Tony Iommi

• Tune down at least a half step (Eb) — C# for early Sabbath, D for later material
• Use the neck pickup for maximum thickness on riff-based parts
• The Rangemaster boosted the treble into the amp — not a modern overdrive pedal
• Iommi plays with custom plastic thimble fingertips; use a slightly softer pick attack
• Power of three: palm-muted root, open power chord, tritone (the "devil's interval")
• Slow, deliberate picking tempo — early Sabbath riffs are slower than they sound
• Amp EQ: bass 7, mid 5, treble 6, presence 6 — dark but articulate
• String bends are minimal; Iommi's expression comes from riff and vibrato on single notes
• Study "Iron Man" and "Black Sabbath" for the two defining Iommi riff archetypes

Tony Iommi invented heavy metal. After losing the tips of two fingers in an industrial accident, he tuned his strings down — creating the dark, slow, heavily de-tuned riff vocabulary that launched a genre. His SG into a loud Laney, pushed with a treble booster, is the foundation of all heavy music that followed.