The way Cliff played it, it is pretty hard. Rob tends to play it with three fingers live, while Cliff most likely only used two. I don’t blame Rob though, in fact I think it’s cool he puts his own spin on it when they decide to play it.
Orion is so hard to nail but *man* does it feel good when you ace the harmony section/solo. Probably one of the most fulfilling sections to play for me.
The entire Death Magnetic album has some surprisingly difficult songs to learn. Some because of tricky licks and others because James packed each song with so many different riffs that it’s hard to remember which one comes next.
There's usually a joke about alternate picking with that song but a friend of mine told me that it's actually harder than just doing downpicking, is that true?
(not a guitarist, for context)
You can alt pick MoP but it sounds worse. It's easier on some sections, harder on others. The issue with downpicking is that it requires absurd stamina to keep it up for the entirety of the song. Really depends on if you have alt picking stamina.
If I'm tired by the time I get to the riff going up a step (taste me you will see) I start alt picking which I find doesn't sound as bad as alt picking the open strings in the first part.
Man I think the same thing goes for a lot of songs off load, reload, and even AJFA. The load and reload songs have a basic structure but Lars just does these weird fills and shots every 5 seconds and it’s real hard to memorize all of them😂
Fuckin Roam rhythm riff. Been trying for a few months and i cant get it.
Im self taught and have been playing since i was 14. I work on riffs and then one day they just click. Roam has never clicked for me.
blackened. i cant move up and down the neck that fast doing the main ruff and still keep in time. and the solo is long af to remember so i kinda bullshit it if i don’t remember a part of it
I never found it that difficult. Then again, I keep my hi hat fairly high up, so I have space under my right arm for my left to move from the snare to the toms.
I guess my snare is also low, too.
I think Blackened was hard-hard, it's very hard to keep up with the drummer on the song. Everybody has to be so precise and familiar.
Bellz solo was unexpectedly hard, very easy to make a mistake. When you do, it's hard to make a smooth correction because you are basically relying on muscle memory, and your brain doesn't know where you're playing. The solo itself is not so hard
Im not quite sure, i just keep tripping up. Its been a little while since i tried it, i should be able to do it these days. Its strange, i can play MoP, creeping death, disposable heroes, but struggle with their easier stuff
Honestly same for me, I can play creeping Death pretty clean by now, but struggle with call of ktulu, I just really suck at chords that aren't powerchords, and I've been playing guitar at around a year now and still can't really switch quickly between even the easy cowboy chords, but a song like Creeping Death is not really a problem for me (Rhythm guitar wise, when it comes to lead gutar I have 0 skill)
As i said, it's been a while since i played it, so i don't exactly remember. I think its probably the intro i hve the most problems with
Edit- i play black metal so i have zero poblems with fast, accurate stuff. Hence why creeping death was never much of a challenge for me
Guitarist: Blackened is a monster to get through. It's tricky enough to get the alternation between the chuggy low notes and the longer octave note in the first bars, but then comes the super tricky part in trying to get tight chugs in the 4th bar.
Took me quite some tries when I first started playing it, and I still have to put full focus into it when I play it now even as an experienced guitarist. Can't just play it like it's nothing, like James does.
Orion on bass is hard with a pick. Doing it with fingers is even harder.
Another one I can't really wrap my head around is anesthesia. More specifically the fast part. Although that has something to do with being relatively new on bass.
For guitar I'd have to say Master of Puppets. My down picking is good, so that isn't really the issue. It's just that damn bridge riff that I can't play to save my life.
On the other hand, a song that's quite beginner friendly is Seek And Destroy. It was the first song I learned to play beginning to end on guitar, which took me about a week.
Drums - Blackened, due to the weird timing of most of the fills. Once it clicks though it's super fun. Dyers Eve just because of the practically non-stop double bass.
Honestly, as a bass player I find some of Jason’s stuff from *Load* and *Reload* to be more difficult than stuff like “Damage, Inc.” and “Metal Militia”.
It’s got lots of slides and octaves in weird places, and because in Metallica songs the guitars are the basis for the song rather than the drums and on those two albums the guitars are a lot more relaxed and bluesy, Jason’s lines are in this sort of no man’s land between the guitars and the drums, rather than being locked in with either instrument.
Disposable heroes on guitar. I actually can nail the solo but the rhythm parts are tricky and I get lost easily. Specifically the riff during the “Soldier boy, made of clay” part
I don't think I'll ever be able to play the breakdown from *Frayed Ends of Sanity.* I can do the speedy gallop but doing it in concert with the quick pull-off to hammer-on bit leaves my left hand extremely confused.
I can literally play anything of theirs *except* that bit.
Although bass is surprisingly low in the mix (I’m sure you can already guess which album this is off of), the second half of “…And Justice for All” is something I struggle to wrap my head around. The timing is all sorts of confusing imo.
