it a fact that this music is for violent people. As a matter of fact, many people who love this kind of music are actually quite calm and reserved.
Heavy metal music is mostly appreciated by people who are keen on good instruments and people who are interested in listening to music in detail. Lovers of this music are often up in arms against certain genres for the fact that many other genres are fond of making ‘computer music’ that is not exactly full of talent. When people sit behind computers and create music, it does not register as raw talent according to the metal enthusiasts. For this reason therefore, they are more likely to applaud a band that uses instruments and has live performances to band music.
Across the world, there are many people who appreciate heavy metal music and they have been able to appreciate this music in all its forms. There are several sub-genres of metal music that appeal to different people. Many of these sub-genres are an invention of the talent and creativity that metal musicians have. Their desire to make more and more music often pushes them to create new sub-genres that tend to appeal to different people. The transformation of metal music over the years has been due to the presence of certain bands that have curved out a career as some of the best metal bands to ever grace this world.

Heavy metal began somewhere during the 1970s, approximately 4 decades back. Since then there have been many sub-genres of heavy metal music bands over the years. Each band has its own variations and styles mixed in it. Some of the main groups of heavy metal music are Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin.

Some of different styles of Heavy Metal Bands are as mentioned here below-

1- Black – This kind of metal style began somewhere during the 1980s. The commonly used musical instruments for this type of heavy metal style are Electric Guitars, vocals and drums.

2- Death – This kind of metal style started during the mid 1980s. Such heavy metal bands make use of distorted guitars, deep roaring or howling vocals, blast beat drumming etc. Some of the famous groups who were known for this kind of metal music were Celtic Frost, Kreator, Slayer etc.

3- Doom – This heavy metal music style started before the 1980s. Bands following this kind of metal music usually used slow tempos with a heavy and thick sound.

4- Drone – This metal music style started during the early 1990s. Drone metal music is somewhat similar to Doom metal music in many areas.

5- Folk – Metal music too had the folk style which began during the late 1970s in Europe. This kind of metal music mixes traditional folk music along with heavy metal music. These heavy metal bands make use of old folk instruments along with the latest metal music instruments.

There are many other styles of metal music bands. Some of these are Glam, Gothic, Groove, Industrial, Metalcore, Neo classical, Nu-Metal, Post-Metal, Power, Progressive, Sludge Metal, Speed, Trash, Avant-garde, Crust Punk, Christian, Funk, Extreme, Rap, Viking Metal, Symphonic and many others. Metal music is something which is very powerful and mostly those who love high pitch music tones are the ones who hear such kind of music.

Heavy metal music is a genre of music which is known to create intense emotions to the listeners and that is exactly the main reason why it can be easily differentiated from all the other kinds of contemporary music.

It is said that the moment one finds a taste for heavy metal music; there are hardly any chances for them to change to any other kind of music. If you are a lover of heavy metal music, you will also realize how much you too wish to learn the art of this beautiful genre of music. However, the best way to learn this art is by understanding the history of heavy metal.

It all began in the 1960s and later took different shapes in the 1970s and 1980s. Bands like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple first began this kind of heavy metal music. You can also find and learn heavy metal through various books, CD’s and DVD’s. There are also many websites providing free lessons to the introduction of heavy metal. Always remember, while learning heavy metal, your main focus must be not only the music but also its scales, palm muting, harmonics and tremolo picking. There are books on the beginner’s course for heavy metal written by different heavy metal musicians. You can browse through the internet to find out more about such books.

In the course-book, you will also find about 10 different types of video lessons. This will help you learn the music at a faster pace. The best way is to search online where you will even get a chance to learn and see music video lessons online conducted by renowned heavy metal musicians. One thing one must remember is that heavy metal music is fast track music and therefore beginners must really have the art to learn to play guitar at a faster pace.

Heavy metal – is a genre of music that attracts only a small yet loyal crowd. The musical instruments made use of in this genre of music are – powerful guitars, heavy drums and amplifiers. You will find most enthusiasts saying ‘louder the better’. Generally heavy metal music bands consist of a group of around four or five members – that basically includes an electric guitarist, a bass guitarist, vocalist and a drummer. At times, you may find other musical instruments like a – keyboard, violin or an accordion used in metal music. Heavy metal music includes strong and effective guitar solos, ample drum beats and intensified jazz.

Heavy metal is played in different styles – with riffs, power chords and solos forming the basic style structure of heavy metal songs. Best experienced heavy metal bands tend to play at exceptionally fast speeds.

