Metallica's third proper bass player after Cliff Burton and Jason Newsted deserves all of our praise. First, he's been in the world's biggest metal band since 2003, making him their longest-serving bassist.

Second, he's an absolute monster bass player, powering through funk, rock and metal styles with ease and panache. Third, he produced a documentary, Jaco, in 2012, telling the tragic story of Jaco Pastorius. Finally, he bought Jaco's famous ‘Bass Of Doom’ and restored it to the Pastorius family.

Robert Trujillo's story is one that began not long before the arrival of Metallica's self-titled 1991 album – in the very same city, in fact – when he joined skate-thrash mob Suicidal Tendencies near the end of the '80s.

In 1996, came an even bigger break – and quite possibly the ultimate dream for anyone who grew up listening to Black Sabbath. While Suicidal Tendencies certainly brought him success, joining Ozzy Osbourne's band was the move that enabled him to perform at the top level.

All of these influences and experiences brought Trujillo to the moment famously documented on Metallica's Some Kind Of Monster film, where he auditioned for the band, annihilated the competition and was given a cool million-dollar advance as a “welcome to the family.”

“One thing about being in Metallica is I've always felt challenged,” Trujillo told Bass Player. “It's a lot easier now than it used to be: when I first joined Metallica, I was kinda struggling! I had to learn over 20 years of catalog, plus the 12 songs from St. Anger which had never really been performed as a unit.

“Then there was that magnitude of press and everything else that goes with being in Metallica. I was juggling all of it.”

In this clip from the Beneath the Bassline documentary, Trujillo spoke about his 2003 audition to replace bassist Jason Newsted, as captured in the 2004 band documentary Some Kind of Monster.

“It was a two-day audition, but the first day was more fly-on-the-wall,” says Trujillo. “Bob Rock had already recorded bass guitar and he was also producing St Anger, so I’m just there at the studio watching guitar tracks go down.

“The evening rolls around and Lars says, ‘Hey, let’s go get a drink.’ I could hold my own with a few beers, but we end up drinking until 5 in the morning. I wake up with the worst hangover of my life, and now I’ve got to play with Metallica.”

“James is sober. He’s gone through rehab. So I decided I would connect with my bass tech and decide what bass I was going to use, and what amp.

“What I was really trying to do was get away from Hetfield because I didn’t want him to smell the alcohol on me. Lars was probably just testing me to see how much I could handle, but I just felt like a loser.”

Bassists Pepper Keenan, Jeordie White, Scott Reeder, Eric Avery, Danny Lohner and Chris Wyse – among others – also tried out for the role, but after three months of auditions, Trujillo was officially declared the new bassist.

Instead of squandering his advance on a blur of decadence, as – let's face it – many of us would be tempted to do, Trujillo chose to lock himself in a room, armed to the teeth with nothing but Metallica tablature books. He was the new guy, and in his eyes, he had everything to prove.

“Everyone else had the music figured out because they wrote or recorded it, but the new guy needs to do his homework. Any time a band has an archive, it's almost guaranteed that at some point they're going to play an obscure song. The fans are going to call for it, so once I was caught up, it felt easier to adapt.”

It may be an old joke, but there’s something to be said for taking things up a notch, and this month the bass community did just that with a heap of new products, ranging from downloadable plugins to vintage-style reissues, and a whole lot more besides.

In the month that saw Suzi Quatro promote the release of her 18th studio album, and Paul McCartney launch his first solo album in over five years, we’ve been talking shop with the best luthiers, bass builders, and low-end gurus, to bring you a must-read report on the latest new gear.

For starters, Fender marked the 75th anniversary of the P-Bass with three new limited-edition models. Will anyone ever topple the Precision from its perch as the best-selling bass of all time?

EMG was also celebrating its 50th anniversary with the launch of three new signature pickup sets for session legend Lee Sklar, Living Colour trailblazer Doug Wimbish, and Metallica powerhouse Robert Trujillo.

Here’s our pick of bass gear releases in May.

Pachyderm Instruments Whamola

Despite slapping down the years on a variety of bass guitars, most of which have been custom jobs from Brooklyn luthier Carl Thompson, Primus bassist Les Claypool has also employed a range of other instruments, including the famous Whamola, which is featured on the song Whamola by Claypool’s Frog Brigade as well as the South Park theme song variations and the Robot Chicken theme.

