04 JAMES HETFIELD

The Metallica frontman on his riffing technique

“When I pick up the guitar, I want to be the drummer. I’ve always loved playing drums, so it’s kind of what I’m doing on the guitar. I love syncopation – just unique drumbeats – so I’ve always incorporated that in [my playing]. The percussiveness and the downpicking, that’s something that just came through competition, really. ‘Hey, these guys are fast; I’m going to be faster!’. Goofy guy stuff like that, but at the end of the day it has its own sound. It’s like hitting a drum; it really is. There have obviously been influences that have shaped it somewhat. Listening to Scorpions... [Rudolph Schenker], I like that – he’s just the rhythm guy. He’s not trying to be everything and he’s the best at what he did. At the time, he was really percussive in a way.