Creeping Death Tab by Metallica

Creeping Death tab by Metallica (Ver. 2)

Guitar Tab

Difficulty: Intermediate 💪

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)

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||-------------------|-----------|------------------|----------||---------|
||-------------------|-----------|------------------|----------||---------|
||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-|
 ||-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.
People, this is the end of the solo. I think it???s the kewlest sounding part, so
thats I bothered to figure out. Listen to the CD, and this is exactly how it sounds.
I???d say this is the last 30 seconds the solo. Right when James is going into the
routine chorus progression.


(End of solo)        (bend and release)
|-----------------------------------------------------------12--12-14-15-17-|
|---------------10-----------------------------10--12-13-15-----------------|
|--9----9-11-12----12--11^12^11--------9-11-12------------------------------|
|--------------------------------12-----------------------------------------|
|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|

|--15-14-12--17---17-19--20---19--17--15--15r14r12-15r14r12-15r14r12-15r14r12|
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|

|15r14r12-15r14r12-15r14r12-15r14r12-17r15r14-17r15r14-17r15r14-17r15r14-|
|------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------------|

|17r15r14-17r15r14-17r15r14-17r15r14-19r17r15-19r17r15-19r17r15-19r17r15-|
|------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------------|

(bend and hold)
|20r17r15-20r17r15-20r17r15-20r17r15--22^24---24---24---|
|-------------------------------------------------------|
|-------------------------------------------------------|
|-------------------------------------------------------|
|-------------------------------------------------------|
|-------------------------------------------------------|
If you???re like me, and don???t have 24 frets on your guitar, then you???ll have
an awful lot of hard bending to do from the 21st. I play a Stratocaster. I have no idea
Kirk plays this with.

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-||
 -----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||
 ||---------------|----|-----------------|------||
 ||---------------|----|-----------------|------||
             ~~~~~~~~~~~~           ~~~~~~~

                                                                     x3
 --------------|---|-----------|---||------------|---|-----------|----||
 --------------|---|-----------|---||------------|---|-----------|----||
 -----9--7-5-4-|-4-|-4-5-4---5-|-5-||o-5-9-5-7-4-|-4-|-4-5-4---4-|-4-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
 --------|
 --------|
 --------|

Last updated: September 10, 2025

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