Thanks for helping rid the world of Metallica Myths! Are there some more we should cover next time? Let’s hear them! Edit: and as several people have pointed out, swap the 1st and 2nd fingers I showed in the Sandman riff and you’ll REALLY be playing it like James!
I don't know about a myth per se, but I'd love to see you do something with Adrian Belew-era King Crimson. "Frame by Frame", for example. Keep up the great work!
In every Metallica tab book it has them playing some of the power chords as 4 or even 5 note bar type chords. You can talk about how they always only play power chords with 2 notes - whereas Dave Mustaine often adds the upper octave making it basically a 3 note chord. I know you touch on this in a lot of your Metallica videos already.
I saw your video a while back and couldn't believe JH plays the riff that way. It just seems like such a weird way to do it... Love your videos BTW, the Lars (Blackened and Orion) ones were great.
Seen them play in PA.. and was belting out songs right along with James and he heard me harmonize right along with him I got the nod and thumbs up.. it was good to be the King.. I couldn't talk the rest of the night.. but it was so worth it.. and then I woke up. Lol. No absolutely a true story..
@@Xplora213 I always thought Symptom of the Universe was in standard tuning, but it's C# standard and played in the position of G minor, and that's why it feels like it has more bottom end.
@@BungleJoogie68 There is that video of them playing it live in G (and when Tony plays the intro on recent tours), but on the album version, they did play it in E standard. Listen to the first chord of the part that comes in at 0:21---it's 100% an open chord. That chord is D (open D string, 2nd fret of G string), but if you transpose the song to the G position, it's an F chord, which obviously can't be open. Listen to the 3rd chord at 0:24 and it's clearly an open A too. Not to mention, there's a great video of Black Sabbath with Tony Martin singing where they do it in E like the album, and you see Tony's hands the whole time. That low E chunk on the album is unmistakable.
I always played the intro in the open position. When I saw the tab I thought "That's wrong. It's the same notes, but why would they tab it in the 5th position?!" Then I saw James play it live...in the 5th position. I'm not going to argue with him about it, I still maintain it's a lot easier to play (and let notes ring) in the open position.
Dyer’s Eve is just brutal picking so hard the strings out of tune. The pitch varies because it’s so wide but it’s damn fast so you don’t notice it. Metal should be played aggressive. They were battling Slayer and Megadeth who had killer records in 86 as well. Gotta bring the heat!!
Maybe...if you listen to the Justice deluxe box set, it has James' riff tapes from 86, where you can hear that fast brutal intro riff created way back then. Obviously Justice was influenced by the whole metal scene at the time, but Master of Puppets came out in March 86, whereas Peace Sells and Reign in Blood came out in September and October. There's a pretty similar riff in Disposable Heroes. Not to mention, Damage Inc, Master of Puppets, and Battery. Seems to me like Metallica were always months ahead while the others played catch-up.
@@mrmustard4478 it’s not the writing, it’s the PLAYING that mattered. Lars got a big wake up call after hearing Lombardo do a MUCH better job on Reign in Blood... and the production is much better on Reign in Blood (that album is better produced than everything Slayer made after 1990, somehow?!)... so Metallica lifted their game on AJFA as best they could. How do you top the best metal album in history, twice?? Well, you pick harder and faster, and you protools your drums to death as Lars was famous for. Not hating. Just acknowledge that Slayer was a local band that was also doing special things at the time. We wouldn’t have gotten these albums if they had no competition. (Load proves it)
@@Xplora213 they weren't protooling drums back then, lmao they had to splice tape sometimes. Lars was beasting and practiced all the time back then. He stopped caring around the Black Album.
Years ago, I worked as an ad assistant for a musician magazine that featured tab examples from Kirk Hammett. I asked the editor if he (Kirk) contributed in any way, for accuracy's sake. He said, nah, not really - at most, celebs glance over the copy, then sign off. The head transcriber does ALL of the work.
Yeah, if it's not written by the composer directly, there's probably something wrong. And even then, you have stuff like Mark Briody transcribing everything he's written for Jag Panzer on their website, and he's like, "This is how I *wrote* it, but we might have played something slightly different on the record."
