15 Easiest Metal Songs to Play on Guitar (Ranked by Real Difficulty Ratings)

The easiest metal songs to play on guitar, according to guitarists who actually learned them, are Fade to Black by Metallica (rated 4.4 out of 10), Paranoid by Black Sabbath (4.5), For Whom the Bell Tolls by Metallica (4.5), Enter Sandman (5.4) and Nothing Else Matters (5.4). No metal song with at least three ratings reaches the beginner D tier, so the easiest metal starts in the intermediate C tier, and the 15 songs in this ranking run from 4.4 to 6.4 out of 10. The scores come from the Riff Quest song library, where players rate a song on a 10-point scale after learning it. Metallica takes seven of the 15 places, mostly with ballads and mid-tempo songs that ask less of the picking hand than thrash at full speed.

Key Takeaways

• The ranking is crowd-sourced, not editorial. Each score is the average of ratings left by players who finished the song, pulled from a library of 1,800+ songs in October 2026.
• Metal starts at intermediate. None of the 24 songs that sit in the beginner D tier with three or more ratings is a metal song. The easiest metal song scores 4.4.
• Ballads and clean intros score lowest. Fade to Black, Nothing Else Matters and Welcome Home (Sanitarium) all open with clean arpeggios before the distortion arrives.
• Speed and solos push scores up. Paranoid uses beginner power chords but runs at about 163 BPM, and most songs in the B tier have a solo that is harder than every riff around it.
• Check the tuning first. Vicarious is in drop D and Aerials is in drop C, so playing along in standard tuning sounds wrong even when every fret is right.

How This List Was Built

Every difficulty score in this article comes from the Riff Quest song library. After a player learns a song, the app asks how hard it felt, and the average of those answers becomes the song's difficulty score. The scores are grouped into five tiers: D for beginner (under 4), C for intermediate (4 to 5.9), B for advanced (6 to 7.4), A for expert (7.5 to 8.9) and S for legendary (9 and up).

A song counts as metal here when its main genre in the library is metal or a metal subgenre. Guns N' Roses songs carry a glam metal tag but are filed under rock first, so Patience and their cover of Knockin' on Heaven's Door are left out even though both score lower than most of the list.

The 15 songs are the easiest metal songs with at least three ratings, sorted from the lowest score to the highest. A minimum of three ratings keeps out songs where a single player's opinion is the whole score. Ten of the 15 sit in the C tier and five in the B tier.

Community scores move as more players rate. The numbers here are a snapshot from October 2026, and the live song library always shows the current score for each song.

The 15 Easiest Metal Songs to Play on Guitar, Ranked

1. Fade to Black – Metallica (4.4 / 10)

Fade to Black is the easiest metal song in the Riff Quest library with at least three ratings: nine players scored it at an average of 4.4 out of 10. The song is Metallica's first power ballad, from Ride the Lightning (1984), and it opens with clean, arpeggiated chords before the distorted sections arrive.

The verses and the heavier middle are forgiving. The difficulty sits at the end, where the song turns into a long outro solo. Learn everything up to the outro first and treat the solo as a separate project.

2. Paranoid – Black Sabbath (4.5 / 10)

Paranoid scores 4.5 from 12 ratings, the most of any song in the top three. Every shape in the song is a beginner power chord, in E minor and standard tuning.

The difficulty is the tempo. The riff runs at about 163 BPM for the whole 2:48, and a tense picking hand gives out before the song ends. The Paranoid guitar guide breaks the song down section by section.

3. For Whom the Bell Tolls – Metallica (4.5 / 10)

Four players rated For Whom the Bell Tolls at 4.5. The opening melody most people remember is Cliff Burton on a distorted bass, so the guitar part starts with the chugging riff underneath it.

The song is mid-tempo and built on palm-muted power chords, and it has no long guitar solo, which keeps the score low for a Metallica song. Four ratings is a small sample, so expect the score to move as more players rate it.

4. Enter Sandman – Metallica (5.4 / 10)

Enter Sandman scores 5.4 from 11 ratings. The main riff is mid-tempo, at about 123 BPM in E standard, and palm-muted, which makes Enter Sandman the friendliest way into Metallica's heavier songs.

The wah solo is what pushes the score past the C-tier songs ahead of it. Most players can play the riffs months before the solo. The Enter Sandman guitar guide covers the riff, the tone and the solo.