Historically, metal music came into being sometime around the late 1960’s and grew on to be a big style of music. Usually heavy metal music style songs are inclined to emphasize on emotions relating to aggression, anger and fantasy. Though this need not be the case always and the songs can revolve around just about anything.

Heavy metal music consists of a number of sub genres. Popular sub genre styles are – black, doom, progressive, traditional and alternative. All these sub genres make up their own unique style of music.

In fact there is this typical kind of look that is part of heavy metal music – dark color clothing, spikes and chains are what go with the music in terms of apparel, besides bands and fans of metal music have their faces painted, rings pierced, tattoos drawn and flaunt long hair.

Heavy metal musical shows usually attract more men and a rather aggressive crowd. At typically shows you will find some crowd stage diving, surfing and head banging.

When we get into the depth of metal music, we will realize that this music community has plenty of branches associated with it. One of them is known as Death Metal. Death metal is a completely different category in the heavy metal music world. You will find there are many sub-genres of music inside a death metal. Each of these styles is completely different from one another. Some of them are deep growling voice, heavy distorted guitars, double bass drumming and changing of various tempos.

The main question is when and where did death metal originate?
The beginning of such kind of music started from Trash Metal which started to gain popularity somewhere during the mid 1980s. Those times there were basically 3 types of bands known as Celtic Frost, Slayer and Kreator. Out of these 3 bands, the lead member of Celtic Frost called ‘Chuck Schuldiner’ was eventually named and called as the ‘Father of Death Metal.’ Later on other bands such as ‘Possessed’ and ‘Morbid Angel’ started gaining popularity in this kind of metal music.

Let us now discuss the structure of this kind of music
The band will have two guitarists, one with down tuned guitar while the other will be a bass guitarist. There will also be a drummer having double pedal bass or in other words having two different bass drums. The main person is the one who sings who is also known as the vocalist. He or she will have to use deep grows along with a variety of harmony.

Usually those who hear death metal music are lovers of loud music. The music of death metal can be quite deafening to normal ears. There has been cases where the lead vocalist lost their ear drums due to the loud sounds. But as we already mentioned, there are millions of music lovers who especially travel globally to hear their favorite death metal musicians perform live.

Folk metal is a type of metal music which was begun during the early 1990s, just about two decades back. This kind of music is an offshoot of heavy metal music. In this kind of music, mostly folkish musical instruments are made use of and even the singing styles are folk type. Many heavy metal music bands are slowly changing or converting themselves to folk metal music.

Some of the main subgenres of folk metal music are Celtic, Viking and Oriental. Celtic was started by a band known as Cruachan. It was their lead guitarist who decided to mix fusion music with a touch of folk metal.

In the year 1991, the famous death metal band called ‘Orphaned Land’ formed folk metal music which started gaining popularity and this kind of music was soon in great demand. The band created a stir and caused media attention. They began to mix Arabic music and Jewish music in their folk metal music which really increased the thrill in all their die hard fans who love listening to such kind of music. The band later created a separate subgenre of folk metal music band named ‘Oriental Music.’

Viking metal, another death metal music band began incorporating flutes and hurdy gurdys in their music. This mixture of fusion music was again creating waves across all music lovers.

These days there are special festivals organized only for folk metal music. All diehard fans are seen to not miss out on this kind of music. Some of the famous festivals targeting folk metal music are Heathen Festival, Noctis Valkyries and Notably Pagan Fest metal festival.

When we compare folk metal music with death metal music, the main difference is the power of music. Death metal is aggressive and usually the lead vocalist will sing at the top of his voice while a folk metal music is sober.

In the past, if we had to learn heavy metal guitar, we had to visit a professional guitarist who will train and teach us the various methods of playing heavy metal guitar. But today, one can learn heavy metal from the comforts of our homes. There are DVD courses which are available in many outlets.

DVD courses means that you can visualize on your computer or TV screen how the guitar is played. You also get a chance to learn different varied tricks and techniques that are mostly used when heavy metal music is being played. Here below, we have given you some of the basic points you must remember while playing a heavy metal guitar.

1- Palm Muting – This is considered to be a percussive and rhythmic guitar technique. In palm muting, the guitar strings when picked will dampen the vibration of the strings. When the music is used for high gain or distortion, it releases an effect which is similar to that of a bass heavy crunch. The DVD courses will have these techniques to help you master in Palm Muting.

2- Tremolo Picking – Tremolo Picking is commonly known as Machine Gun Picking. This is one of the most crucial techniques in any kind of trash metal music. Using the DVD tutorials, you will understand how making use of this note that will help in releasing ‘chainsaw’ effects.

