“I grow the nails on my right hand as long as I can”: Steve Harris on Iron Maiden’s Wrathchild

Iron Maiden’s muscular riffs and breathtaking endurance have kept faithful heads banging since the late 1970s, anchored by bassist Steve Harris, who told Bass Player: “A lot of people say I've got a strange style, but I never sat down and tried to copy someone else. You pick up different licks here and there and eventually get your own style, but you can't force it. My style just happened.”

Harris relies on the fingernails on his plucking fingers to deliver his famous, trebly tone. “The nails on my left hand are down to next to nothing because I don't need them, but I grow the nails on my right hand as long as I can without splitting them, so that I can get that trebly sound. If they split I might have to increase the treble on my bass to compensate for it, if that happens.”

And the secret to playing live? “I play my best when I’ve got a lot of adrenaline flowing. It’s a natural thing that just happens – some nights you get more than others. When it's really steamin', you just get this rush.”

Wrathchild has been a staple of Iron Maiden’s live shows since the song was first recorded for 1981's Killers album, back when the band was fronted by Paul Di’Anno. “If you don’t like Wrathchild, then you’re not an Iron Maiden fan!” said the late Slipknot drummer Joey Jordison.

Though it's just under three minutes long, Wrathchild is a riff-packed workout. Harris kicks off the tune with one of the coolest bass guitar intros in the history of metal. When the rest of the band enters, he moves the open E's up an octave to create more forward momentum. Be sure to lean hard on every downbeat to cop the same feel.

In the chorus Harris answers Di’Anno's “Wrathchild!” call with fills on beats three and four. The syncopation sounds tricky, but it's actually the same rhythm Di’Anno sings with the lyrics “coming to get you.” Listen out for the bluesy lick, which closes out the chorus. You'll be hearing that again later in the song.

When Dave Murray launches into a guitar solo at 1:01, Harris isn't far behind, answering the main riff with ripping fills in every other bar. The A# passing tones owe a debt to the blues, and an E harmonic minor lick hints at more exotic influences. Lay out for the two-beat drum solo before heading into the bridge.

Don't be fooled by all of the accidentals in the bridge – the minor pentatonic riffs are essentially the same, just transposed up a fret or two each time. Again, notice the bluesy passing tone that's worked into beat three after each shift.

If you haven't already mastered that lick at the end of the chorus, now's a good time – it comes back to lead into the final verse, and the tune's death cry sees it played three times back-to-back.

In November 1983, two years after Iron Maiden recorded Wrathchild, Guitar Player interviewed Steve Harris and guitarists Adrian Smith and Dave Murray. Harris gave the following insight:

“I won't take a song to the band if I don't think it's good enough. Ego doesn't come into it. If one of us writes a song that's not good, deep down we know it.

“There have only been a couple that I haven't bothered to take, because I spend a lot of time working them out. I'll work out the melody lines and riffs, and build it up layer by layer. I've written most of my songs on my own.”