5. Nothing Else Matters – Metallica (5.4 / 10)

Nothing Else Matters has the most ratings in this ranking: 19 players scored it at 5.4. The song is a slow 6/8 ballad in E minor, and the famous intro is fingerpicked on open strings.

The first sixteen bars are easier than the score suggests. The difficulty starts after the second chorus, in the interlude and the solo. The Nothing Else Matters guitar guide maps where each part gets harder.

6. 5 Minutes Alone – Pantera (5.6 / 10)

Ten players scored 5 Minutes Alone at 5.6, and it is the only Pantera song in the library with more than one rating. The song, from Far Beyond Driven (1994), is a heavy mid-tempo groove rather than a fast thrash riff.

The riffs leave the picking hand time between hits, so the main challenge is playing them tight and heavy rather than fast. Dimebag Darrell's solo is a large step up from the rest of the song.

7. Fear of the Dark – Iron Maiden (5.7 / 10)

Fear of the Dark, the title track of Iron Maiden's 1992 album, scores 5.7 from three ratings. It opens quietly and builds into a fast section carried by the band's trademark twin-guitar melody.

The single-note melody is the part everyone knows and the most approachable part of the song. Length is the real obstacle: the song runs over seven minutes, and the energy has to hold for all of it.

8. Vicarious – Tool (5.7 / 10)

Vicarious opens Tool's 10,000 Days (2006) and scores 5.7 from three ratings. The song is in drop D, so the low string has to be tuned down a whole step before anything sounds right.

Adam Jones builds the guitar part from a small number of notes, so the fretting hand has little to do. The difficulty is counting, because the riffs move through odd meters, and losing the count once means losing the whole section.

9. The Pot – Tool (5.7 / 10)

The Pot, also from 10,000 Days, scores the same 5.7 from three players. As with Vicarious, the challenge is locking in with Tool's rhythm section rather than fast or complicated fretting.

The Pot rewards learning the bass line and the drum pattern before the guitar part. Once the groove is in your head, the guitar notes fall into place.

10. Iron Man – Black Sabbath (5.8 / 10)

Five players rated Iron Man at 5.8. The main riff is one of the most recognisable in metal, slow power chords that a beginner can find in an afternoon.

The score comes from the rest of the song. The tempo picks up in the middle section, and Tony Iommi's solo is the hardest part of the track.

11. Seek & Destroy – Metallica (6.0 / 10)

Seek & Destroy, from Kill 'Em All (1983), scores 6.0 from eight ratings and is the first B-tier song in the ranking. The riffs sit around the open E string at about 140 BPM, in E standard.

Every riff is downpicked, but not at Master of Puppets speed, which makes Seek & Destroy the most forgiving way to learn thrash downpicking. The solo is fast only in places. The Seek & Destroy guitar guide covers the downpicking build-up.

12. Aerials – System of a Down (6.0 / 10)

Aerials, from Toxicity (2001), scores 6.0 from three ratings. The song is in drop C, like the rest of the album, so the guitar needs retuning before playing along.

Daron Malakian's riffs on Aerials are slower and more melodic than most System of a Down songs, which is why it sits at the easy end of the band's catalogue.

13. Welcome Home (Sanitarium) – Metallica (6.3 / 10)

Welcome Home (Sanitarium), from Master of Puppets (1986), scores 6.3 from three ratings. The song opens with a clean, arpeggiated intro that sounds like a ballad.

The last third is a different song: the tempo jumps into thrash riffs and solos. Learn the clean section first, and add the ending once downpicked riffs at speed feel comfortable.

14. Symphony of Destruction – Megadeth (6.4 / 10)

Symphony of Destruction, from Countdown to Extinction (1992), scores 6.4 from five ratings. The main riff is palm-muted and mid-tempo, slower and more repetitive than most Megadeth songs.

The riff is learnable early. Marty Friedman's solo is where most of the difficulty sits, and it is the reason the song lands in the B tier.

15. One – Metallica (6.4 / 10)

One, from ...And Justice for All (1988), scores 6.4 from five ratings. The song starts clean and slow and ends in one of Metallica's fastest sections, with rapid triplet riffs over machine-gun double bass.

The first half of One is far easier than the score. A player who can handle the clean intro and the mid-tempo riffs can play half the song long before the ending is within reach.