“It’s a one-string instrument with a handle on it, and I hit it with a stick,” says Claypool. “It’s basically a percussion instrument, the way I play it: it doesn’t have a lot of tonality to it, but I tend to pick up whatever’s handy.”

Pachyderm Instruments has now announced that a small run of Whamolas will be available at the merch booth during the Claypool Gold Tour, which began on May 20th and will continue through July 4th.

We make no promises that fans will come out playing it like he does, but if anyone knows about taking the instrument to the next level, it’s Les Claypool.

Rickenbacker 4000V CB TB

Few players are as closely tied to the Rickenbacker sound as Geddy Lee, whose snarling 4001 tone helped define classic Rush records throughout the ’70s.

Ahead of the upcoming Fifty Something reunion tour, Rickenbacker has revealed a new custom bass built to Lee’s own specs: an unapologetically retro four-string. that blends vintage appointments, and a Turquoise Blue finish.

Originally offered on the late ’50s combo series instruments, the Turquoise Blue finish is accented with checkerboard binding around the body. Another notable throwback is the bridge, which is the 425 style with four saddles as found in the early 4000 and 4005 models.

The 4000V CB TB is fitted with a Vintage Single Coil Toaster Top and a Bass Horseshoe pickup. Rather than volume and tone controls, Lee requested two volume knobs (one for each pickup) that are wired to a mono output.

Most of the rest of us will never get to own one, but a bassist can dream, right?

Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Bass Big Muff Pi 2

For many, the stompbox daddy of all fuzz is the Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi. The recently released dual op-amp Bass Big Muff 2 has now been upgraded with the release of the Deluxe Bass Big Muff 2.

Bass-centric upgrades include a blend knob, and a foot switchable crossover section that splits your signal into two bands. The pedal’s I/O section has also been expanded to include a pad switch on the input, a DI output, and a Direct output.

Looking for a Big Muff? Well this one’s massive.

Fender Limited Edition 75th Anniversary Precision Bass Collection

It was way back in 1951 that Fender first put their Precision Bass into production, so 2026 sees the 75th anniversary, not just of that instrument, but pretty much the concept of the electric bass itself. Without it, your instrument of choice would be radically different, and we wouldn’t have jobs.

Fender is marking the occasion with a trio of limited-edition models.

Leading the pack is the American Vintage II 1951 Precision Bass, a recreation of Leo Fender’s original slab-bodied design. It’s finished in classic Butterscotch Blonde and equipped with a period-correct single-coil pickup.

At the other end of the spectrum sits the more contemporary American Professional PJ Bass, which pairs a traditional split-coil Precision pickup with a Jazz Bass bridge pickup. Other modern upgrades include a HiMass bridge, figured maple top options, and gold hardware.

Meanwhile, the Player II Precision Bass offers a more accessible route into the anniversary lineup. Despite its lower price point, the Player II P-Bass still packs upgraded appointments, a performance-focused neck profile, and a Diamond Dust Sparkle finish.

Darkglass Anagram Marketplace

Darkglass Electronics has officially launched the Anagram Marketplace, a plugin ecosystem designed to expand the capabilities of its flagship Anagram multi-effects processor with third-party effects, and creator-developed tools.

Darkglass describes the move as “the next evolution of the Anagram platform”, transforming the unit from a standalone processor into what is effectively an app-based environment for bassists, producers and sound designers.

Available through the Darkglass Suite, the Marketplace introduces downloadable plugins created both by Darkglass and external developers, opening the door to a continuously evolving library of sounds and processing tools.

Surely worth the attention of every single person who has ever applied finger or thumb or pick to string.

EarthQuaker Devices Scrolls Bass Odyssey

On the list of effects pedals guaranteed to get the average bass guitarist's pulse racing, an all-analog bass preamp is unlikely to feature highly. However, having complete control over your tone has long been the secret weapon in many a pro player's rig. Some use it to add extra polish to their overall sound, while others use it in conjunction with other effects to tweak them to perfection.

The Scrolls Bass Odyssey from Ohio's highly-rated EarthQuaker Devices combines a comprehensive active EQ section with a tube-style drive circuit. Add to that an effects loop, parallel output and balanced XLR out, and you’ve got a studio-ready pedal that’s ideal for use in any setup with multiple signal paths.

Play one of these high-end pedals and you’ll understand exactly how boutique makers such as EarthQuaker Devices earn their keep.

