How To Play Flash Of The Blade By Iron Maiden

Flash Of The Blade was released on Powerslave which is the fifth studio album by Iron Maiden, released on 3 September 1984.

The song “Flash of the Blade” was included on the soundtrack of Dario Argento’s 1985 horror film Phenomena and was covered by the American band Avenged Sevenfold on their double live album/DVD, Live in the LBC & Diamonds in the Rough.

Rhapsody of Fire have also recorded a cover of the song that is featured on the deluxe edition of their album From Chaos to Eternity. The song can also be heard in the Jem and the Holograms episode “Kimber’s Rebellion”, just after the cartoon band members return home from Paris, on a boom-box stereo being carried by a passerby.

The song was written by Bruce Dickinson.

Powerslave is notable as the band’s first album to feature the same personnel as their previous studio release. This lineup would remain intact for two further studio releases. Also, it is their last album to date to feature an instrumental piece.

Following the conclusion of their highly successful World Piece Tour in December 1983, during which Iron Maiden headlined large venues and arenas in the US for the first time in their career, the band took three weeks off in January 1984, before regrouping at Le Chalet Hotel in Jersey where they rehearsed for six weeks. As with Powerslave‘s predecessor Piece of Mind (1983), this was where most of the album’s writing took place; the band then began recording it at Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas.

Bassist Steve Harris recalled how, under time pressure, the song “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” was written in a relatively short space of time. Influenced by Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem of the same name (drawing heavily from his 1815–16 gloss), the song directly quotes two passages from the poem, the former including the famous lines: ‘Water, water everywhere – nor any drop to drink’. At over thirteen minutes long, the track contains several distinct sections with differing moods and would become a fan favourite. During the 2008–09 Somewhere Back in Time World Tour, guitarist Dave Murray, vocalist Bruce Dickinson and Harris cited the song as their favourite to play live.

You can find the tabs below but before you go there if you enjoyed the lessons why not sign up for a free online guitar lessons with me.

Here are the tabs for Dave Murray’s guitar parts:

Here are the tabs for Adrian Smith’s guitar parts: