Metallica's James Hetfield At Guitar Center

I was very afraid of everything, afraid of the world, afraid of speaking, you know, music for really very shy children was a way of speaking as simple as that, uh, I could just journal, write poetry, write whatever I had in mind. head and sit down to play the drum. a few chords and I put them together and that's me, that's me telling the world about myself when I can't do it on my own, so music was the voice that I didn't have. There was a kid at my high school at Downey High who was in the jazz band who was selling his

guitar

he had one I think it was a 69 SG with a tremolo and he wanted to sell it he said do you want it and I said yeah how much do you want he said 200 dollars , so I begged my mom. and you know, I did the housework, I did everything I could and she said yes, she bought me, she bought me my first real

guitar

, uh and then of course once you got a guitar you joined a band , so I started hanging out with some kids at school that they loved.

Playing music and there was a cover band called Obsession, a group of guys from my grade and we ended up at their house after school playing. Black Sabbath was the band that totally lit me up, so heavy, so moving, that I sank. in that i could close my eyes and be there, me and a friend that we grew up in school, john xan was his name, we would try to outdo each other, you know, every day, like, hey, look what i learned and, Well, look what I got. and like, oh damn, I go back and learn something else and then he left, so the big high school competition, you know, took us to another level, which was cool and then at some point it was like, wow, you know, the guys I'm playing with! with me I need to play with better musicians and I was writing, I wanted to, I wrote some songs that they didn't like, they just wanted to play covers and then I decided Well, I had to start playing with other people, so at that moment I kind of knew I was in a quest, I wanted to get better and some friends didn't understand that they just, you know, why not, you just hang out with us and I was on a quest to go places, um.

I think it was my second year. I went back to high school in the summer to get ready to start playing football again and I had long hair at the time and the coach said you have to cut your hair and I said yes, but Eddie Van Halen has long hair and Michael Shanker has long hair. long. I want to play football and have long hair, you can't do that, so at the time it was one of those forks in the road that was pretty pivotal in my life that I had no idea about and I didn't Like I just said, well , you know, to hell with this, I want to be a second string, you know, play football or I want to be on stage, you know, with a mission, you know, speak through music, uh, I didn't know it at the time, but it was pretty much the right choice, oh, I don't think it really hit me until probably after um, after high school, where I realized, wow, I started thinking about what I want to do, you know, I'd be working on stickers Factory uh you know, cutting stuff and just thinking about riffs or lyrics or something you know at lunch time I'd be out in the car with my guitar putting together some riffs and you know, oh shoot, I gotta get back to work . then after work, you know, he shows the riffs that he had written and you know we did our first gig and then it was like you know, I think I want to quit my job, I want to start playing music and uh, it was there.

There was no other option, that's how it was when, like the first time, we're going to go to New Jersey to sign up or we're going, or you know, one of the first things like going to San Francisco to play a show, oh God. mine, and then, hey, we could sign up with this manager, he's talking about going to Europe and all that's like, yeah, whatever you know, trying to act cool, but inside I'm. freaking out, flipping out like this, this is happening, this is really happening and we're all friends and we can do what we want, that's amazing and every step of that journey has been a little more every day we wake up.

There's a reminder again that, friend, you can do whatever you want to do and create, and that sustains you and your family, it's an incredible gift, so for us to keep track of that, you know there certainly was a time in which it came to light. of control, you know the Black Album, the Black Album tour was going on for a long time, I mean, that was the album, there were multiple divorces, uh, a lot of egos, you know, bloated, you know, uh, uh, nobody had the appropriate size. everyone was bigger than they should have been, but if at the end of the day, when you look at this, this race is weird people saying they respect you for your music, but then the validation of you being out there is unreal, it's like a fantasy It's like these people think you're something more than you really are so you have to stand your ground it's like God I'm human you know then something comes back again and knocks you down and to reality you know and you realize that I have the gift of playing music, that's what I have.

You know, I grew up listening to guitarists. I especially loved rhythm guitarists. You know, obviously Toni was a big influence on most metal guitarists and obviously the riffs, the one-note riffs and they sounded fat, uh, when you analyze the sound, it doesn't really sound fat, it's just that it has a advantage, uh, that cut. Cuts, so for me I understood that at first, like on the first albums, uh, then it grew more into a. depth that I wanted, I wanted, uh, I wanted, it's like I wanted to play drums on the guitar, so I wanted a really percussive sound, so one that really reacts quickly and is punchy, uh, but also, if you know, hangs from a rope, okay. to fill the room and I wanted a Les Paul shape that was a little lighter and a little more roadworthy.

This takes a bit of a cut for me. I like to use my guitars pretty low. This has a little more sharpness. Can. Stand up a little higher even if you don't want to listen to me alone. I've probably tried it. I think we went through about 30 different types of poles, different types of windings, different types of metals, you know, a traditional looking one, but it also has an active pickup, so combining passive and active together smooths out the distortion uh uh but with some aggressive mids and you know some of the passive pickups have to know that they're a little bit more mid focused and aggressive which I like but the warmth and width of the active pickup so combining those two together was the challenge and that's what I want in a guitar sound, but not non-abrasive, not something that gives you, you know, total ear fatigue, you know, after a gig.

I think being on stage is a different hat, it's a different mentality, it's a different space, for me time stops, there's no pain, it's like you know, when people artists talk about being in the zone, That's the area, uh, I can understand. In that zone, even here just sitting playing and forgetting that you are here, somehow the world goes away, whether it's good or bad, sometimes it's hard to get out of it, but you know that's the curse, but the blessing is that there is that focus and there. it's that sense of purpose sense of being sense of communication sense of creation um there's there like that's one reason I'm here there are times when I haven't played for a couple of weeks and my wife will be like God, you're in a bad way. humor, go play the guitar it's like oh yeah and I'll go and play and then oh I feel better now it's just what it is it's a part of me it's like I have to have it you I know it's my coffee in the morning too and It is my rest at night.

Music simply makes us do things we normally wouldn't do. I mean, I'm not going to be jumping around here, you know, screaming in people's faces. I know from the power of a riff that comes out of this amp, you know, it's a little unfriendly, it's really rude, downright rude, huh, but that's what we can do on stage, we can express the music from every pore of every part . Of us, most things in life that are worthwhile, you have to work, you have to work, you get out what you put into it, as simple as that, it's kind of a universal law, so yeah, it's not picking up the guitar and that's it, ha, uh. what I've done, you know, in front of the mirror.

A lot, you know, hey, I'm very good and you should have that attitude too, but it takes work, it takes some dedication, you know, but if you love doing it. It's not as difficult as it could be if you know you're doing something you're not that interested in. There's nothing more inspiring than plugging into an amp tailored to my sound and turning it on. Above there is simply nothing more inspiring. I could write 20 riffs like that, if it goes through me, you know there are things that come up. I think you know how to preserve what you have, you have to give it away and show it off. up, you know, do charity type things, help others with the gift that we have, you know, we have everything we need, we have more than enough of what we need, so give back, sure, you know, kids rock small is something I'm involved in, I just did a concert in the south and raised a quarter of a million dollars.

It's amazing to bring instruments to public schools where music programs are cut. I think if there's a kid out there he has that gift or just needs a little bit. something, whatever it is, you know if it's that $5 guitar at the swap meet that shows up for someone else somewhere else and I've helped with that, it's a good feeling, it's a better feeling than most others feelings on this planet.