@@jamespell1138 Yes. Especially on Sabbath. Play War Pigs on the A and D string and then play it like Tony on the E and A and tell me you don't hear the difference.
I played the Enter Sandman riff "wrong" for years. At some point I watched a live video, where James kneels down before starting the song, and the camera zooms on the pick and on his hands. My first thought was "what the hell is he doing". But once you played it like that, it just kinda makes sense.
In the early years, it's fun (and educational) to play your favorite songs note for note. But eventually we need to make the songs our own. A lot of times there is no true cannon way of playing it anyway. I used to spend weeks or months learning slayer solos only to find out it was more of a "direction" than a script. Songs like RS beast of burden and EC layla, have never been played the same way twice.
Definitely, plus a lot times they play it differently themselves, especially older artists. The Rolling Stones and Clapton (like you said) are good examples. Eric has done most of his songs with different phrasing, and in the early days the Stones switched stuff up live constantly, mostly to account for the tuning.
@@thenameless3271 I'm actually working on putting together a medium paced layla right now. I'm using half from marty Schwartz and half from derek and the dominoes lol. ....who am I kidding,....still sounds like layla
@@thenameless3271 while I got your attention......I play a lot of rock , metal, blues.......but I'm thinking of getting an acoustic. You got any thoughts about roundbacks vs thinlines?.....
@@BOBANDVEG kinda funny you brought up the Rolling Stones. Maybe a couple years ago, I was learning how to play Gimme Shelter, trying to follow the tab as closely as possible. Then I watched a bunch of live videos, it never sounded the same twice. Putting your own spin on stuff is the way to go once you are a little comfortable with your instrument. I really appreciate Uncle Ben's obession with detail, though.
@@BenEller Ben, would you be so kind and check out my rhythm cover of Dyers Eve? :) I would be grateful, Man! - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Jh1LnRXKLkY.html
In fairness to a load of people (myself included) where else are you gonna get guitar tabs when you're either young or broke. Now i have Guitar Pro i found that a lot of Guitar Pro tabs tend to be more 'on the money' than standard tabs
Jason wasn't that good of a bassist - what made him special was his live performances and vocals. Robert is their best technical bassist. He has the most skill and versatility out of all of Metallica's bassists.
@@BigBubbaTakeYoAzz who tf told you he simplifies his bass parts lol, he was actually accused by the band of overplaying the bass parts in AJFA. Also go listen to his audition
I’m glad someone talked about James and down picking “everything.” I’ve seen far too many people who think that James is down picking songs like Hardwired, Battery, and other songs with tremolo sections. He’s good, but to ask him to down pick riffs like THAT? You’re asking superhuman abilities from him to even suggest that he down picks absolutely everything.
Yeah I’m simpler than Ben on this one. If James can’t down pick it up to speed, he will tremolo pick it. I do the same thing. Really any thrash guitarist should have the mindset that they only tremolo pick when down picking up to speed is impossible.
I'm SO HAPPY I'm not the only one who hears Fight Fire With Fire on the wrong beat. I know where it should be, but my brain always resets to the wrong emphasis. I feel validated.
Is it the same problem as Blackened? It’s definitely a feature of Metallica’s songwriting that they use that snare as a weapon to flavour the music rather than keep the time.
another thing that everybody plays wrong in enter sandman is the famous 30202320 riff...for one thing there is a variation in the verse where the muting lets up and it turns into a slide...and the other thing is when he says "your off to never never land" it changes to 30202330. Also if you didn't notice there is an egg shaker on certain parts of song song and also a big fat single keyboard note on "sleep with one eye open, gripping your pillow tight". There is also a single keyboard note that is just an e held out for the acoustic outro.
Uncle Ben dropping TRUTH BOMBS. Thank you for clearing up the 2-3 Dyers Eve myth. I always thought people are crazy to think they are actually playing 2-3.
