Top 10 Things About Metallica's James Hetfield that Many People Probably Have Not Noticed

He turns 55 on August 3, 2018.
Today.
Happy birthday, James!
The Top Ten
1 James Hetfield holds the pick with his thumb and 2 fingers, and not with his thumb and one finger

This is unusual although he isn't the only one.

But his picking technique is unconventional (the image shows how he holds the pick)

Actually, I did it in a same way... it's an unpleasant feeling for me to hold it with my thumb and one finger I dunno why...

Good for downpicking and gallop picking, but not so good for alternate picking.

2 James Hetfield has a tattoo with the music notes from Metallica's song "Orion" (bass part) played at Cliff Burton's funeral

This tattoo is less visible because it's on the inner side of his left elbow. But it's very beautiful.

3 James Hetfield holds the pick like a pen / pencil

Look at the picture - is he going to write a letter or play guitar?
Maybe both - he "writes" on the strings.
It's weird but it looks beautiful to me. I love watching him play (not only for this though).
This item is different from #1 because not all guys who use 3 fingers look like "writers". The reason is that some other guys use different fingers and/or different position of the other fingers, and even hand position. Steve Morse of Deep Purple often holds the pick with 3 fingers but his right hand is doing the gesture of the metal horns! Unlike James Hetfield, he doesn't look like a "writer". But Steve Morse rocks, too.

4 The sound of his acoustic guitar on "Fade to Black" is unusual - they turned the tape around and recorded him playing part backwards to get mystery sounds
5 Fight Fire with Fire is his song with the fastest picking speed (tremolo-picked riffs)

And Metallica played it even faster!

6 James Hetfield usually lets Lars to be the spokesman for the band although, in general, James is probably the leader of the band

James owns the stage when plays and sings but I think he is a bit shy when it comes to dealing with media

7 He's got a tattoo of St. Michael and Satan, symbolizing the victory over the human vices (on the inner side of his right arm)

Because it's on the inner side, it's more difficult to notice it.

8 James Hetfield favors Down Picking

I think he can be called the King of Down Picking.

9 James uses every opportunity to say "yeah" in his songs

This item is lower because some people noticed it but for those who didn't, here's a list:
Top 10 Metallica Songs with the Best "Yeah"
(and the opposite list - Top 10 Metallica Songs with no "Yeahs")

Yeah that sounds right

10 He used different amps on the albums Kill 'Em All and Ride the Lightning but the guitar sound on Kill 'Em All was recreated for the recording of Ride the Lightning

Recreating his guitar sound was a problem because Metallica equipment got stolen in Boston before the recording of Ride the Lightning. James had a special Marshall amp that had been modified for the recording of Kill 'Em All and he wanted the same sound for Ride the Lightning. But the amp got stolen and Metallica arrived in Denmark to record the album Ride the Lightning with no equipment.

Their producer and studio/sound engineer Flemming Rasmussen helped Metallica to get all the Marshall amps from the metal bands that were in Denmark at that time. Flemming Rasmussen and Metallica tested all the amps and succeeded to recreate the guitar sound James had on Kill 'Em All. They just beefed it up which made James even happier.

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