Instruments
There are many instruments used in heavy metal. The most famous is the electric guitar. The electric guitar was invented in 1931(Martin) and was used in jazz music to amplify its sound much like how it is used today. It has six metal strings for strumming. These strings can be played using your fingers or a guitar pick. In heavy metal it is used to create thick power chords and various sounds and to shred during guitar solos. It is the most widely used instrument in rock and roll.
The electric bass is the next instrument. It was also invented during the 1930s (The History of the Modern Bass Guitar). The bass is played by slapping or thumping the strings with your fingers. The role of the instrument is to lay down the bass line of the song and compliment the guitar. It is also played through an amplifier like the electric guitar. It has four strings and is also used to perform solos.
The drum kit is the next instrument in the lineup. The drum kit was developed from an ensemble of different percussion instruments. It started in 1890 with just an arrangement of various percussion instruments that were all played by hand. But as time went on more and more instruments were added to the set thus creating the drum kits that we see today. Drum kits are used to do many things music, let alone heavy metal. Drum kits set the beat of the song and the speed. They give a song the mood, whether the song is upbeat or slow and smooth. Without the drum kit, heavy metal would not have the fast syncopation it needs to be heavy metal. Heavy metal uses rapid double bass drumming in its songs to give the song the aggression that it needs to fit the genre qualifications. It plays an important role in death metal and black metal.
The last instrument of the day is the human voice. The vocals play the most important part of the song, they sing the lyrics. The vocals of heavy metal come in all different types, depending on which heavy metal genre you are listening to. Death metal and black metal, along with doom/gothic metal, uses the human voice to darken to mood of the song. The person who has this role is called the screamer. The screamer does what it sounds like they do, they scream. Lyrics are spoken through the various scream levels. The pig squeal is what the high pitch scream is called, given the name because it sounds like a squealing pig. The death growl is a low pitch growl used to give a dark feel to the moment. The death growl is mostly used to speak the more disturbing lyrics in a song. The screamer may also sing in a normal singing voice. But the amazing part about screamers that also sing is that their voices never sound hoarse after screaming. They normally transition into a singing part of the song without a break in between parts. In order to be able to do this the screamers must go through intense voice training to keep their voices from going away after screaming. Lastly, the voice range of the scream must be vast. In order to death growl and pig squeal the screamer must have a wide range of vocals. In conclusion, a person must be very talented to fit role of screamer in a heavy metal band.