A Riff So Fast Even James Hetfield Didn't Down-Pick It?

[DirkRadloff]

And don't forget, that James is singing while playing phantastic rhythm-guitar

[chrismatorium]

This guy’s voice is so calm it’s like listening to m my son’s pediatrician giving me instructions on how administer his medication.

[joseolmedo]

To reach that downpick your body must be:
8% Water
12% Blood
80% Whiskey

[andresgottardi]

Explanation:
James and Kirk: booze
Lars: cocaine
Cliff: weed

[standepain]

He used to alternate pick a lot then. Just look at the intro to Disposable Heroes from that same concert. If you want a real down picking test try playing to the 1986 Toronto show because he down picks faster than humanly possible there.

[steve]

So basically James practices at 350bpm so he can last the whole show.

[NGDemonSlayer]

he was drunk. Playing fast stuff is hard when you're drunk.

[anthonyjackson]

I think James just got better from playing hundreds of shows in such a short time span in the 80s. Its only natural. He may not have downpicked everything back then, but the experience he gained after Kill em All up to Master no doubt made him 10x the guitar player he was before.

[TThatsWhatSheSaid]

Well to be fair James didn't start working on his down picking until the Master of Puppets era and I think Hammerfest was in 85 (so 1 year before MoP). If you watch Creeping Death in Seattle 89 he down picks it flawlessly and INCREDIBLY fucking fast lol

[CookeAaronJ]

He’s also got 50, 000 people screaming and loving him, that may boost you a bit.

[ziggylayneable]

I'm 46 years old and when I was a kid I thought I was the world's biggest Metallica fan. When ...and justice for all was released, I sat in my room for weeks until I could play every single song exactly the way it was played on the album all with downstrokes. For a very long time I held the crown in my town as being the guy who could downstroke pic faster than anybody else that was in my circle of friends which was pretty large.when I got a bit older my musical tastes changed and I veered away from playing metal as much so I kind of lost that ability to downstroke so fast. But I can still play things off of Master of puppets and some of the stuff from Justice

[americancapitalist]

Meanwhile in behind the scenes papa het secretly up picks only.

[KJ-fyqh]

He’s done this forever, not every show, but in the 80s and 90s it was really common for him to alt pick it

[jeccf]

The real question is can James downpick fight fire

[caschurchwarden]

Did that with Iron Maiden's "The Trooper". Speed up, then slow down. That was the only way to make our band's mandolin player happy about the song. (Yes, mandolin, really).

[ChromaticMan]

Cause when your Adrenaline starts to Flow and you're Thrashing all around; Acting like a maniac! ...does alternate/up-stroke picking...

[timothyrice]

At first I read this title as "A riff so easy even James Hetfield could play it"

[timpiano]

Something my guitar teacher taught me was that sticking those three fingers out when Down picking actually tenses up your wrist more, and if you just keep all your fingers in you can more comfortable downpick for longer

[TheJabernet]

Yep, in the beginning just go for it as fast as you can just to get the "feeling" of playing it at that speed, don't worry about how it sounds, then slow it down and clean it up.

[lproof]

Creeping Death wears my arm out more than any other Metallica song, including Master.