Creeping Death

As performed by Metallica

From "Ride the Lightning"

Words & Music By : James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Cliff Burton, & Kirk Hammett

Musical Definitions at the end of file.

Typed by : Christopher Sean Forgeron

Spread this around all you want.

Tempo = Fast Rock = 184 bpm

Intro

(Ryth Fig 1) (end Ryth Fig 1)

&-#---||----------------|---|-----------------|----||

&-----||----------------|---|-----------------|----||

&---4-||o-----------%---|---|-----------%-----|---o||

&---4-||o-----------%-9-|-9-|-----------%-9-7-|-7-o||

&-----||--------------9-|-9-|-------------9-7-|-7--||

&-----||--0-0-0-0-0---7-|-7-|-0-0-0-0-0---7-5-|-5--||

~~~~~ ~~~~~

w/Ryth Fig 1 (once)

||-------------------|-----------|------------------|----------||---------|

||o-------------%----|-------%-}-|------------------|-----%-}-o||-}-------|

||o-------------%-9--|-9--9--%-}-|-----------%-9--7-|-7-7-%-}-o||-}-------|

||----------------10-|-10-10-----|-----------%-10-9-|-9-9------||---7-5-5-|

||--0-0-0-0-0-0------|-----------|-0-0-0-0-0--------|----------||---5-3-2-|

~~~~~~~ ~~~~~

(Ryth Fig 3) (end Ryt Fig 3)(Ryth Fig 4) (end Ryth Fig 4)

x8 x4

||------------------|----------------------||-------------|------------------||

||o-----------------|---------------------o||o------------|-----------------o||

||o-----2-----2---2-|-----2---------------o||o------------|-----------------o||

||------2-----2---2-|-----2---2-3-2-3-2-0--||-----5-----5-|------------------||

||--0-0---0-0---0---|-0-0---0--------------||-0-0-3-0-0-3-|-0-0-2-2-2-2-2-2--||

H P P

You then play Ryth Fig 3 four times, and then continue.

|---|---|---|---------|

|---|---|---|---------| The singing starts. Keep playing Ryth Fig 3

|---|---|---|---4-6---| until the singing stops (16 bars later) then

|-2-|-2-|-2-|-2-4-6-4-| start playing Ryth Fig 4 four times.

|-2-|-2-|-2-|-2-2-4-4-|

|-0-|-0-|-0-|-0-----2-|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chorus

E5 C5 D5 F5 G5 @

||---|-------------|---|------|---|-------------|---------|---|-------------|

||-9-|-9-------5-7-|-7-|-7/10-|-9-|-9-------5-7-|-/10-12\-|-7-|-7-------5-7-|

||-7-|-7-------3-5-|-5-|-5/8--|-7-|-7-------3-5-|-/8--10\-|-5-|-9-------3-5-|

||---|---0-0-0-----|---|------|---|---0-0-0-----|---------|---|---0-0-0-----|

~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~

w/Ryth Fig 3 (twice)

---|------|---|-------------|---|---------|---||

---|------|---|-------------|---|---------|---|| Go back up to the part where

-7-|-7/10-|-9-|-9-------5-7-|-7-|-7-4-6-4-|-4-|| the singing starts

-7-|-7/10-|-9-|-9-------5-7-|-7-|-7-4-6-4-|-4-||

-5-|-5/8--|-7-|-7-------3-5-|-5-|-5-2-4-2-|-2-||

---|------|---|---0-0-0-----|---|---------|---||

~~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~

Lotsa solo stuff. Damned fast, but not hard. Usual pentatonic minor soloing.

Bridge

(Half Time Feel)

(This is the "Die, by my hands..." part)

Each chord is a half note, except the E which is 4 quarter notes using only

the bottom string. The progression is like this:

E5 E E E E F5 D5 E5 E E E E G5 F5 (x3)

Then it's Ryth Fig 3 for 6 bars. On the sixth bar, another gutair plays the

following:

|-----------|

|-----------| Go back to where the singing originally started. Play it

|-[~3~]-7\--| through with the third verse, and when you hit the @ sign,

|-2-3-5-7\\-| go to this next part.

|-2-3-5-5\\-|

|-0-1-3---\-|

Ryth Fig 9

-----------------|-------|-------------------|-------||

-----2-----2---2-|-2-2-2-|-----2-----2-----3-|-3-0-0-||

-0-0---0-0---0---|-------|-0-0---0-0---0-0---|-------||

~~~~~ ~~~~~

(Following Can be played by 2 guitars, one high, one low, but one can do it)

w/Ryth Fig 9

/\ x3

||---/--\--------|----|------/\---------|------||

||--15--15-13-12-|-12-|-12-12--12----13-|-13---||

||o-14--14-12-11-|-11-|-11-11--11-14-12-|-12--o||

||o--------------|----|-----------14----|-----o||

||---------------|----|-----------------|------||

~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~

--------------|---|-----------|---||------------|---|-----------|----||

-----9--7-5-4-|-4-|-4-5-4---5-|-5-||o-5-9-5-7-4-|-4-|-4-5-4---4-|-4-o||

-----7--5-3-2-|-2-|-2-3-2-0-3-|-3-||--3-7-3-5-2-|-2-|-2-3-2-0-2-|-2--||

-0-0----------|---|-----------|---||------------|---|-----------|----||

~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~

Something for 4 bars... Probably one of the above riffs.

Ryth Fig 2 (twice) Then it's free time.

Then it's 4 chords, with a slight retard:

-----|-----|---|

-*---|-----|---|

-*---|-----|-2-|

---7-|-5-5-|-2-|

---5-|-3-2-|-0-|

Trill

Now, in the Exact same bar where the E5 Trill starts, this scale starts, with

two guitars.

|-------------|-------------|-14-15--14----|-------------|----------|----|

|-------------|-------16-17-|--7--8---7-17-|-16----------|----------|----|

|----------14-|-16-17--8--9-|------------9-|--8-17-16-14-|----------|----|

|-14-16-17--7-|--9-10-------|--------------|----10--9--7-|-17-16-14-|-14-|

|--7--9-10----|-------------|--------------|-------------|-10--9--7-|--7-|

|-------------|-------------|--------------|-------------|----------|----|

~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~

H H P P

And of course, it ends with 2 hard E5 chords, and a slide to nothing.

% = Quarter Rest O = Whole Note / = Quarter Note \ = Thirty-Second

} = Full Rest o = Half Note | = Sixteenth

-||-- --||- ---|---

-||-- --||- This is the repeat ---|--- A tied note. You only

-||o- -o||- loop. It is repeated ---|--- play it once, and hold

-||o- -o||- 1 time (x1) unless -2-|-2- it.

-||-- --||- otherwise marked at -2-|-2-

-||-- --||- the top. -0-|-0-

begin end ~~~~~

--- --- --- --- ---/\---

--- --- --- --- --/--\-- Bend up

-%- Quarter -}- Full -*- 1 Beat -*- 2 Beat -12--12- a full note

-%- Rest -}- Rest --- Rest -*- Rest --------

--- --- --- --- --------

--------

---/\--- Bend up

-12--12- a half note

--------

- That's it.. Enjoy.