Thrash Metal Spider Riffing – Part 1

Fellow Metalheads, this three lesson part series will help you get acquainted with Spider riffing technique which is heavily used in Thrash Metal. It got the name spider riffing because the movement of your fingers looks like crawl of a spider.  It was invented by the legendary Dave Mustaine in 80’s and you can find its application in songs like Ride the Lightening and Wake Up Dead.

Mastering this technique will allow you to move through the chords quicker, reduce the string noise and economy of motion when shifting chords on same or different set of strings arranged in chromatic manner.

Let’s kick things off with part 1 of the series.

To start, form F5 chord on low E string. Your index finger should be on fret 1 of low E and ring finger on fret 3 of A string and give it a strum. Now place your middle finger on fret 2 of low E and pinky finger on fret 4 of A string (forming F#5 chord) and give it a strum. This is the basic technique of spider riffing. Now move chromatically across the fretboard till fret 12 and descend till fret 1. You can follow the tabs below:

Figure 1:

Practice this technique on A and D string as well starting with Bb5 chord. You can follow the tabs below:

Figure 2:

Start with a speed that is comfortable to you and slowly increase the tempo as you get familiar with the technique.

Download the PDF here for the lesson tabs.

We’ll be back with the second part of this series soon. Till then, happy riffing! \m/