As a drummer, I've gotten so mad at guitarists who won't listen to the drums while playing Fight Fire With Fire. ALL THE BEATS ARE RIGHT THERE! DON'T JUST LISTEN TO YOURSELF ararrargh
The best guitar teacher I had didn't own a guitar. He said many times, "those official music / tab books are most often incorrect, I think maybe the authors might be drunk". hahaha.
@@aniquinstark4347 He sold his guitars due to physical health issues. He would use mine from time to time to demo a technique, etc. Thee WORST teacher I had was a Berkeley Jazz cat.
I've been listening to Dyer's Eve forever and never once did it sound to me like they were alternating 2nd and 3rd frets. Always sounded like one rapid note to me. Weird.
It's because most people were born before the internet that play that stuff. We learned from books and didn't know who made them. It was like the media, everyone used to believe them because it's all we had. I believe cherry lane made the ones I had and I had a few other brands but damn when I look back I'm glad I understudied with my metallica tab books and chose to play by ear only! When it's the first and only thing you have many victims actually learned it that way, BEFORE anyone ever mentioned the other way. Do of course they're going to then HEAR that change in notes because they're expecting it now.
@@HabAnagarek it was actually PRE internet that did this particular deed. It was the official metallica tab books everyone used to buy. Known as the best ones even out there, but they all had that 2-3-2-3-2-3 thing. It was the ONLY real resource us old fucks had at that time. So naturally after seeing it written like that, in an "official" metallica book they signed off on, when people hear the song, they're now going to subconsciously hear that note change that doesn't exist. I decided to be lazy and not use those books but then pulled my head from my butthole and started learning by ear ONLY. No regrets. My only regrets would have been actually learning those books like I planned on doing when I bought them. I was going to learn them ALL all the way through. I had kill em all, ride the lightning, justice, master of puppets, black album, load and reload. Lol
@@johnbraucher1499 Ah. I didn't know it went back that far. Weird. Holy shit, Riff by Riff has it, B to C 16ths (I refuse to think in terms of tab). As a kid I always heard 8th note B5, insane B 16ths, C5 to B5 slide. How odd.
That coffee sip while he plays the Dyers eve stem for us to hear, lol. Also, Jason's bass track is incredibly consistent when slowed down, almost machine like. He was so under-appreciated!
Great video, I've long believed these myths myself, but not anymore! By the way, the producer for the Master of Puppets album did confirm that each track was recorded in lower tunings at a slower tempo, and then sped up to the right pitch/speed. They did that to make the album sound tighter \m/
Homer Simpson once said about "Fight Fire With Fire": "It's more sincomapated than you thought!" You can also play Enter Sandman in the open position to get the open g string.
For me the biggest Metali-myth is the tired joke of Kirk “Wah-mett”. He may have become a bit overly reliant on the wah in his later years, but it shouldn’t overshadow his stellar early work. Most of his best solos (One, Fade, Unforgiven, Blackened, Master) don’t even feature wah.
But that's not a myth. Even you acknowledged how accustomed he got to wah, like it's the first thing it comes to his mind, like a alcoholic, who always thinks of drinking first. And just because his EARLIER works are outstanding, does not nullify today's facts.
@@happytomato1135 for some guitarists, the wah meme for Kirk totally nullifies Kirk’s amazing work. They’ve forgotten how good he is, and judge way too harshly, often downplaying his contributions to music. That’s why it’s a myth. He doesn’t use the wah nearly as much as Zakk Wylde did in the 2000s, for example, but there aren’t as many Zakk Wah-lde jokes.
@@metallimatt10 without a doubt. That was his best work in terms of skill. It’s also a good example of him not using one as much as people think. Eight solos with out wah compared to four.
Would also say that for better or worse, the wah pedal is a fundamental park of his sound, and to that end, so what? If he wants to use it, he can use it 🙂. Not much different to any guitarist using a certain drive pedal, or always having a delay engaged on their solos. Somehow i dont think kirk really cares what we all think, so fair play
Why doesn't Kirk play his Strat more on "Unforgiven", when I saw them live in 1992 it perfectly fit that song! One of his best live performances IMHO! Thanks Uncle Ben for an entertaining idea for a video.
