In a recent conversation with Radioactive MikeZ, Dethklok’s Brendon Small said James Hetfield might be the best rhythm guitarist of his time.
The musician revealed that his favorite Metallica song is ‘Blackened’ due to Hetfield’s riffs on it. He also said that he plays an Explorer guitar because the Metallica singer is a big influence on him. Then, he talked about Hetfield’s place in the guitar world:
“There are so many great rhythm guitar players in that era, and James Hetfield may reign above them all. I’m not sure if I even have the authority to say that… I think he really was just constantly asking himself, ‘What can I do that’s different? What can I do that’s faster? What’s Slayer doing? How can we make our own version of stuff?’ And they were always putting their personality into their music.”
Brendon Likes How Metallica Always Tries Harder
Small went on to praise Metallica’s harmony together and how they push themselves to do better:
“And that’s not easy to do, to find a voice inside of your — even your own band. But they certainly did. I mean, if you took his actual voice away and you just listened to his decisions on guitar or how they were derived between Kirk [Hammett] and Lars [Ulrich] and, I guess, Jason [Newsted] at the time, how did that come together? And it’s that great, beautiful decision-making process and the fact that they just pushed themselves to go harder and more intense, especially on that record.”
What Did Hetfield Say About His Guitar Playing?
Hetfield previously reflected on his playing style in a 2022 chat with the famous instrument manufacturer Ernie Ball. The singer stated:
“As far as my playing style, it is a mismatch of a bunch of different stuff. I’m a barbarian when I play. I’m always interested in the riff. It was the foundation of the song. Tony Iommi is ruling the song with his riff, and everything else joins him. You know, Johnny Ramone, lots of down-picking, just fast down-picking. That helped develop my style, so it is a combination of punk rock and heavy rock at the time, turned into just the down-picking style and melody along with it.”
In an earlier chat with Music Radar, James chose Black Sabbath guitarist Tonny Iommi, Scorpions guitarist Rudolf Schenker, and late AC/DC guitarist Malcolm Young as his biggest rhythm guitar influences.
You can watch Brendon’s whole conversation below.