10 Greatest Rhythm Guitarists In Rock Music History

Every good metal band involves a certain amount of precision when it comes to the guitar playing. Ever since the days when Tony Iommi first made daunting riffs in Black Sabbath, the order of the day was always about making songs that could scare you half to death, with the lead stuff being reserved for licks that no earthly being should be able to play. All metal is built on a solid foundation too, and James Hetfield made for a brick wall of sound whenever he strapped on his guitar.

Compared to Lars Ulrich's knack for playing a bunch of drum fills, James' strong suit was always about keeping the tempo consistent, never really soloing that often unless it was time to play different guitar harmonies for the songs and being more than happy to stampede his way through the song from the back. Anyone can just strum the guitar fast, but James' secret weapon was learning to downpick everything, making some Metallica tracks practically endurance tests like Welcome Home Sanitarium and Creeping Death.

For all of the lead guitar players who like to practice scale exercises, even the more experienced players don't even dare to take on these songs for fear that they'd get tendinitis in their hands by the end of it. James might not not solo all that often, but that's because he doesn't really have to. When you have the kind of discipline that he has pumping out the riffs from the back, that's pretty much all you need.