EMG Signature Bass Pickup Sets

EMG is celebrating its 50th anniversary with the launch of three new signature bass pickup sets for Metallica powerhouse Robert Trujillo, Living Colour trailblazer Doug Wimbish, and session legend Lee Sklar.

The Lee Sklar P Set is a recreation of the original split-coil pickup configuration housed in Sklar’s famed “Frankenstein” Precision Bass.

According to EMG, the set revives the look and sound of the company’s earliest production runs, complete with raised-logo covers and a specially tweaked preamp designed to mirror Sklar’s long-running 18-volt setup.

Doug Wimbish’s DW Set takes a similarly archival approach. The PJ configuration – previously exclusive to his signature Spector basses – has now been released as a standalone aftermarket set for the first time.

EMG says the pickups were recreated directly from the exact PJ combination Wimbish has used since the early ’80s, with vintage-style branding and both long- and short-Jazz sizing options available.

Meanwhile, Robert Trujillo’s existing RT “Rip Tide” signature set has received a flashy anniversary makeover in a new gold finish. While the electronics remain unchanged, the updated aesthetic joins a broader series of special-edition EMG anniversary products tied to Metallica’s long-running relationship with the pickup giant. All three pickup sets ship with EMG’s solderless wiring system.

Nordstrand Acinonyx V

Nordstrand Audio has expanded its retro-inspired Acinonyx lineup with the launch of the new Acinonyx 5 – a five-string evolution of the company’s offset short-scale bass design that arrives after a limited-edition run last year.

At the heart of the Acinonyx 5 is a compact 30.7-inch short scale, paired with an Indian rosewood fingerboard featuring a compound radius for a more modern feel across the neck. Nordstrand also promises a comfortably worn-in playing experience, describing the neck profile as one that “fits the hand like an old broken in glove.”

Seamoon FX More!

Sounding like a machine from Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, the More! By Seamoon FX is a totally different breed of octave pedal.

Unlike regular octave pedals or synth-style processors, the More! appears to focus on enhancing the fundamental low frequencies beneath the original signal, offering what Seamoon describes as a more “felt than heard” effect.

The pedal sports a notably stripped-back control layout, featuring a single level knob alongside a toggle switch that shifts between two distinct bass emphasis modes. One setting prioritizes deeper sub-bass response for smoother, weightier tones, while the second introduces a more aggressive mid-bass character with increased dynamic saturation.

Kikichi Guitars

Japanese boutique bass builder Kikuchi Guitars has officially launched in Europe and the United States, bringing the craftsmanship of veteran luthier Yoshiyuki “Yoshi” Kikuchi to a wider global audience.

Kikuchi’s résumé reads like a history of high-end bass building. After founding Atelier Z in the 1980s, he relocated to New York in the early ’90s, where he worked alongside respected builders Roger Sadowsky and John Suhr. He later oversaw production of the acclaimed Sadowsky Metroline Japan basses – experience that now feeds directly into his own boutique operation.

With a pedigree rooted in some of the most respected names in boutique bass building, Kikuchi Guitars arrives as a serious new contender for players chasing vintage-inspired tone with modern precision.

Metallica is helping EMG celebrate its 50th anniversary by dropping new special edition finish options for each of their signature pickup sets.

The thrash metal giants have been powered by the firm's high-output passive and active pickups since basically day one. Their relationship predates their 1983 debut album, Kill ‘Em All, with Kirk Hammett first loading three of its single-coils into his purple Fernandes.

Hetfield was quick to follow suit, and EMG founder Rob Turner has recently said that making Hetfield's signature pickups was his most challenging and exhausting build.

And so here, Hetfield's signature JH ‘Het’ humbuckers get a special Sandblasted finish, while Hammett's KH-BB set gets a purple Spectrum colorway, and bass player Robert Trujillo's RT ‘Rip Tide’ pickups get a gilded redressing.

The limited edition sets – which, under the hood, are the same pickups that have been fuelling Metallica’s riffwork over the past few decades – are available during 2026 only.

Hetfield's set, which went through a tireless prototyping process, is unique in its use of ceramic poles, which are taller and thinner than usual. Hammett's Bone Breakers, by comparison, utilize Alnico 5 magnets, while Trujillo's take on the EMG J bass pickups are now “truly metal” thanks to their fresh new look.

“The thing I love about EMGs is that they're so consistent,” Hetfield says. “I can put EMGs in every guitar, and it's gonna sound exactly like I need it to.”