More Metal Songs With Fewer Ratings

A handful of metal songs in the Riff Quest library score as low as the top of this ranking but have only one or two ratings, which is too few to rank with confidence. Sober by Tool scores 4.0 from two ratings. Black Sabbath's song Black Sabbath and System of a Down's ATWA both score 4.5 from two ratings. Sweating Bullets by Megadeth scores 5.0 from two ratings.

Sad But True by Metallica scores 4.0 from a single rating. Rating any of these songs after learning it is the fastest way to move it into the main ranking.

Why No Metal Song Scores as a Beginner Song

The easiest songs in the whole library, such as Seven Nation Army at 2.3, are single riffs or open-chord strummers at comfortable tempos. The 15 easiest songs to play on guitar all score under 4, and none of them is metal.

Metal adds three demands that open-chord songs do not have. Palm muting has to stay consistent for the whole song. Downpicking at speed builds fatigue that strumming does not. High gain makes every unmuted string audible, so sloppy technique that disappears on a clean sound becomes obvious.

Each of those demands is learnable, and none of them needs years of playing. They are the reason a song with four power chords, such as Paranoid, scores higher than a song with five open chords, such as Hey Joe.

Ballads and Mid-Tempo Songs Come First

Three of the five easiest songs in this ranking are ballads or mid-tempo songs. Fade to Black and Nothing Else Matters open with clean arpeggios, and For Whom the Bell Tolls never speeds up.

Speed explains much of the gap between the tiers. Seek & Destroy at about 140 BPM sits in the B tier, while Enter Sandman at about 123 BPM sits in the C tier, and the riffs in both songs are built around the open E string.

Check the Tuning Before Playing Along

Paranoid, Enter Sandman, Nothing Else Matters and Seek & Destroy are all in E standard, so they work on a guitar straight out of the case.

Vicarious is in drop D, with only the low E string tuned down a whole step. Aerials is in drop C, which drops the low string two whole steps and every other string a whole step. Playing either song in standard tuning along with the record sounds wrong even when every fret is correct.

How to Learn Your First Metal Song

A short daily warm-up makes the riffs hold at speed. The guitar speed and hand synchronization exercises train the picking and fretting coordination that downpicked metal riffs depend on.

Picking the Right Metal Song for Your Level

A player who can already strum open chords cleanly should start with the C-tier songs at the top of the ranking: Fade to Black, Paranoid, For Whom the Bell Tolls and Enter Sandman.

After two or three C-tier songs, Seek & Destroy is the natural step into the B tier and into thrash downpicking. Master of Puppets, a song most metal players have on their list, rates far higher, and the Master of Puppets guide explains why its eight minutes of downpicking take months of preparation.

The full guide to finding guitar songs by difficulty explains how to read the tiers and move up one at a time.

FAQs

What is the easiest metal song to play on guitar?

Fade to Black by Metallica is the easiest metal song in the Riff Quest library with at least three ratings, scoring 4.4 out of 10 from nine players. Paranoid by Black Sabbath is close behind at 4.5 from 12 ratings, with only beginner power chords but a fast tempo of about 163 BPM.

What is the easiest Metallica song on guitar?

Fade to Black, at 4.4 out of 10, is the easiest Metallica song with at least three ratings, followed by For Whom the Bell Tolls at 4.5. Enter Sandman and Nothing Else Matters both score 5.4, and Seek & Destroy is the first Metallica song in the B tier at 6.0.

Can a beginner play metal songs on guitar?

A complete beginner will find even the easiest metal songs hard, because none of them scores in the beginner D tier. Two or three open-chord songs first build the fretting accuracy and timing that metal riffs need, and then Fade to Black, Paranoid or Enter Sandman are realistic next steps.

Is Enter Sandman easy to play on guitar?

Enter Sandman scores 5.4 out of 10, which puts it in the intermediate C tier. The main riff is mid-tempo at about 123 BPM, palm-muted and in E standard, so most players can learn it early. The wah solo is the hardest part and usually comes much later.

Do I need to retune my guitar to play metal songs?

Check each song before playing along. Paranoid, Enter Sandman, Nothing Else Matters and Seek & Destroy are in E standard, Vicarious by Tool is in drop D and Aerials by System of a Down is in drop C. Learning a riff in standard tuning works for practice, but playing along with the record needs the record's tuning.