Drokk said:James Hetfield is, quite simply, one of the best rhythm guitarists ever.
LORD_GALVATRON said:James is a better guitarist and even scott knows it.
I'm not a guitarist but I don't get this. James needs to work on his picking hand? Are we talking about the same person? Nobody has the attack that James has. Maybe he's gotten lazy these past few years, but I still think nobody has that downpicking attack that he does. I also think he has stronger and tighter technique. OK, "best ever" is hyperbolic, but he's easily one of my favorite rock/hard rock/metal guitarists. Mustaine is also an amazing rhythm player, but doesn't have that muscular tone that James does. If we're going to do this fanboy "can Hulk kick Thor's ass?", Hetfield and Mustaine would be in the same category.Thrillho said:p.s. You don't need a lot of over-drive to play a good riff - sorry - I wasn't trying to say that.
What I meant was, if you want your riffs to sound "heavy," you need to work on your tone and you need to think about how your picking hand is attacking the strings. Latley, James seems to have forgotten all of this.
http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=4880589&postcount=28AlexStomp said:Yes. And no. Let me elaborate. Acoustically, James owns Scott most likely. James is the singer of his band and so he probably does the vast majority of his writing on an acoustic. Alot of those songs don't need alot of overdrive. I was watching old footage of Metallica from the And Justice tours. I much prefer Metallica that way. During the Black Album tours, they still sounded heavy as fuck.
As far as "meat and potato's" metal, Scott owns James. I learned this on the first S.O.D. shows I went to in 96 and 97. At that point I was so used to Anthrax's new sound with John Bush. To see a fast paced show like S.O.D. with nothing but metal riffs from start to finish with a Slayer cover!!!! Blew my mind as far as Scott's capabalities as a metal rythm player. He attacks the guitar way more than James because he doesn't have to worry about singing.
Point I'm trying to make is it's stupid to compare these two "rythm" guitar players. They're two players with completely two different types of roles for their respective bands.
A much better comparison??
Spitz/Ian vs. Hanneman/King???
My vote leans toward the latter.
karrokid said:but in the race to convert to a redneck James is kicking Scotts ass all over the planet.
Drokk said:Maybe he's gotten lazy these past few years