
Learn to play songs from Darkest Hour's Kris Norris.
Lesson 1
Kris teaches this song from his former band Darkest Hour. It uses the musical form "Passacaglia."
Length: 12:56 Difficulty: 4.5 Members OnlyLesson 2
Kris Norris teaches the song "Convalescence" by his former band Darkest Hour.
Length: 17:14 Difficulty: 4.0 Members OnlyLesson 3
Kris teaches the solo from the song "Tunguska." This song can be found on the albumDeliver Us by his former band, Darkest Hour.
Length: 11:00 Difficulty: 4.0 Members OnlyLesson 4
Kris takes you through this song from Deliver Us by his former band, Darkest Hour.
Length: 30:00 Difficulty: 4.5 Members OnlyLesson 5
Kris teaches you this song from Undoing Ruin by his former band Darkest Hour.
Length: 36:16 Difficulty: 4.5 Members OnlyLesson 6
Kris teaches you this song from Deliver Us by his former band Darkest Hour.
Length: 24:11 Difficulty: 4.0 Members OnlyLesson 7
Kris Norris teaches this sludgy down-tuned metal song from the band Entombed.
Length: 12:03 Difficulty: 1.5 Members Only
About Kris Norris
View Full Biography
Mr. Kris Norris was born August, 31 1978 in Canton, Ohio. He began playing around the age of 14. Early on the self-taught guitarist took an interest in metal and began playing in a local Virginia metal band. Kris' early influences were rooted in Swedish metal, bands include In Flames, Dark Tranquility, and Edge of Sanity. Norwegian Black metal also played a part in Kris' interest including early Mayhem, Emperor, and Ulver. Kris started Disinterment with future Darkest Hour bandmate Ryan Parrish. Disinterment lasted over 6 years and developed a local following in the Virginia metal by being some of the first players to incorporate Swedish metal and 3 guitar players.
College Days
When Kris was 17 he attended Virgina Commonwealth University School of Music (VCU). He studied Music composition and focused on film with world renowned composer Dika Newlin. Kris also studied classical guitar with John Patykula, prize student of Jesus Silva who was the prize student of Andre Segovia. Kris left the University after 6 years of studies. After college, he began his teaching career instructing private students and giving lessons at Mars Music. Kris' teaching career would eventually be put on hold to join Darkest Hour.
Darkest Hour Days
Kris' first album with Darkest Hour ,Hidden Hands Of A Sadist Nation, the 2005 release was recorded at Studio Fredman in Gothenburg, Sweden with producer Fredrik Nordstrom. Ironically, the same studio facilitated many of Kris' influences 10 years prior.
Darkest Hour's next release, Undoing Ruin allowed Kris to stretch his wings and show what he could truly do on the instrument with the addition of several solos. The record was produced by Canadian metal mastermind Devin Townsend (Strapping Young Lad, Steve Vai). Townsend was a big part of pushing Kris to his own musical potential on Undoing Ruin and even more so on the follow up record, Deliver Us.
Deliver Us was released in 2007 and debuted at 110 on the Billboard Chart. This would be the last Darkest Hour record with Kris as a member. The album like its predecessor was also produced by Devin Townsend, who was able to take a bigger hand in its production. Devin pushed Kris to experiment with his own playing and to hone in on his strongest abilities.
Kris' career with Darkest Hour spanned 6 years, 23 countries, 4 continents, countless tours, 3 albums, near 200,000 album sales, and many lifelong friendships made along the way. With the birth of his son in 2008, Kris felt he needed to take his career closer to home while still focusing on music and guitar. In order for Darkest Hour to devote 100% to their music and touring, Kris came to the decision to amicably part ways with the band.
His Future:
As of early 2009, Kris has full sponsorships from ESP, EMG, Peavey, DigiTech, InTune, and Morley. Currently, Kris is producing and mixing aspiring metal acts while also working for Final Symphony Studios out of Charlottesville, Virgina. Kris also edits records for James Murphy (Testament, Obituary, Death) at Safehouse Productions. Kris has released his first solo record through Magna Carta Records, entitled Icons Of The Illogical. His solo effort was recorded at Karma Productions with Cory Smoot (GWAR) and features vocals from Lamb Of God frontman Randy Blythe.
Kris is excited to be an addition to the JamPlay Instructor Roster. Lending his metal chops and thorough education to his lessons make him a valuable teacher. Kris is excited to be making lessons for JamPlay and just as stoked to learn new things from our other instructors. Check it out and stay Metal.
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Member Comments about this Lesson
Discussions with our instructors are just one of the many benefits of becoming a member of JamPlay.sick song i love it , but i'm not good enough yet.thanks kris :)
Actually now that I look at it a lot of the tabs are a little off from what Kris is actually playing... Any explanation for this?
From playing along myself I'm playing an octave on the 11th fret on the A string with an open E (D) string. E0 A11 DX G13
sorry guys there is actually a 3rd and 4th guitar track on the intro and the 3rd is what i was playing in this lesson since thats what i did live but there is only tab for the 2 main guitars that I posted here.
Can someone please tab out that chord in the intro that's played around the 12th fret? The supplemental content tabbed it out differently than he plays it for some reason.
One of the best songs ever! I have no business trying to play it but thanks anyways for making this lesson.
Kris could you please teach sound the surrender I would really appreciate it.
why is the song called demons?
do you have more songs for us or no?
NNNOOOOOOOOO.....i can play everything but the solo!!!!!!!! I'll put up a cover soon on youtube.com! check out with a thousand words to say but one and many more on my page metalguitarist824
i checked out your youtube cover nice job man! one thing i really like is how you had the guitar louder than the cd, can hear you play more than the cd so its nice to be able to tell again great job!
can u give us more songs to learn?
best song ever.i love this song
I hate that Metalcore is so hard to play, I wanna learn to play guitar and its really hard to start with this ;(. Well i can play it on drums :)
are you a drum player?
do you have tabs
it's a cool song but could you explain it a little more easy
hey kris you look like eminem
anyone know how to get that badass sound he has I've been trying with my guitar rig and no luck yet :( any ideas?
Cool song, how about a song from Kris Norris Projekt :D
Awesome lesson Kris, too bad the tab sucks, whatever though, Ill know it better if I write it up myself XD
best song
Flippin awesome lesson, does anyone know if the guitarpro tab is available from jamplay?
love this. will have to get practicing
THIS SONG WAS FEATURED ON GUITAR HERO 5!
Sure was! It's a beast to play on the game too!