“Gods”: the rhythm guitarists James Hetfield adores
When you think of James Hetfield and the work that he’s done for Metallica, you think of hard-hitting, energetic riffs. He admitted that songs like ‘St Anger’ are great for playing because of how packed they are with emotion. He loves being able to shred on those tracks because it can be a way to engage with anger while on stage. However, Hetfield didn’t start playing guitar like this; it came after experimenting with various styles.
What’s interesting about guitarists is that while they might be the most technically proficient in the world, they still need to be able to put that technical ability into the songs they write. It’s not enough to just solo and play fast and expect people to get on board; you need to be able to write good songs that people want to listen to and intertwine that technical ability throughout.
It’s because of reasons like this that guitarists like Eddie Van Halen were so well-respected. Granted, Eddie was responsible for popularising his innovative tapping style of guitar playing, but if every song he ever released sounded like ‘Eruption’, people would likely get bored quite quickly. Instead, he was able to incorporate that style into different songs in a bid to blend melody with this chaotic form of soloing to create something unique and wonderful sounding.
Every guitarist needs to have an understanding of rhythm guitar. Without a good sense of rhythm and melody ingrained into your musical psyche, you will end up writing songs that might sound good from a soloing point of view but that don’t hit the spot as far as being good songs are concerned.
You can hear this very well in Metallica and the songs that James Hetfield has written for them over the years. While they are full of hard-hitting riffs, they are put together in a way that remains accessible and that people look forward to listening to. He didn’t start playing guitar by learning to write these riffs. Instead, he began by focusing on the rhythm section of music, accumulating a list of rhythm guitarists he particularly adores.
“My rhythm gods are Tony Iommi, Rudolf Schenker and Malcolm Young,” he said. “Guys who just keep it steady. The Misfits too, and even the Ramones with their simplicity. It’s all downpicking! Watch some footage of Johnny Ramone, and you’ll go, ‘Wow!’”
These are some great picks. While Angus Young has always been the exciting lead guitarist who is happy to shred and run around the stage for hours on end, Malcolm Young was responsible for a huge amount of the band’s riffs that continue to live in the hearts of listeners worldwide. By taking lessons from these kinds of guitarists, Hetfield was able to develop as a guitarist.
“When I started playing guitar, I would fiddle around with pretty much everything. I was trying out different rhythms and trying to play [Aerosmith guitarist] Joe Perry solos,” he concluded. “But then I just started gravitating more towards rhythm because of guys like Tony Iommi, Rudolf Schenker of the Scorpions, and even AC/DC. You know, very rhythm-based stuff.”
