While speaking about the many injuries he has suffered throughout his career in a recent interview with Laughingmonkeymusic, Exodus’ Gary Holt made the claim that Metallica’s James Hetfield “cheats” while strumming his guitar in order to make it easier on himself when playing “brutal,” fast paced, riffs.
“We all cheat,” Holt said. “We’re f*cking 60 years old. I also say James is the undisputed GOAT, he’s the greatest of all time, and even he cheats live.”
He continued: “James is still the best ever, but you watch that middle downpick section in ‘[Welcome Home] (Sanitarium)’, which is just brutal, and they add some chunks in there, and those chunks give you all the break you need to keep going. It’s a cheat. It doesn’t mean he’s not the best.”
Holt made the same claims about Hetfield two years ago when he sat down with Anthrax’s Scott Ian and Zakk Wylde for Guitar World.
“Even James Hetfield cheats now … I’ve seen it enough times! If he’s doing a savage downpick section and then he throws in a ‘brrrp’ [motions descending slide], then that ‘brrrp’ is there for a reason. It allows you to lose a couple of notes,” Holt explained.
Zakk Wylde then chimed in on the conversation, adding: “It’s okay to take a nice little breather.”
