Who Surpassed HETFIELD as 'King of the Downstrokes'?

-Who Surpassed HETFIELD as "King of the Downstrokes"?
Just my quick take. Thanks for watching.
Thanks!!!

[Handz-kun]

Kirk finally getting the love he deserves. It’s good that people recognizes him for his skill which rightfully makes him a part of Metallica

[stevecaststringtheory]

I think Hetfield gets the credit because he recorded the rhythm tracks for all the classic albums and was extremely tight, we will never know if Kirk could record those rhythms just as tightly.

Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman always get left out of the downstroke discussion but songs like At Dawn They Sleep, Postmortem, and others are real workouts

[Daniel-sxvc]

Matt and Corey from trivium are absolutely insane with their downstrokes. They’ve got one riff in what the dead men say that’s absolutely insane

[BeaverMonkey]

Been saying this about Kirk for many years

[Erkki_Mela]

I’d argue that it’s not just the downstrokes, James also has a fantastic sense of rhythm that carries the whole band. I’ve never heard that from Kirk’s playing.

[drithien]

Man, I finally see someone talking about this. I noticed Kirk's rhythm skills all the way back when I watched "Live Shit"; James would just play chords, or stop playing entirely at times, to interact with the crowd, while Kirk was always playing normally in the back. And it's been the same throughout the years in every live show I've seen from them. But for some reason nobody seemed to mention anything about it, to the point I thought I was listening something wrong even. It's so nice to see it acknowledged that he is indeed at the same level as James, and even goes the extra distance to help him be a better frontman.

[visionsofbeyond]

The 1st person I want to mention is a YouTuber named Kevin Frasard, his down picking speed is absolutely insane. Some other great examples are: Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein, Jon Schaefer, Jeff Waters, Scott Ian, Kerry King, Ryan Waste, Mick Thompson, I'm sure there's tons more.

[slelliott]

Kirk never seems to garner much attention, but I’ve noticed how they both cover for each other, which is what makes a tight band and I think right now they are as tight as they’ve ever been with Robert cranking the winch cables

[skipton_]

John Browne is no doubt the new king of the down pick. Incredible metal rhythm player.

[ryosukejoe]

Jeff Waters (Annihilator) is underrated when it comes to downpicking.

Also, Joe Haley (Psycroptic) has some of that most incredible right hand technique in the business.

[Hoscitt]

Het's the king not just because of the speed, he has so much more 'thunk' to his hits than others 🤘👍

[brenoschwarzandrade]

Great analysis! People give Kirk sh*t because of his mistakes in solos, but I think that him being able to "keep up" with James' downpicking all these years is one of his main strengths....especially live!

[seanskelton]

I agree with what you are saying. Kirk does get a break from the down strokes on solos, but of course it's not exactly a break because playing the solo, but it does offer some variation of movement while James is still chugging away at the down strokes.

Another downstroke monster is Scott Ian from Anthrax.

[faaip]

So true. I also think Kirk potentially has a healthier lifestyle now and practices very regularly and actively speaks about it. I somehow get the impression that when James is off he's off. Whereas Kirk seems to always have a guitar nearby

[clownpocket]

On the subject of efficient picking, I’m always blown away by how tiny Yngwie’s picking motions are. It appears as though it’s all the motion happening only through his finger joints.
I know it’s off topic, but I’d love to see an analysis of it.

[katumbalrocks]

Johnny Ramone had the simplest yet one of the most brutal guitar playing style of all time.

[jormpt]

metallica has played absolutely phenomenal on the recent string of metontour vids, end of the line was just perfect.
Mike, do a blitzkrieg solo breakdown please!

[FretboardDiaries]

Yeah that Bridge riff from My Apocalypse that Kirk Plays... All downstrokes, and a completely insane riff that continues to own me... LMAO... but I continue to practice it, and one day will own it

[michelsen]

Jon Schaffer from Iced Earth has a very impressive down stroke technic. His right hand is like a machine gun.

[garygary]

max cavalera has to be the most underrated fast downpicker some of the riffs he played especially on beneath the remains are insane