metallica question

[gtr_guy26]

Does anyone know what time signature Battery is in?

[Farview]

4/4

The thing is, at that point, they were not playing to a click. They were just feeling their way through it. Most of the goofy sounding stuff simply had no count.

[espskully]

Metallica. Still my favorite of all time. Battery is sick!

[Cloneboy Studio]

If I recall correctly it is primarily 4/4, with the occasional added 5/4 measure here and there.

[BabyGrand06]

Originally Posted by Farview

4/4

The thing is, at that point, they were not playing to a click. They were just feeling their way through it. Most of the goofy sounding stuff simply had no count.

Whoa. You sure about that. Im not doubting you, I just find that hard to believe.

[altiris]

Who's Metallica

[Farview]

Originally Posted by BabyGrand06

Whoa. You sure about that. Im not doubting you, I just find that hard to believe.

Go watch S&M (the DVD that has the orchestra) The behind the scenes stuff reveals this. James even admits it. There was an underlying theme of how hard it was to score this stuff because no one has ever tried to count this stuff out.

[The First Don]

Originally Posted by Farview

4/4

The thing is, at that point, they were not playing to a click. They were just feeling their way through it. Most of the goofy sounding stuff simply had no count.

I thought that if you couldn't play in time then you could forget about being on a major label...

[Farview]

Originally Posted by The First Don

I thought that if you couldn't play in time then you could forget about being on a major label...

Things were different 20 years ago. Everything metallica did from the black album on was done to a click.

[booyah14]

Well this is related so I figured I could ask it. I finally tried recording to a track instead of just playing what I thought was right and I must say it is hard. I mean I've played guitar for about 10 years and I would definitely consider myself above average. I play a lot of very fast technical metal and I just couldn't get a feel for it. The clicking of the track just didn't give me any clue as to where I was supposed to be. I assumed each riff would either be a bar or two but I have no clue. Would it be possible if it was in 4/4 to switch up the clicks for a snare and bass sound and alternate? So basically, help me out because I'm lost.

[Farview]

You are going to find it very hard to do if you don't know how to count your parts.

Another thing that might help is using 1/8 notes instead of 1/4 notes. Or, if you are doing fast, technical metal, you might need a triplet click. A lot of that stuff is a shuffle. Also, you might not be in 4/4. The bottom line is that you have to know what you are playing and how to count it.

[booyah14]

No it's definitely in 4/4. I know that and I set the tempo up correctly. But basically it just sounds like an annoying sound in the background. I do accent the 1st note so that I can follow a little more which does help.

[Farview]

The trick is to actually groove to the click. Act like it is part of the song and it will stay in the mix. Once you look at it as part of the music, instead of some oppressive entity, you will have a better time of it.