Ok so last weekend I played Hammerfest with Waylander. We were supporting Anthrax, and some other awesome bands, which for any metal fan was kinda awesome (as was partying with Sam Totman from DragonForce, who is a really cool guy). There are many tales to be told from the whole weekend, but that asides, I started thinking about ActionTabbing my favourite Antrhrax song for you, so here it is!

This is one of Anthrax's easier / most popular songs. It is a mix of thrash and punk, so is simple but very fast in places. It's all powerchords and standard metal rhythm techniques, no solos:

Chorus - The song starts with the chorus riff. This is an easy 4 chord cycle. With some practice you should be able to build up the speed properly. Just watch that you palm mute the second powerchord as you strum. Scott Ian uses quite light palm muting here. The choruses always finish with this tail.

Verse - A really simple powerchord riff. But it is fast, so you really need to build up speed on the fast alternate strums. The fretboard hand just holds one powerchord, so all the work is down to your picking hand. There are quite a few gaps in the song where the guitars are silent. Notice that this riff sometimes leads into the pre-chorus:

Pre-Chorus - Really straightforward stuff here. This short pre-chorus is just a few powerchord changes to bridge between verse / chorus riffs.

Chorus Variant - In the middle of the song, they play this simple variation of the earlier Choruses. It is the same 4 chord progression, the only difference is that each chord is strummed 4 times (and no palm muting)!

Interlude - There is an interlude in the song where the guitars just play 1 chord and strike it on the offbeats. Meanwhile the bass does a mad solo. Notice that each powerchord is muted between strikes to make it nice and choppy. If you find the timing weird, do a quick muted downstrum just before doing the upstroke. It will sound fine and help you keep time. Or, if you are ok with your timing but find the upstroke is throwing you, just use a downstroke instead. It really doesn't matter how you play it as long as you get the stabs in the right places!

That is all the song riffs you need for the whole song!