In other Metallica news, the band has just announced a residency at the Las Vegas Sphere, and their existing gig rig means they won’t need to go to the lengths John Mayer did to work around the venue’s sound restrictions.

Over the weekend, the BRIT Awards became the latest institution to deliver a star-studded tribute to the late Ozzy Osbourne, with Zakk Wylde stealing the show with a massive guitar solo.

The Prince of Darkness’ passing, just weeks after his Back to the Beginning farewell show, shook the music world and there have been a raft of tributes in his wake.

First, Nuno Bettencourt, Aerosmith, and Yungblud performed an Ozzy medley at the MTV VMAs. Then, Slash and Andrew Watt lead the charge at the Grammys. The hat trick was rounded out at the BRITS in Manchester, England, over the weekend.

There, Ozzy alumni Zakk Wylde, Robert Trujillo, Adam Wakeman, and Tommy Clufetos united for a slide guitar-propelled performance of No More Tears. Wylde became Ozzy’s third full-time guitarist after Randy Rhoads and Jake E. Lee in 1987, while Trujillo was part of Ozzy’s band for 2001’s Down to Earth.

Drummer Clufetos and keyboardist Wakeman (the son of Rick), meanwhile, were part of Ozzy’s latter-day live band. This is also the core of the band that helped induct Ozzy into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in late 2024.

Wylde, playing his offset, Bullseye-laden Wylde Audio Nomad electric guitar, was a real tour de force on the night, performing a 52-second solo. It starts slow, with wailing notes, as he strides confidently down the stage's runway. Then comes a blur of pentatonic licks as the stage is lit up with images of Ozzy.

But some credit must go to their surprise frontman, British pop heavyweight Robbie Williams, whose performance came after a surprise collaboration with Tony Iommi.

In related news, Wylde recently looked back on writing a tribute song to Ozzy on Black Label Society's new album.

As a guitarist, there are few things more daunting than group guitar lessons. In that setting, wrapping your head and fingers around Metallica’s metal guitar classic, Enter Sandman, is challenging enough – so imagine how these Guitar Center students felt when Robert Trujillo gatecrashed their lesson.

The band’s bassist was a surprise guest at the lesson, which was hosted at the musical instrument store and headed up by Dave Kushner of Velvet Revolver fame – who is now Senior Director of Music Education at Guitar Center – and Guitar Center CEO Gabe Dalporto.

In footage from the lesson, Kushner shows a semi-circle of students the basics of the metal banger’s main riff. Then Trujillo, with a cheeky grin across his face, barges in saying, “No, that doesn’t sound right.”

He was then handed his signature Godin A4 Ultra electro-acoustic bass in Yellow Flame – very convenient – to help guide the students through a playthrough of the riff at a nice, accessible tempo.

There is some irony in a guitar shop encouraging customers to play one of the fabled forbidden riffs – no Stairway, denied! – but it makes for great viewing. And why not learn from the best?

Trujillo, who has also played with Ozzy Osbourne, Suicidal Tendencies, and Jerry Cantrell, joined Metallica in 2003 and has since played on four studio records with the heavy metal titans.

Dalporto, meanwhile, has been tasked with leading the store into a bold new era and has told Guitar World that he's on a mission to win back the trust of his fellow guitar players.

This comes in the face of uncertain economic climate and rising online markets, which is putting a strain on running brick-and-mortar stores. Last year, for example, Sam Ash go out of business after nearly a century of operation. The iconic retailer has since been acquired by Gonher Music.

Rob Reiner’s legendary spoof This Is Spinal Tap remains a mandatory VHS tape among rock bands everywhere. But what happens when moments from the cult music mockumentary enter real life?

“Everything that happened in that movie is based on shit that happened or easily could have happened to any touring band,” Rex Brown told Guitar World. “We were a professional touring machine and Spinal Tap shit happened every day.”

To mark the release of Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, which features cameos from Paul McCartney and Elton John, we look back on 10 real-life ‘Spinal Tap’ stories from some of the bass world’s biggest names.

1. Victor Wooten

Over the years, we've collected dozens of real-life Spinal Tap stories. This Victor Wooten tale, however, is definitely one of our favourites so far.

“I was wearing these basketball-type pants that button down the side,” said Wooten in this clip from the Beneath the Bassline documentary.

“I was doing something crazy with my bass and the horn of the instrument caught the inside of my pants, and when I went to swing my bass my pants ripped down to my ankles. The show’s still going on, so what do you do?!”