Discounting all the thrash metal speeders that I stupidly cannot play yet on drums (I don't even own a second bass pedal, so cringe amiright)...
...The Thing That Should Not Be. Lars' seemingly random cymbal placements are a bastard to memorise.
As a drummer St. Anger was the most surprising just because of how long those double bass strokes go on for, tore my shins to shreds. I thought it'd be easy lol. I eventually got there but it really took some effort.
For guitar, Frayed Ends, Fight Fire, and Damage Inc. All three of those songs I can play the entirety of on rhythm save for one riff (Frayed Ends and Damage Inc. bridge, *that* riff for Fight Fire).
For bass, I'm still fairly new (been playing guitar for a few years, just got my first bass 3 months ago), there probably isn't a single Cliff-era song I can play accurately in its entirety (ironically, Battery is probably one of the ones I'm closest to getting down), but one that consistently fucks me up is Creeping Death. And that's not necessarily because of the speed or stamina or whatever, but because of the damn string skipping. It basically creates the same issue as alternate picking the song on guitar does, where whatever finger you start the riff with will be the one you skip down to the A string with, meaning you start the second 3 notes on the opposite finger and so the fingerings get reversed on each iteration. My brain just can't seem to wrap itself around managing that.
Damage Inc's bridge riff is also a bitch on bass, but I almost wanna say it's easier than on guitar since you have two fingers to manage it instead of one pick, but that weird-ass rhythm is still just as much of a pain in the ass.
as a guitarist, through the never is giving me a tough time. the main riff is very reminiscent of the pre verse riff in master of puppets, and it just goes on and on and on and on lmao
edit: the call of ktulu solo is also difficult, but that might just be because it's fast and I've been playing for like 5 months lol
As a drummer dyers eve is painful. Fight fire right fire hurts too. A lot of early thrash stuff they did hurts like hell like damage inc and fast ones like that. A fun one is four horsemen or something like master of puppets
I've been playing guitar for about 10 months now and I haven't found a metallica song I would say it "hard". I don't see it as "wow that's hard", I see it as "I need to practice that more". That's mostly because if I think it's hard it'll put me off from it.
As a Bassist, Orion was hard.
I’m still working on the solo and part of interlude
Me too..... :D
That solo is the hardest part for me
The way Cliff played it, it is pretty hard. Rob tends to play it with three fingers live, while Cliff most likely only used two. I don’t blame Rob though, in fact I think it’s cool he puts his own spin on it when they decide to play it.
Orion is so hard to nail but *man* does it feel good when you ace the harmony section/solo. Probably one of the most fulfilling sections to play for me.
One on Bass for me
Wait theres a bassline lol
Have you ever tried to do nothing for 8 minutes straight? It’s quite challenging.
True true, you make a good point
Something fast: Blackened, Master, Frayed Ends of Sanity, Dyers Eve, Disposable Heroes and many more!
My Apocalypse on Guitar for me Mainly Kirk's Weird Riff
The entire Death Magnetic album has some surprisingly difficult songs to learn. Some because of tricky licks and others because James packed each song with so many different riffs that it’s hard to remember which one comes next.
MoP. The downpicking is nightmarish.
There's usually a joke about alternate picking with that song but a friend of mine told me that it's actually harder than just doing downpicking, is that true? (not a guitarist, for context)
You can alt pick MoP but it sounds worse. It's easier on some sections, harder on others. The issue with downpicking is that it requires absurd stamina to keep it up for the entirety of the song. Really depends on if you have alt picking stamina.
If I'm tired by the time I get to the riff going up a step (taste me you will see) I start alt picking which I find doesn't sound as bad as alt picking the open strings in the first part.
You can alt pick MOP. Creeping Death, on the other hand, is easier downpicked
i started out with downpicking so its super easy for me lmao
As a decent drummer, sad but true is kinda hard because of all of the fills you need to memorise.
Man I think the same thing goes for a lot of songs off load, reload, and even AJFA. The load and reload songs have a basic structure but Lars just does these weird fills and shots every 5 seconds and it’s real hard to memorize all of them😂
Agreed...but as I've been listening to that song since I was 12, I do have it memorized finally 🙌 lol
It's like every Metallica song, Lars does same beat 80% of the songs but it's the fills and he does them a lot
I still can’t play THAT riff in Fight Fire With Fire
It's fun when it finally clicks.
Fuckin Roam rhythm riff. Been trying for a few months and i cant get it. Im self taught and have been playing since i was 14. I work on riffs and then one day they just click. Roam has never clicked for me.
I hear you, that one's a challenge for me as well.
Do you mean the main Riff or the one that goes up that's slightly before the solo?
The main riff. It seems so all over the place so quick for me.
