27 Easy Metal Songs on Guitar for Beginners (with tabs)

Classic metal-masterpiece that has crunchy but easy riffs. In the solo, things speed up a little but are far from hard.

The doom-laden main riff of Black Sabbath’s eponymous song was enough to completely change rock music forever. It also features a few other easy riffs, as well as a simple solo.

Written as a filler, “Paranoid” became Sabbath’s biggest song. It consists of a few simple riffs and one brief solo. It’s also known for its use of palm muting.

This hit consists of few simple riffs and a couple 1-3 note licks that come close to a real solo.

“You’ve Got Another Thing Comin'” is another great example by Judas Priest. It features a steady tempo and power chord riffs, making it really easy for a beginner to learn.

Hiring Randy Rhoads was one of Ozzy Osbourne’s best decisions. After all, he did write most of the music for Ozzy’s first single and his biggest hit song, “Crazy Train.”

Riffs are pretty simple and 90% of the solo and licks are too. But especially the final alternate picking section of the solo requires some serious practice.

Even with its relatively fast tempo, the good-sounding riffs of am I evil are simple. Solo can sound super hard, but the tapping parts of it are actually surprisingly easy to master.

Ronnie James Dio managed to change metal music with his simple yet really effective song “Holy Diver.” Even to this day, it remains one of the essential metal songs that everyone needs to know.

“Seek and Destroy” has one of the catchiest main riffs. What’s more, Metallica also added some other interesting parts and changes, all of which aren’t that challenging to learn.

Song based on the novel of one of the greatest writers of all time, Ernest Hemingway. And the best part? This song sounds amazing and is easy to play!

“Symphony of Destruction” is well-known for its simple and heavy main riff. Overall the riffs are easy. But the solo ranks among the hardest of the songs featured on this post.

Coming from the band’s Paul Di’Anno era, Iron Maiden cemented their place in metal with “Wrathchild.” The song consists of rather simple riffs and also has a simple structure.

Of course, “The Trooper” is another one of Maiden’s simple songs that you should check out. It will help you learn new picking and fretting hand techniques.

At first, it can sound super-hard, but its fast riffs are easier to master than most think…

Solos with Maiden’s songs are always a bit tricky, but the riffs of the Wasted Years are easy to learn but sound just amazing!

From start to finish, “Ace of Spades” is a straightforward metal piece. And this is not uncommon for most of Mötorhead’s catalog.

While their songs are usually faster and more challenging, Pantera’s “Walk” is rather simple and will teach you to use proper bending. Of course, we would exclude the solo here, since it’s a bit too complex to learn quickly.

While most of Tool’s stuff is more complex and difficult to learn, “Sober” from their debut full-length “Undertow” is a pretty simple one. With it, you’ll see what can be done with the drop D tuning.

This long-form masterpiece by Tool is both worth the listen and easy to learn. Sure it can take some time to master a song this long, but gladly there is nothing too complex to learn.

If you’re up for some really heavy stuff, but still want to keep things simple, then go with Sepultura’s classic “Refuse/Resist.”

Like most of the SOAD’s songs, Toxicity doesn’t include solo. But this song really packs a punch of easy riffs that are full of energy. This song uses Drop C tuning.

The best thing about learning System of a Down’s “Aerials” is the clean part that repeats throughout the song. It will teach you proper economy picking technique.

Another great beginner song by System of a Down is “Lonely Day.” It’s a simple ballad that can also be performed on an acoustic guitar.

This song has perhaps the hardest riffs to master from this list, but especially the main riff is something really rewarding to learn. And not too hard either.

This modern metal ballad is easy enough to get started with but hard enough to keep things interesting and rewarding.

And going to the band’s earlier days, “Unholy Confessions” was a nice blend of metal and metalcore. What’s more, the song isn’t that hard to learn if you’re a beginner or intermediate player.

Avenged Sevenfold is one of the rare modern metal bands that pushed the boundaries. However, they kept things simpler and straightforward in a piece like “This Means War.” Nonetheless, it’s still an awesome track.

A song that was shaped by controversial comments made by former Pantera vocalist Phil Anselmo doesn’t include a solo at all but has riffs that even beginners can master.