Metallica and the Missing 32nd Note- Master of Puppets Analyzed

What is the REAL timing of Master of Puppets?

I referenced the following links:

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[nathanmilaszewski]

I have the equivalent of an elementary school student's knowledge of music theory, but I grew up listening to Metallica and I just wanted to say your use of disdainful Lars Ulrich was impeccable.

[dbutcher]

James admittedly didn't have an understanding of time signatures. In short, he said they'd put things in to "freak people out" or because he felt like it. When questioned about the times while working on s&m, he said he had no idea what times they were in and that he just knows that when Michael (conductor) does his "pentagram thing" thats when he comes in

[ChristianIce]

In an interview for S&M, when the director was telling Lars how he decoded their time signatures, he replied: "Really? we just thought would be fun to cut pieces to scare people off" :)

[jordanschoepke]

Somewhere between 5/8 and 6/8


5.5/8

[dasrockness]

A corrected 21/32 version in the program played with the original would've been awesome.

[CurtisAlfeld]

Well, I'm off to go write a song in the 21/32 time signature.

[AndriyVasylenko]

This is THE shit. I hope you'll make more videos like this. Thank you brother! \m/

[schnozz]

It's a 6/8 bar and Ulrich couldn't play it in time, so it got recorded rushed...

[martinprieto]

"1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and ba dum dum" that's some next level musical notation right there

[philc]

Seriously doubt Lars knew this even happened in the first place. The guy probably owns several $30, 000 watches and still can't keep time.

[emanuelrodriguez]

I think it would be interesting to know how Michael Kamen wrote the arrengements for MoP with San Francisco Symphony Orchestra in this "5/8" part.

[Greennaxx]

"I am become prog, the destroyer of Dream Theater"

Holy shit, my sides!

[InsArtTure]

I can confirm that this video tells the truth. I put the song in a DAW, adjusted the tempo to 210 BPM and that last bar is really smaller than 3/4. And the first time this bar appears the song goes out of tempo and is misaligned with the metronome.

[rustyfuzz]

Another way to score it:
1) Convert the bar from 5/8 to 11/16
2) Add a 16th rest between the powerchord slides (tempo 212 or so).
Sounds like 5/8, but they extend the pause between slides for added effect/emphasis (that's my guess)

[thatonewhiteguy]

Your first mistake was thinking most guitar players could read music.

[Krooksbane]

Finally some theory. Someone ACTUALLY explaining what's going on instead of vague descriptions. Understanding the rhythmic grid is what I teach all my students

[geordangullock]

2:47 I still can't comprehend how Steve Vai managed to do that. He has to be an Alien.

[tyz]

I’ve seen in a video or heard maybe on the “It’s Electric” podcast, that they didn’t try to play to any time signature for that part. James wrote the riff and Lars just filled it, the 21/32, 5/8 or even sped up 6/8 part is all sheer coincidence as they had no idea.
AWESOME video, good explanation. I’m a huge music nerd especially with Metallica so this stuff turns me on.

[mcswordfish]

As soon as you said "difficult to transcribe" I realised those syllables perfectly fit the new riff that starts after the bit when the main riff moves to F#

[coginktattoos]

Interesting interpretation. I'll make this easy for you, James Hetfield wrote the song "Master of Puppets" both lyrically and the rhythm guitar (Burton's name is in the writing credits for bass lines only). James has stated in interviews that he does not know how to read music. He plays what he feels. So, when this song, and all other Metallica songs, were written there is no thought process put into the different notes or timing. James writes songs and riffs (and gets riff ideas from Kirk as well) and puts them together, usually in 4s and 8s, and Lars figures out the drumming for it. That's it. We're fortunate to have a TON of video footage of Metallica from on stage to backstage to in the studio to at home with their families. I don't know of any band who has put out as much video footage of their lives together and apart as Metallica have. So we can even see in the studio when Lars is working on the arrangements of the songs (which he does most of) he doesn't talk in terms of notes or measures either. He points to the video screen where they have Pro Tools up and says stuff like, "What really gets my dick hard is starting on bump BUMP. You know, there (pointing)." So it is interesting that you put this video together to delve deeper into the song writing process of Metallica however it is unnecessary as they write what they feel, not how it will interpret on paper. I learn how to play many Metallica songs on guitar by watching James play them on video from live recordings mostly lol.