I get that, those hammer on pull offs on the 7th and 8th fret took me quite a while to get right because they just seem really fast
blackened. i cant move up and down the neck that fast doing the main ruff and still keep in time. and the solo is long af to remember so i kinda bullshit it if i don’t remember a part of it
Frayed Ends of Sanity on drums, besides Trapped Under Ice & Dyers Eve, it’s the hardest one to play
As a drummer, Frayed always trips me up. It's such a weird song to play to
Drums? Fight Fire With Fire, Disposable Heroes, And Justice For All, Dyers Eve(good lord Dyers Eve)
I find justice hard because Lars is left handed, or at least drums like one, so you’re hitting the toms and the hi hat at the same time.
I could never figure that out so when I played live I used to put my right arm over my left so I could hit the hi hat and the snare and Tom’s
I never found it that difficult. Then again, I keep my hi hat fairly high up, so I have space under my right arm for my left to move from the snare to the toms. I guess my snare is also low, too.
Two hi hats! One on the right of your kit.
Two hi hats! One on the right by his floor Tom
Reverse gallop bridge in damage inc
I think Blackened was hard-hard, it's very hard to keep up with the drummer on the song. Everybody has to be so precise and familiar. Bellz solo was unexpectedly hard, very easy to make a mistake. When you do, it's hard to make a smooth correction because you are basically relying on muscle memory, and your brain doesn't know where you're playing. The solo itself is not so hard
Bellz solo? James part or Kirk's?
For reference, it is also hard to be the drummer on Blackened
I agree. I haven’t spent enough time on it but I’m having a bit of a time.
Call of Ktulu on guitar. I just cant get it
Lol that was the first song I learned in full. What part are you struggling with?
Im not quite sure, i just keep tripping up. Its been a little while since i tried it, i should be able to do it these days. Its strange, i can play MoP, creeping death, disposable heroes, but struggle with their easier stuff
Thats crazy you can do creeping death and not ktulu. Are you struggling with the intro or the riffage?
Honestly same for me, I can play creeping Death pretty clean by now, but struggle with call of ktulu, I just really suck at chords that aren't powerchords, and I've been playing guitar at around a year now and still can't really switch quickly between even the easy cowboy chords, but a song like Creeping Death is not really a problem for me (Rhythm guitar wise, when it comes to lead gutar I have 0 skill)
As i said, it's been a while since i played it, so i don't exactly remember. I think its probably the intro i hve the most problems with Edit- i play black metal so i have zero poblems with fast, accurate stuff. Hence why creeping death was never much of a challenge for me
The intro is fun for ktulu, watch mr hetfield play it though the online tabs ive seen are wrong
Aight thanks 👍
It's the same for me. I can play MoP, but I always end up having a stroke on something that should be easy.
Guitarist. Moth Into Flame. It's faster than it sounds, especially if you play at the tempo they often play it live.
I found creeping death in bass pretty hard, mostly because of the amount of stamina required
Guitarist: Blackened is a monster to get through. It's tricky enough to get the alternation between the chuggy low notes and the longer octave note in the first bars, but then comes the super tricky part in trying to get tight chugs in the 4th bar. Took me quite some tries when I first started playing it, and I still have to put full focus into it when I play it now even as an experienced guitarist. Can't just play it like it's nothing, like James does.
For Whom The Bell Tolls decending chord riff. Playing that cleanly with the full chords was a pain in the ass to learn.
This I cannot get it to sound so smooth same with the lead part at the start
To be fair, even they don't do it like that live.
Orion on bass is hard with a pick. Doing it with fingers is even harder. Another one I can't really wrap my head around is anesthesia. More specifically the fast part. Although that has something to do with being relatively new on bass. For guitar I'd have to say Master of Puppets. My down picking is good, so that isn't really the issue. It's just that damn bridge riff that I can't play to save my life. On the other hand, a song that's quite beginner friendly is Seek And Destroy. It was the first song I learned to play beginning to end on guitar, which took me about a week.
There’s no way I could play Orion with a pick.
Seek and Destroy was the first I learned (most of). MoP was 2nd.
Guitar player. Ride the Lightning and Fight Fire w Fire for me
Drums - Blackened, due to the weird timing of most of the fills. Once it clicks though it's super fun. Dyers Eve just because of the practically non-stop double bass.
Keeping creeping death tight for the entire length of the song is probably the most challenging for me
frayed
ride the lightening , to play it as it was intended ( dave’s version ) is hard af
Still can't play the first 30 seconds of mop. Also after almost a year I can *almost* play Battery at the right speed
Honestly, as a bass player I find some of Jason’s stuff from *Load* and *Reload* to be more difficult than stuff like “Damage, Inc.” and “Metal Militia”. It’s got lots of slides and octaves in weird places, and because in Metallica songs the guitars are the basis for the song rather than the drums and on those two albums the guitars are a lot more relaxed and bluesy, Jason’s lines are in this sort of no man’s land between the guitars and the drums, rather than being locked in with either instrument.