2. Thundercat

Thundercat was recently recruited for a rendition of Spinal Tap’s 1984 track Big Bottom, but it was on tour with Erykah Badu that his real-life Spinal Tap moment actually took place.

“I was playing at the Opera House in Sydney, and I’m trying to make sure there’s a lot of bass onstage. So I’m using an Aguilar DB 751 and I’ve got the wall of doom speakers. There’s this moment where you think everybody’s cheering, but then I look back and the amp is literally on fire.”

3. Robert Trujillo

Robert Trujillo has played bass in the world's biggest metal band since 2003, but his real-life Spinal Tap moment dates back to before Metallica's self-titled 1991 album when he was performing with skate-thrash mob Suicidal Tendencies.

"I was warming up behind my bass amp and a bottle came flying over the backline and slammed me in the top of my head. I go to the front of the stage and I start calling everybody out. It was like I wanted to fight everybody.

“My bandmates actually went out into the audience and proceeded to knock a few people out. I got rushed to the hospital right after.”

4. Nathan East

It was back in 2010 that top session bassist Nathan East bounded across the stage in order to impress his bass hero, Verdine White, but his performance would become memorable for all the wrong reasons.

“It was a double bill with Earth, Wind & Fire and Toto, with probably around 30,000 people gathered around, and Verdine was in the front row.

“With him being one of my biggest influences I start trying to show off with this big high-step thing when all of a sudden it felt as if the stage had gone out from under me. I’d snapped my achilles tendon.”

The incident was captured on camera by a member of the audience, and if you watch closely you can pinpoint the exact moment where East’s tendon tears.

5. Bakithi Kumalo

One of the most memorable scenes from This Is Spinal Tap sees the band take a long walk through the backstage area as they try to get to the stage at Cleveland’s Xanadu Star Theatre.

Best-known for his epic bass break on Paul Simon’s You Can Call Me Al, Bakithi Kumalo is a bassist who can sympathise with this scenario.

“I had picked one dressing room for myself so I could stop being nervous, but I could hear them announcing the start of the show. I had to get out of the dressing room, but I couldn’t open the door! I still had my in-ear monitors, so I could hear the rest of the band saying, ‘Where’s Bakithi?!’”

6. Duff McKagan

One day a film will be made about Duff McKagan, the punk rocker from Seattle who moved to Hollywood, joined Guns N’ Roses and became a star. Needless to say Duff was happy to oblige when asked to reveal his own Spinal Tap moment.

“I had a belt that had crosses on it and it had this buckle, and I wore it to every gig. We also had this grated metal stage that we’d take around the world with us, but if it got wet outside that stage would get slick.

“I slipped and I fell, and my belt got stuck in one of the grates of the stage floor. We’re in the middle of a song and I’m stuck, and I’ve got roadies trying to undo my belt while I’m still trying to play!”

7. Andrew Gouche

Having held the bass chair with the likes of Prince and Chaka Khan, Andrew Gouche needs no introduction as one of the bass guitar world’s top groove players. Back in 2015 he told his side of the story surrounding the events of a tour bus altercation in Texas.

“We were in the middle of Texas when the air conditioning went out on the tour bus. In that kind of heat and with the frustration of being on a sucking gig that you weren’t making that much money on, two of the guys got in a fight.

“One guy pulled a knife out of one of those big holster things and almost sliced his thumb off. We dropped him off at the hospital in San Antonio.”

8. David Ellefson

Megadeth’s debut album, Killing Is My Business… And Business Is Good!, was released on June 12, 1985. Two weeks later, the thrash metal band set off on their first US tour, an undertaking that could quite easily have been a scene from This Is Spinal Tap.

“It was the Killing Is My Business… album, which already had a fateful title for a tour! And after the second show our van broke down and I had to rent a car.

“Our drummer happens to be driving and he reaches back behind the seat to grab his DW foot pedals and drives off the road at 85 miles per hour, going over a concrete culvert and nearly killing us.

“So we pull into Cleveland to play the show that night complete with real whiplash, not just from headbanging!”

9. Nick Campbell

Having graduated from the University of Southern California, Nick Campbell has gone on to perform with the likes of Charlie Puth, Josh Smith, Peter Erskine, Vulfpeck, Pomplamoose and Scary Pockets. You may have also seen him in episodes of Glee and the Glee Project.

