Guitar Songs, Tabs & Lessons

Game of Thrones

1 guitar song · Tabs, Lessons & Tone Guide Soundtrack

Choose a Game of Thrones Song to Play

About This Collection

Game of Thrones is an Israeli progressive rock/metal band fronted by Kfir Ochaion, emerging from the contemporary Middle Eastern rock scene with a sound rooted in heavy riffs, complex time signatures, and atmospheric arrangements. The band represents a modern approach to prog-metal, blending influences from classic metal foundations with intricate compositional structures that demand serious technical chops from anyone attempting to learn their material. What makes Game of Thrones essential for guitarists is their commitment to riff-driven songwriting that never sacrifices musicality for complexity, creating songs that are genuinely challenging to execute but deeply rewarding once mastered. Kfir Ochaion's guitar work sits at the intersection of precision and feel, combining downpicked power chords with legato passages and carefully voiced extended chords that showcase knowledge of both metal and jazz harmony. The overall difficulty to learn ranges from intermediate to advanced depending on the track, with rhythm parts requiring tight picking discipline and lead passages demanding quick finger transitions, vibrato control, and solid ear training for navigating non-standard scales and modal frameworks. The band's approach appeals to guitarists seeking to develop both technical proficiency and compositional awareness, as their songs reveal the thought process behind every riff choice and arrangement decision.

What Makes Game of Thrones Essential for Guitar Players

  • Downpicked riff construction: Ochaion builds foundation riffs using strict downpicking on palm-muted power chords, then layers harmonic complexity on top by mixing single-note runs with suspended and extended chord voicings, forcing you to develop right-hand consistency and left-hand agility simultaneously.
  • Non-standard tunings and drop-tuning variations: Game of Thrones frequently uses alternate tunings and dropped variations to achieve heavier, more resonant tones while maintaining note articulation; learning these songs teaches you how to adapt scale muscle memory to different tuning systems and recognize how tuning affects sustain and harmonic overtones.
  • Modal interchange and harmonic ambiguity: Rather than relying on simple major-minor tonality, the band explores Dorian, Phrygian, and Mixolydian modes across single songs, creating an unstable, progressing harmonic landscape that trains your ear to hear chord function beyond V-I resolutions and teaches you to compose with modal tension.
  • Legato and tap techniques in lead sections: Ochaion's lead work incorporates hammer-ons, pull-offs, and tapping sequences that require independent finger strength and timing precision; these passages teach fluid note connection and help develop the hand independence needed for complex melodic passages without relying on pick articulation.
  • Dynamic control through volume swells and tone shaping: The band uses guitar volume knob swells, pickup switching, and subtle amp settings to create dynamic shifts within single phrases; learning this approach teaches you how to add expression without effects, emphasizing the relationship between touch, gear settings, and musical intention.

Did You Know?

Kfir Ochaion's approach to guitar tone emphasizes organic saturation from tube amplifier headroom rather than pedal stacking, meaning his clarity in fast passage work comes from playing dynamics and pick attack, not digital processing, a discipline that forces precise technique development.

The band frequently employs open string resonance and sympathetic vibration in their riff construction, letting unfretted strings ring underneath palm-muted sections to create a fuller, more organic tone that requires careful muting technique and awareness of the entire neck's acoustic properties.

Game of Thrones' compositional process often starts with riff ideas that would be considered 'too metal' for prog contexts, but they arrange these riffs with harmonic reharmonization and textural layering, teaching guitarists how to elevate heavy material through smart arrangement and orchestration choices.

Ochaion's picking technique balances economy of motion with deliberate articulation, using minimal wrist movement while maintaining note separation in fast runs; this efficiency mirrors classical guitar technique and demonstrates how metal speed comes from smart mechanics, not just hand velocity.

The band records guitars with both single-coil brightness and humbucker thickness layered in the mix, creating separation between rhythm and lead tones; this mixing philosophy teaches guitarists that tone shaping happens in production, and understanding how your guitar sits in a mix matters as much as the gear itself.

Essential Albums for Guitarists

Game of Thrones (Self-Titled) 2019

The debut album establishes the band's core sound and serves as the essential starting point for learning their vocabulary of riffs and techniques. Tracks showcase downpicking discipline, modal interchange, and the balance between metal heaviness and progressive sophistication that defines their approach to composition and arrangement.

How to Practice Game of Thrones on GuitarZone

Every Game of Thrones song page on GuitarZone includes a built-in Practice Toolbar. No app to download, no account needed. Open any song, then use the toolbar to slow the video to 0.5× speed, set an A/B loop around the exact riff you're working on, and jump between song sections instantly.

The toolbar appears automatically on every guitar tab, lesson, and cover page. Pick a song below, hit play, and start practicing at your own pace.