3- Pick Groupings and Galloping – This is another most important technique when it comes to heavy metal music. In combination with the above mentioned Palm muting and picking, you also get a chance to group up and down your string pickings in short sound blasts.

Above mentioned are some of the various methods that will help you play heavy metal music on your guitar. Remember to take a short crash course using a DVD instead of spending a lot of time and money learning from an instructor.

Death metal is regarded as one of the most famous genres of heavy metal music which is in great demand today. This kind of metal music is all about speed, aggressiveness and tenacity. An expert on death metal guitar requires high technical skills to prove their worth in the industry. They must be able to produce the right kind of tone along with good knowledge of the guitar.

The scales of a death metal guitar are also required which helps in producing mysterious and killer sound effects that can actually take the audience to an altogether different world. Here below we will provide you with examples of power packed guitar scales that will help change the entire excitement of the audience.

1- Phrygian Scale – In death metal music, this scale is commonly used. The sixth note provides a dark and mysterious sound effect. This is the minor and the third mode. Its pattern is in the form of H W W W H W W.

2- Harmonics Scale – This is also a very important scale while playing death metal guitar. There are two types of harmonic scale, Natural Harmonics and Forced Harmonics. Natural Harmonics is created when the guitarist touches the string of the guitar over a fret with out fretting the note. In case of Harmonics scale, the guitarist will create the scale by placing his fingers about the twelfth fret of his guitar.

3- Pentatonic Scale – This is known as the grandfather of all rock and metal scales. This scale can actually produce deafening sound and several bands make use of this scale to spice up their performance. The scale is generated using a combination of hammer ons, pull offs etc. This scale will completely mesmerize the audience and they will want for more.

Above mentioned are some of the main scales of a death metal guitar.

During the time when Heavy metal music was at its peak, there emerged a very famous guitar known as Jackson Guitar (no, we are not speaking about Michael Jackson here). The patent rights of this guitar were owned by Grover Jackson. The guitar was formally known as Charvel owned by Wayne Charvel but later Grover took over the rights and named the guitar under his banner as ‘Jackson guitars’.

In the year 1979, Jackson guitar debuted for the summer NAMM show. The show was organized at Atlanta and this guitar soon began to get popularized among the heavy metal music lovers. Somewhere during the late 1980s, Grover Jackson was approached by a Randy Rhoads, a guitarist who formerly performed for the band ‘Quiet Riot’. He wanted a special guitar for his performance in shows during concerts. Jackson provided him with a sleek, V shaped guitar called Concorde. This guitar was similar to that of Gibson Flying V, and the only difference was that the lower wing of this guitar was shorter and only half the length as compared to the upper wing. This typical guitar was a lot more conservative in its appearance.

Randy Rhoads did play the guitar for his concerts but he preferred a custom made guitar which had his specification. The Concorde was dropped and Jackson made a model according to Rhoads specification which he named Jackson Rhoads (sometimes even called as Rhoads Half V). This was the beginning of the electric guitars.

Jackson guitars have changed hands over a period of time. In the year 1985, International Music Corporation, a Texas based music company purchased Jackson electric Guitars. In 2002, Jackson Guitars were acquired by feders. Though the name has never changed, Jackson Guitars today are very popular for those who love playing heavy metal music.

The main definition of Heavy Metal Music can be both ambiguous and huge. There are plenty of bands that are labeled with many sub-genres that it becomes difficult to follow each one of them.

So many of us still wonder, what does heavy metal music actually mean? Is it just the sound of loud music such as rock ‘n’ roll, is it the sound of loud guitars, or is it pounding drums and bass just like dance music? Well, in general terms metal music is the combination of all that has been mentioned above. The best word to describe metal music is nothing but ‘lifestyle’. A fan of metal music will live only for metal and will be a metal fan throughout their lives. They will never go in search of another kind of music as this music is the ultimate. All the other music is slow and soft but metal music is the loudest among the entire music genre.

This kind of music began somewhere in the late 1960s or early 1970s. The early birds who started such music were Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Rush, Kiss, King Crimson etc. The popularity of such music only began to increase and the last decade saw bands such as Nu Metal and Metal Core rocking the world of metal music.

Fans of metal music are often seen wearing black colored T-shirts and get completely grooved when the music is being played. Fans mostly end up head banging and are never bothered about the outside world. Though this music is considered to be evil and destructive they have a huge fan base following this popular music. The music is famous across the whole world and everyone young as well as old who love metal music will wait for the concert to begin.