For heavier styles, it would be hard to imagine anyone else who has been so specific in not only rewriting the rulebook on riffs, but defining (and re-defining) the guitar sound of modern heavy rock.
Given that Metallica are actually - considering they are the biggest metal band ever - quite an experimental lot, most of us still have a very clear and defined idea of how they sound, and that’s almost entirely to do with the guitars. Lars’ ‘idiosyncratic’ drums also play a large part, but the furious chunky riffs slammed down by Papa Het and Kirk Hammett are the band’s true signature.
Today, we are going to look at how you can bring a little of that sound into your own world. We’ll check out the gear and we’ll talk a little about the playing as we go.
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When checking out the instruments and equipment, we’ve arranged the gear into three distinct categories of price: Affordable, Pro and Top-End. You'll hopefully see that spending more
Buy you better gear, but also that the least expensive choices are still entirely effective at copping some Metalli-tude! We’ll look at some mosh-tastic accessories and pedals, to further extend your grip on the Metalli-verse! Okay, enough of that, on to the guitars first…
James and Kirk are both long term ESP endorsees. No band has done more to bring a brand to the public like Het and Kirk’s continual use of their signature ESP axes, and as a result, there have been dozens of variations over the years. Both players have an affinity for active pickups, but beyond that, they have relatively different tastes.
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James is very fond of guitars styled after Gibson’s ‘Moderne’ shapes of the late 50s. Early Metallica records saw him (and Kirk, actually) rocking on Gibson Flying V’s, but he’s almost certainly best known for using Explorer-shaped guitars. His 1980s ESP models bore an extremely close resemblance to Gibsons, and somewhere down the line, ESP were legally obliged to alter the design somewhat. Today, there are plenty of ‘X’ shaped guitars out there, and ESP offer plenty of their own. To the uninitiated, ‘LTD’ is simply the more affordable sibling of ESP. ESP (it stands for Electronic Sound Product) are Japanese (with limited offerings from the US) and LTD are licensed models made in countries like Indonesia. This brings the price down but keeps things ‘official’, as it were.
This current take on the famous Explorer style is great value for money. The LTD EX-200 has a mahogany body and a set neck with a bound fingerboard, lending the instrument a solid and authoritative feel. High output pickups and extra jumbo frets let you get your riff on straight away. All you need is an extra long strap for the correct rock stance.
For Kirk’s affordable choice, there’s no more obvious a contender than his own entry-level signature model! The LTD KH-202 is a bolt-on necked superstrat with the all-important skull ‘n’ crossbone inlays, a great neck profile and a Floyd Rose tremolo for all of those ‘Puppets-era’ screeching solos! The reverse headstock is the authentic finishing touch this great value axe needs to make it insta-Kirk. Excellent!
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Moving into the next price point, these guitars are all professional quality and are built to be toured again and again. For our Hetfield choice, we have his own pretty awesome ‘Snakebyte’ signature model, with its tastefully ‘chunked out’ Explorer shape. Every hard rocking guitar company offers their own Explorer style and this shape is perhaps our favourite ‘re-drawing’ of the classic. It's available in Black, Snow White and Camo.
The Snakebyte is, as you’d expect, a hefty slab of mahogany, and this model features Hetfield’s signature EMG ‘Het Set’ pickups. These active models are designed specifically to deliver a mids-rich tone (scooping the mids out of heavy tones is done less these days than in the past) with huge output but, crucially, low background noise levels. The pickups are perfect for staccato riffing, such as you’d find on the legendary
Riff, shown in the video below. It’s a long-held matter of honour among metal hordes that anyone attempting this evil, chromatic riff do so with downstrokes only. It’s not easy! To be fair, though, alternate picking techniques (where you’d substitute some up-picked notes along the way to make the job easier)
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For the Metallifan who likes a slightly more traditional silhouette to their axe, this LTD Iron Cross model takes some beating. James has used a number of ESP Singlecuts over the years, from ‘Primer Grey’ coloured examples to these more overtly militaristic Iron Cross models. They’ve become famous amongst fans, as most of the Het’s guitars do, and they sound as focused and unstoppable as they look.