But his most memorable Tap-style fiasco occurred at Disneyland, and it is so Spinal Tap it makes you realise just how genius a parody the film is.

“A friend got asked to put together a band for Disney, and they wanted smooth jazz arrangements of classic Disney songs. They brought out all these pirates from Pirates of the Caribbean as we played the finale. We hung out there all day and the pirates didn't break character. They were all freaking terrifying!”

10. Billy Sheehan

As the world of bass guitar has evolved, we’ve watched Billy Sheehan ascend to its very zenith – touring relentlessly and still being a man that you’d love to sit down and have a beer with. That is unless you’re a short-changing club owner.

“We were set to play at this club, but when we got there the stage was so small that there was no way we could make it work. We contacted the agent and the owner was real pissed off.

“He said, ‘You guys will never play within 300 miles of this club!’ So I get on the phone and I call the fire department. All I said was, ‘We’re playing at this club and they told us it would be OK to hot clip onto the mains power. Are we liable if anything happens?’ They shut the guy down completely!”

11. Nik West

Known for her jaw-dropping stage persona, Nik West once had a spectacular wardrobe malfunction.

“I had this outfit, and I was going so crazy onstage that the skirt part of it started to slide down. I had on leggings, so I just let it fall. Then I picked it up and I threw it in the audience.”

Metallica fans of a certain age will recall Jason Newsted's arrival in October 1986, when he was recruited to fill the huge boots of Cliff Burton. As current bassist Robert Trujillo told Bass Player: “Cliff was very aggressive, very melodic, and a busier player, but there’s an art to simplicity, and Jason brought that art.”

After one too many disputes with the other band members, Newsted called it a day in 2001, following 15 years with the thrash metal giants, and was eventually replaced by Trujillo in 2003.

Having played with Suicidal Tendencies, Jerry Cantrell's solo band, Zakk Wylde’s Black Label Society and a seven-year stint with Ozzy Osbourne prior to joining – Trujillo was well prepared for life in Metallica.

“I think he's the best choice they could have possibly made,” Newsted told Bass Player in 2003. “Robert is solid and musical; he knows his shit and his style is very strong. He's got a big heart and a good family. All of those things are important to be able to put up with something as huge as the Metallica entity, and he's got what it takes.

“As a fan I wasn't sure Metallica would be able to come out and be a force again, but now that they have Robert, I think they will. If Robert and James can click the way I think they can, they could be a huge, huge thing.”

As fate would have it, just a few weeks after Metallica announced that Trujillo had emerged at the top of the audition heap, Ozzy Osbourne made his own proclamation, announcing Jason Newsted as his new bassist.

Newsted was officially welcomed with a press event at 3rd Encore Studios in North Hollywood, where the band powered through Black Sabbath’s War Pigs, and three Osbourne hits, Believer, No More Tears and the classic Crazy Train.

At the end of a busy press conference fielding questions like, “How does it feel to play with a metal icon?" and “Who in the band drinks the most?” Newsted sat down to talk to Bass Player about music – and the new page in his career.

When you found out about joining Ozzy's band, was it a surprise?

“Totally. I didn't put it all together until Sharon Osbourne called me. Mike Bordin and I have been friends for years – he was one of Cliff Burton's best friends – so I got Ozzy's setlists for the last two tours, figured out the tunings they were using live, and made a tape with 13 tunes – six Sabbath songs and the rest Ozzy.”

“I did everything that I had heard you're supposed to do, or that I had done before, to get a gig. I played until I could not play anymore. The flesh on my fingertips was actually cracking; it got down to the nerve, and the pain was shooting up my arm. That's when I'd stop. But I'd sleep with the headphones on, with my work tape playing on repeat.

“When I'd take 30 minutes to eat something, I'd watch old Sabbath videos. So I was literally living, breathing, eating, and sleeping Ozzy for eight days. It was full-on preparation – just like what I did with Metallica. When the day came, I felt pretty good about everything.”

So you didn't consider it an audition?

“The guys told me it wasn't an audition and that I was already in the band, and Ozzy had already mentioned it in a radio interview. But that didn't stop me.

“First I played with just Zakk and Mike. I had all the songs I'd learned written on a list, and I had pinpointed my questions: ‘Zakk, how does this resolve, what is that note.’ I got all those things tight, and we jammed for a while.

“Then Ozzy came in. I wanted him to be able to point to any one of those songs on the list and for me to be able to just knock it out. He picked five of the tunes, and from the first bit of Paranoid, when I began playing, he started bouncing around the room.

