Trying to keep up with Lars Ulrich.

[Diego]

Have you got Orgullo, Pasion y Gloria by Metallica? Their latest DVD/CD? (I think)

Do the following:
Grab your electric guitar/bass of choice, tune to Eb, and put Creeping Death on your player.
Play the song along with the band.

You'll realize how much of a cluster**** Lars Ulrich is, nowadays.

He's drops out of time EVERYWHERE, all the time. You'll miss around 50% of all the accentuated bits on the rhythm.
He jumps in too early, always. And he's always speeding up!
In the second riff, you'll notice how Hetfield tries to slow him down.
And what does Lars do? Speed up. It's like a competition inside the house.

His feel for timing is simply non-existant.
Yeah, I don't think it's a bad feel.
I just think he doesn't care about it, so he doesn't even try. And you'll notice.

It's like a pandora's box to play with him, live on record. It's interesting and a really weird exercise.
Of course, playing Creeping Death along with the Ride the Lightning album is easy. I never fall out on that one. He keeps it slower and steady.
I honestly don't know how Hetfield, Hammett and Trujillo can be tight with Lars. And kudos to all four of them for doing it.

Lars just plays the way he wants to play.
Cool, weird and mystifying all at once. I admire that.

He's got nothing to prove. He's got it all done for himself.

[Shadow1psc]

Lars has always been off on the fast songs. I've always liked the way he puts his bass notes in places you don't expect, it was fun to learn growing up, but that man needs a metronome wired into his brain at this point.

[miconight]

without Lars there would be no Metallica...
Sorry, I grew up with Metallica, tense to be a bit too sensitive. hehe
Maybe his beer belly has made him miss metronome. hehe

[Zerberus]

Lars has always been one of the sloppiest drummers in metal, at least as long as I can remember....

But hey, apparently it worked for him, so maybe we should all take all thie technique and theory stuff with a grain of salt... Kurt Cobain comes to mind as another sloppy and not formally educated player who´s music changed the world.....

And then there´s Jimi.....

[Shadow1psc]

I'm listening to the track in question now, and as an educated musician (including, but not limited to drums and guitar), it's not too bad. At least not worse than other live renditions (seriously, compare it to Live Sh*t). His fills are just very 'spur of the moment' sounding, like Lars is going "Man, I'm gonna do something cool... oh ****, it's time to do something cool... uh, I'm gonna do a quarter note fill!"

Pretty par for Lars.

[Varg]

My latest band will be playing that very song this Saturday, our first gig together - and our drummer only gets to play once a week at our rehearsals and has only been playing for a short time.
He keeps saying "Lars does this" and "Lars does that", I keep telling him to keep it simple and NOT copy Lars

With only one guitar player, its not such a problem, you can HEAR everything better and compensate for timing problems - but of course Metallica (as we do) have two guitar players and it is a bit of a nightmare at times.
"Fuel" can be another one that goes wayward at times.

[Diego]

Just a clarification:

I love Lars Ulrich and despite his technical limitations, I think he's one of the coolest Metal drummers around.

Just like I think Marty Friedman is the coolest Metal lead guitar player ever.

I don't give a damn what Dave Mustaine thinks. He says Broderick is better, all the time in every single interview out there.

I think that one note by Marty is usually way more interesting than whatever Chris plays.
So I think Dave Mustaine is just wrong and a bit angry,
because Friedman is one of the few Ex-Megadeth members that wasn't fired by him, but quit because he had enough.

OK, back to Metallica: I don't care about Lars' sloppyness.
I haven't listened much to Live Sh1t, the mix on that album is so thin and bright it hurts my ears.
But I'll give it a shot.
Any prime examples of "metronomes are useless" on that album??

[Diego]

without Lars there would be no Metallica...
Sorry, I grew up with Metallica, tense to be a bit too sensitive. hehe
Maybe his beer belly has made him miss metronome. hehe

I grew up with Metallica too, man.
It's easily the band out there that I love the most.
But I'm not that sensitive over them. They're humans.

Succesful, talented and stinking rich humans!
I love Metallica.

[NUNOSLASH]

Marty wears kimonos...

[Varg]

Just a clarification:

I love Lars Ulrich and despite his technical limitations, I think he's one of the coolest Metal drummers around.

Just like I think Marty Friedman is the coolest Metal lead guitar player ever.

I don't give a damn what Dave Mustaine thinks. He says Broderick is better, all the time in every single interview out there.

I think that one note by Marty is usually way more interesting than whatever Chris plays.
So I think Dave Mustaine is just wrong and a bit angry,
because Friedman is one of the few Ex-Megadeth members that wasn't fired by him, but quit because he had enough.

OK, back to Metallica: I don't care about Lars' sloppyness.
I haven't listened much to Live Sh1t, the mix on that album is so thin and bright it hurts my ears.
But I'll give it a shot.
Any prime examples of "metronomes are useless" on that album??

I agree with you, I like Lars drumming a lot, he's a big part of Metallica. Huge. Live Sh** is the best live DVD Ive ever seen, the one from the Justice tour is just jaw dropping. You MUST check it out!

On the Mustaine loving Broderick thing, he's just saying what he has to say. He cant come out and say "Yeah, Chris is okay but Marty was the best" can he? How would Broderick take that? Its OBVIOUS to anyone with ears Marty was ten times the guitar player Broderick will ever be. Dave and Marty are still friends, there is no bad blood - Dave has no reason to disrespect Marty, but he has every reason to talk up the guys in his current band.

[Zerberus]

^^ My sentiments exactly on the Mustiaine /Broderick /Friedman thing. Dave´s first and firemost priority is running a business (Megadeth), and he does it well.

Part of that however is that you´re kind of "always in sales mode", meaning that whatever you have naw is ALWAYS the newest, best and baddest, and what you had yesterday was crap. That´s just the way the coin tumbles.

[jcthejester13]

This just reminds me of this...

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x48...a-shreds_music

[PoorMan]

Let's not forget how Lars got in the band in the first place...he had a friend at a Metal label that promised to put his band's song on a compilation album (if he got in a band). Metallica knew this and it was the primary reason for them letting him in--not his "killer" chops.

Mustaine has been very open about this and stated Lars could barely play.

[Diego]

^^ My sentiments exactly on the Mustiaine /Broderick /Friedman thing. Dave´s first and firemost priority is running a business (Megadeth), and he does it well.

Part of that however is that you´re kind of "always in sales mode", meaning that whatever you have naw is ALWAYS the newest, best and baddest, and what you had yesterday was crap. That´s just the way the coin tumbles.

I fully agree with all of you. You can't really say "Yeah, our new album's OK but Rust in Peace still beats the **** out of it".

I was just venting. And by these days I'm a bit... untolerant to say the least.

Friedman wears kimonos and still does hair spray. So what? He's cool.
He must be getting plenty from those nice slim japanese chicks. Who luckily are shorter than him.

[j9fd3s]

i just watched the vid, its good! haven't listened to metallica in a LONG time, and i think that's gotta be my favorite song too

yes lars sucks, but um its not a sercret!

-mike

[80's_Metal]

They almost fired Lars one time.... I like him ok enough.... I don't get all that caught up in dummers usually..... No typo there....