When it comes to Kirk’s guitars, an upgrade in price gets you a direct upgrade in model. The LTD KH-602 may look superficially similar to the cheaper 202 model, but it’s really quite different. First off, the neck is set into the body, which gives this particular guitar a vastly superior feel, not to mention greater sustain! Access to upper frets is better too, so if you’re reaching for those dramatic high notes in the
Another major upgrade is the pickups. Kirk has his own signature set of EMG’s too - called Bone Breakers - and what surprises with these is not the unearthly crunch that comes from them, but the quality clean tones you can get! Thinking on it, Metallica do have a fairly high share of quasi-classical and neo-Western clean parts in their songs, and the KH-602 is equipped to meet those requirements head on.
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Whether you prefer the black model or the bold (and awesome) Purple Sparkle KH 602, you’ll enjoy an upgraded Floyd Rose 1000 Series tremolo (tougher metal, appropriately!) and yes, you’ll still get those piratey inlays!
. Here, he demonstrates those atmospheric clean dynamics we spoke of, and also demonstrates his lyrical, melodic taste. Notice how often he changes left hand position in order to gain access to the notes he wants, rather than just running through typical ‘box’ scale shapes. The artificial harmonics (dig your thumb in when you pick to bring out those squeals) seem accidental but are a great dramatic addition to the piece, so practising them until you get them 100% is worth it!
For ultimate Hetfield appropriation, we have this wonderful beast from ESP’s Japanese Custom Shop. The ESP Japan James Hetfield Snakebyte Camo is a beautifully built instrument, crafted from the best Mahogany and Ebony to the highest possible standards.
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The Camouflage finish on this Snakebyte is a specific style chosen by Hetfield from his favoured brand of hunting equipment, KUIU. In addition to the signature EMG pickups, this guitar boasts a Tonepros bridge and Sperzel tuners for a spec that’s top-flight in every sense. This is the same standard of instrument that James Hetfield plays himself every night, so it does not get any closer than this!
Additionally, a portion of the profits from each guitar sold goes to Metallica’s own charitable foundation, so you will be doing some good in the world every time you strike a pose and unleash the fury on this beast! CHYEAAAH!!
Time for amps and other devices! The guitar is only the beginning of the story for great tone: what you plug into will define to a greater degree how you’ll actually sound. Can this be done at various price points?
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Now, whilst it’s true to say that ‘classic’ Metallica songs (the 80s stuff) was performed through a brace of Mesa Boogie Mark II C+ amps, it’s also true to note that Hammett and Het have used a great number of amps over the years. Nowadays, that huge high gain thump is less expensive to get, too, and there are tons of options for achieving it! Let’s see a few, using the same ‘affordable - pro - top end’ style as with the guitars.
If you aim to play mainly at home, why not go straight for one of the most famous high-gain tones of the last two decades? You can see Hetfield using Diezel quite often in rehearsal/recording footage, so this Diezel VH Micro a tenable link.
This tiny little head is designed to accurately emulate the roaring gain channel of a Diezel VH4, which is a colossally huge amp head, with a correspondingly colossal price tag attached. This bite-sized box of doom throws down like an amp ten times its size, and is extremely affordable, given its solid-state circuit (no valves here, not that you’d know from listening) and paperback book-sized footprint. Attach any compatible speaker and marvel at the deadly sounds within.
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Line 6 are innovators when it comes to modelling, as we all know, Brilliantly, the infamous ‘insane’ channel from their mega-selling Spider amp series was directly based on the
Guitar sound. Whilst we don’t necessarily think that particular promise was entirely accurate, it certainly put huge, monstrous levels of gain and low end into the hands of all guitarists with £70 available for an amp!
Those days are behind us, but Line 6 are as innovative as ever. Their brand new Catalyst range
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