@@BenEller Actually, I used to think it was a myth, but I watched the Gibson Icons documentary where Kirk Hammett goes into detail about their recording of Master of Puppets, he actually does state they used Dropped D flat tuning when they recorded the thing that should not be, just as a note for dicussion. My first thought was "hmmmmm......well how about that?!"
great call. Have you watched the incredible Albert Lee videos on Troy Grady's channel? Mind-blowing stuff: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-0XjaUci7yPM.html
When you wanna play the Enter Sandman intro 100% correct, finger the E and G with your pinky and middle finger and the A# and A with your ring and index finger
Sweet learning there.. I was on the front row one time and that Enter sandman thing blew my mind. He actual corded with the middle and pinky and played the last 2 notes ring and index.
Ben! Your first hypothesis of the thing that should not be tuning is correct! This is confirmed in the Back to the Front book where they talk about a guitar tech being a little out of his comfort zone in that tuning.
13:40 interesting. flemming rasmussen stated in an interview they recorded MoP at a lower tempo and tuning then sped it up to get a tighter sound. i always wondered if he meant the song or the album. kirk saying they recorded Thing in C# may indicate it was indeed the entire album. the use of this recording trick also gives more credit to the claim that the rhythm was octa-tracked.
I feel like a Metallidork because these were all things I figured out as a teenager in my first few years of playing. James was what got me into playing guitar, so I studied him a lot. I still watched the whole thing because you crack my shit up, Uncle Ben.
A myth I've noticed recently is Kirk sweep picking. Not saying he has NEVER done it, but a common practice i see all the time for sweep picking is the beginning of the Leper Messiah solo. Every live video I've seen he seems to be alternate picking those arpeggios, though, not sweeping. Same with the intro solo to Fade to Black. It looks like alternate picking instead of sweeping towards the end.
metallica’s fade to black was the first song i tried learning on guitar 22yrs ago. i thought it was pure magic. then i heard jake e lee’s bark at the moon. i just couldn’t believe i could learn to play them the correct way until i saw your vids. thanks a million times!
The fight fire with fire main riff was really interesting to me. Lars turns the beat around so you hear it in a different way. When James start singing I hear it with the open E part being on the 1 until Lars accents the G power chord with a cymbal hit after a couple runs, and then my brain just starts hearing that as the 1, even though I've always felt open is on 1. I always wondered if that was intentional, or it just kinda happened. Also that song is amazing, that intro?? The harmony guitar middle part? So damn good.
Uncle Ben, anything Metallica related is always welcome to me! I’ve always struggled with the between the verses section of For Whom the Bell Tolls. A weekend wankshop on that would be amazing!
The tuning to "The Thing That Should Not Be" is a rather pernicious one. People don't want to tune their guitars any further away from standard than they have to, so they make these mental and finger gymnastics to make it work.
You make it look effortless to switch between variations of the wrong way to play riffs and strumming patterns versus the right way. Yet one more example of how I could use more practice, cuz den mah brane cud du dat much mo betta.
Uncle Ben is such a f**cking lord, I love his wit but also his ridiculously meticulous attention to detail. This guy inspires me almost as much as James or Kirk, he really is an amazing player and teacher. Drink a 6 pack for me sir.
Ok my mind is friggin blown right now. I learned everything I know about guitar from Metallica songs when I was a kid. To get those same aggressive biting pick attacks that James gets, I emulated his "Downpick whenever you can keep up" mentality...or so I thought. It's not just down picking when you can play fast enough...it has to do where the note falls in the count. I SUBCONSCIOUSLY learned this. I thought I was just being cool and playing downstrokes cuz I'm awesome, turns out there's unknown method to my madness. I just figured out my entire life. Thanks Uncle Ben. You've changed my life.
