James Hetfield has been crowned with ‘the King of Downpicking’ title in the industry. While most will agree with this statement, Exodus’ Gary Holt has some observations about his performances in live shows. The guitarist shared with Guitar World that Metallica’s frontman, like many musicians in the industry, deceives the audience sometimes during his downpick sections.
There’s nothing wrong with alternate picking; in some cases, the songs need that type of playing. Otherwise, they can get too muddled and not sound as good as they could be. Even though it is regarded as a cop-out at some point in time, the end goal for any guitarist is always to sound as clean and sharp as possible.
Yet, there’s no denying that Hetfield prefers the tightness and heaviness downpicking brings, which has become like his symbol in the eyes of the industry. No matter how good he is, there is always room for a breather if it gets too much too quickly. Holt explained that he had seen it happen during Metallica live shows.
Gary Holt’s words about James Hetfield cheating during live shows:
“Everybody cheats. Even James Hetfield cheats now. I’ve seen it enough times! If he’s doing a savage downpick section and then he throws in a ‘brrrp’ [motions descending slide], then that ‘brrrp’ is there for a reason. It allows you to lose a couple of notes.”
He also shared his struggles with his own playing:
“It’s become really hard for me after battling this chronic tennis elbow in both arms. Toward the end of Slayer, I was getting so many cortisone injections I couldn’t even count them. It turns your tendons into mush!
I have a friend who is a San Francisco Giants hand surgeon, and he saw my MRI and said I might need Tommy John Surgery. I couldn’t play anymore. I’d play for 10 minutes, and my arms would lock up. I’ve been through therapy and don’t have any injections anymore, so I’m good now, but downpicking is harder than it used to be. Age catches up!”
The musician added:
“But I’m grateful I’m still playing every day and playing injection-free. I need my sound to be really good, and then I can ride. If I have to cheat a little more on downpicking because of it, so be it.
Yeah, I’ll do the down, down, down, up – throwing in that little one. Usually, that’s all I need! And you mentioned ‘Verbal Razors.’ Damn, when I listen to that sh*t now, I think I must have been out of my mind! There’s so much downpicking, but then you’ve got to jump from the E string into all this riffage. That one is a challenge these days!”
Although Holt can’t perform ‘Verbal Razors’s all mastered downpicking sections as he used to due to his struggles with his arms, at least the guitarist doesn’t need injections anymore to play. When it comes to his words about Hetfield cheating during live shows, it’s good to remember that it’s a complex style of playing that most guitarists try to master throughout their careers.