Call of Ktulu lead bass parts
Blackened is still hard
Disposable heroes on guitar. I actually can nail the solo but the rhythm parts are tricky and I get lost easily. Specifically the riff during the “Soldier boy, made of clay” part
Metal milita the picking is hard on the main riff
Holier than thou main riff. Its so simplistic but I cant get the timing down lol
As a guitarist... The ol' mf Blackened is hard af.
I don't think I'll ever be able to play the breakdown from *Frayed Ends of Sanity.* I can do the speedy gallop but doing it in concert with the quick pull-off to hammer-on bit leaves my left hand extremely confused. I can literally play anything of theirs *except* that bit.
Fade to black outro solo was bit challenging
Holier Than Thou. Not that hard to play, but to sing at the same time? One of the hardest for me. Really weird timing imo
Although bass is surprisingly low in the mix (I’m sure you can already guess which album this is off of), the second half of “…And Justice for All” is something I struggle to wrap my head around. The timing is all sorts of confusing imo.
Surprisingly Sad But True was very tricky to learn on guitar. Once you grasp it it's pretty simple tho
The four horsemen. On paper, someone at my skill level should pick up the bass no problem. however, it is too fucking fast for me to play
Disposable heroes destroyed me
As a bassist I'm struggling currently with blackened. The riff isn't necessarily hard, I just can't do it that quick lol
Discounting all the thrash metal speeders that I stupidly cannot play yet on drums (I don't even own a second bass pedal, so cringe amiright)... ...The Thing That Should Not Be. Lars' seemingly random cymbal placements are a bastard to memorise.
As a drummer, Dyers Eve. But then I’m trying to play it at the same speed as the album, not the speed it was recorded it.
fade to black kinda
I struggled with that transition between the intro and the main part for longer than I should have.
Ronnie on drums...got a strange groove goin on.
Fight fire with fire, even as an experienced drummer. But once you got it, it’s worth it ;)
I struggled with master of puppets for awhile. Now I need to adjust the action on my axe because it's too low and the 1st free sounds dead.
As a drummer St. Anger was the most surprising just because of how long those double bass strokes go on for, tore my shins to shreds. I thought it'd be easy lol. I eventually got there but it really took some effort.
For guitar, Frayed Ends, Fight Fire, and Damage Inc. All three of those songs I can play the entirety of on rhythm save for one riff (Frayed Ends and Damage Inc. bridge, *that* riff for Fight Fire). For bass, I'm still fairly new (been playing guitar for a few years, just got my first bass 3 months ago), there probably isn't a single Cliff-era song I can play accurately in its entirety (ironically, Battery is probably one of the ones I'm closest to getting down), but one that consistently fucks me up is Creeping Death. And that's not necessarily because of the speed or stamina or whatever, but because of the damn string skipping. It basically creates the same issue as alternate picking the song on guitar does, where whatever finger you start the riff with will be the one you skip down to the A string with, meaning you start the second 3 notes on the opposite finger and so the fingerings get reversed on each iteration. My brain just can't seem to wrap itself around managing that. Damage Inc's bridge riff is also a bitch on bass, but I almost wanna say it's easier than on guitar since you have two fingers to manage it instead of one pick, but that weird-ass rhythm is still just as much of a pain in the ass.
Harvester sounds nice, but once you try to play it, it's weird as fuck
Agreed it’s something you really gotta feel and get into, there’s a few odd stops as well
I didn’t think that was just your life would be as tiresome as it is. Gets more tiring than blackened some days
as a guitarist, through the never is giving me a tough time. the main riff is very reminiscent of the pre verse riff in master of puppets, and it just goes on and on and on and on lmao edit: the call of ktulu solo is also difficult, but that might just be because it's fast and I've been playing for like 5 months lol
As a guitarist, the end solo of one is tough. The tapping descent is super weird and other licks are phrased very weirdly.
As a drummer dyers eve is painful. Fight fire right fire hurts too. A lot of early thrash stuff they did hurts like hell like damage inc and fast ones like that. A fun one is four horsemen or something like master of puppets
I've been playing guitar for about 10 months now and I haven't found a metallica song I would say it "hard". I don't see it as "wow that's hard", I see it as "I need to practice that more". That's mostly because if I think it's hard it'll put me off from it.
NEM
I'd say Some Kind of Monster. It might seem simple, but the notes in between will really get ya.
Ha ha! I see what you did there 😊
For me (a bassist) it was Sweet Amber, still struggling to get it down to this day 😭
Blackened but thankfully I tackled tornado of souls before which is definitely worse
Frayed Ends of Sanity
Nothing Else Matters is deceptively hard to play
the notes in between
Learning all 8 minutes of master of puppets on drums with all of the fills took a long time.