Interestingly enough, James at one point, did perform the intro to Eye Of The Beholder utilizing only downstrokes. However, that was usually relegated to the “Justice medley” that they included on their black album set lists. Now, usually the camera doesn’t focus on James during it, but I have been able to track down some live footage where you can clearly see him downstrokes. I’ll include the link here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-9ZaqXyqCdlo.html
I really wonder if he just did it that way live.... on the record, it absolutely sounds like downs and ups, not the super consistency of James’ all downstroke stuff.
@@BenEller The record is most definitely alternate picking, yeah. There’s other performances from 1989 or so that are pretty much dead on studio tempo, but you can definitely see James is alternate picking. For the later performances, they slowed it down a good 10 or 15 bpm to make it more manageable. Guess even James’ mighty wrist of steel has its limits.
@@TheIdiotNamedJoe Yeah the Beholder part of the Justice Medley is quite a bit slower than the Album version, so it was probably more in the speed range where he could use all downstrokes. Kill/Ride medley did the same thing with the Four Horsemen section, and honestly I kinda like how that part grooves
Great video! Deffo up for the Hetfield lesson! Also, I always played the G note in Enter Sandman on the open G string. Feels less awkward to use index and middle fingers for the last two notes rather than the correct way using ring and middle.
Sorry, Ben, you're really close, but Papa Het plays Sandman by picking the E open 6th string, pinky finger frets E on the 5th string/7th fret, middle finger frets G on the 4th string/5th fret, then Bb to A on the 6th string/6th & 5th frets respectively, and finally picking the already fretted E with the pinky. Which is a long-winded way of saying swap your 1st finger with the middle one. Great videos and insight on dissecting technique, you've motivated me to look deeper with many songs I thought I had nailed.
Battery has the same sort of rhythm illusion as Fight Fire With Fire. The snare drum seems to indicate where beat 1 is at, but the snare is smacking the offbeats. To make it even more difficult to hear, James is singing "Lashing out the action" as though it's a downbeat, but it's stuck on the &'s.
I got one of my own: After a couple critical views of the St. Anger rehearsals DVD, I've come to the conclusion that not all of the album is actually in drop-C tuning (though we already know "Invisible Kid" and "Dirty Window" are in different tunings, and "Some Kind of Monster" uses a 7-string in drop-C tuning with the lowest two strings tuned in unison). "The Unnamed Feeling", for instance, every instance of a low C power chord has both James and Kirk playing it at the 2nd fret instead of open. So the tune is actually in drop B-flat tuning...
I'm really glad to know that I'm not the only one who's misheard where the one is in that Fight Fire With Fire bit. Seriously...for like 25 years I've never been able to hear it right.
The tempos were also slightly slower in the Justice medley, as Black Album-era Metallica weren’t playing at breakneck speed like they were a couple years before, making downpicking the Eye of the Beholder riff much more manageable
Love the Metallica content, love the deep dives. One complaint I have about OLD VIDEOS of them? The old cameraman’s never seemed to get a close up of James hands. I never understood the fast cuts and all this during concert footage. His hands were FAMOUS and these cameraman are focused on SOMEONE ELSE during the craziest riffs.
I always thought the Sandman riff was the first finger on the 4th string, third finger on the 5th string and then pinky and middle finger walk down the 6th string. That's what it looks like in the "year and a half in the life of..." videos when they're recording it. Of course, I have been wrong before...
If you watch a video of the justice medley live from the early nineties, you’ll see that James actually does play Eye of the Beholder with all down strokes. It blew me away the first time I saw it cause I always thought he alternate picked that riff. Dude’s a machine
Yes but the "Beholder" portion of the medley is played at a tempo way below the original record version. That makes all downstrokes possible. Beholder performances from the Justice tour are alt picked, guaranteed. Footage from those shows aren't always great quality, but check out the Philadelphia 1989 show where they play that song in place of Four Horsemen.
I think enter sandman fingering is actually a bit different. James uses his 2nd finger to play the g note and fingers 3 and 1 on the sixth string. It's a bit weird but you can see it in live videos
I was right about Dyers Eve the whole time. I was wrong about Fight Fire With Fire the whole time. I was half right for the next song. I was wrong about enter sandman but i knew it. The thing that should not be is too weird for me anyway.