“He made a couple of comments in between songs; I didn't talk much. After the fifth tune he said, ‘If you want a job, you've got it.' And I said, ‘Yes, Oz, I want it. Wherever you want me to be, I'll be there.’”

How much freedom will Ozzy afford you in the band?

“In the first three minutes that I spoke to him on the phone, he was already talking about writing songs together, which pretty much freaked me out. Black Sabbath is my all-time favorite band, and it has been ever since I started playing.

“They influenced me so much that with every riff I wrote for Metallica or anyone else, the guys would always say, 'We can't play that – it sounds too much like Sabbath’ – or, 'Nice ripoff.' Now, those riffs I write will fit.”

With Ozzy will you be playing 4-strings, 5’s, or both?

“Usually I play a Sadowsky 5-string, though I have one new 4-string that I like a lot. As I start figuring out the songs a bit more and see exactly what they're going to play, things will change.

“If I can get away with some of the Sabbath stuff on a 4-string, I'll do it. But for the Ozzy stuff I want the 5 so I can put my own signature on the tunes. I want to make all those old songs new again, but still get what Geezer Butler did in there.”

You were branching out into things like fretless towards the end of your Metallica career. How will this shift affect your development as a musician?

“I haven't played fretless in a long time. My groove is more toward sounds and production now. Again, I need to pay justice to something that's already been done – I'm stepping into a situation where some cool bass players have been. I mean, Rudy Sarzo... whatever, right? But Bob Daisley – fantastic. Geezer Butler – number one. That's big, and they're much bigger shoes to fill than Cliff Burton’s.

“Ozzy hasn't really had a high-profile bassist before. A lot of guys became more famous after playing with Ozzy, but none was really established when they came in. In my eyes, Metallica is nearly equal to Ozzy in terms of the respect factor and accomplishments – not all the way, but nearly.”

Do you have any idea why you've now been picked to play in two of the world's elite metal bands?

“I ask myself, ‘Why does this happen to me?’ There are a lot of bassists out there who can play circles around me. But have they developed a style? Do they have personality? Do they have what it takes to be in the big leagues? I like to think I got this call because of the good energy I spread around.”

“And like I always did with Metallica, I want to make sure I say hello to the fans. They might have something they've been wanting to say to you for 10 years, and they get one minute with you and they finally spew it out – and it's the most sincere thing and just knocks you down.

“The guys who have been around the longest are the coolest guys – the ones who'd be the first to embrace you. It took B.B. King 90 seconds to embrace me and tell me about his family. Eric Clapton – the second time he met me, he called me by my name, and I just about dropped to my knees. It's the same with Ozzy.

“For someone who's been through that much, what does he have to prove? So I'll push myself to make it happen. Whatever he asks of me, I'll be there for him.”

Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo has shared his experience at Ozzy Osbourne's funeral, stating that the service was “very, very beautiful.”

Ozzy Osbourne's private service was held at his family home in Buckinghamshire, England, on July 31 and was attended by a host of collaborators and admirers, including his Black Sabbath bandmates, Zakk Wylde, Rob Zombie, and Slipknot’s Corey Taylor.

“It was a small group of people, but it was very, very beautiful,” Trujillo comments on SiriusXM's Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk.

“I mean, it was very sad, but at the same time, some of the speeches were, as you could imagine, pretty funny. And there were a lot of tears.

“[The members of] Sabbath kind of ended with their speech, especially with Geezer [Butler]. Geezer broke down into tears. He had a hard time, obviously, speaking, and then he came back up and he delivered an amazing eulogy.”

He continues, “When Kelly [Osbourne] was singing, her lyrics flew – the wind blew her lyrics away. It was almost like Ozzy was having fun with her. And then when Geezer spoke, actually spoke, the sun came out. I'm not kidding. The sun actually came out, and then it was beautiful from that moment on – a very magical moment.”

Trujillo asserts that, while it was sad, there was a sense of camaraderie as people shared their own tales and encounters with Ozzy.

“People [were] sharing stories. And all of a sudden, there was laughter, and ‘I remember this,’ ‘I remember that.’ There were so many stories. So, it felt like there was a closure from this.”

The day before the private funeral, thousands of fans flocked to Prince of Darkness' hometown of Birmingham to bid farewell – with Sharon, as well as their children, Aimée, Kelly, and Jack, joining the mourners to pay tribute.

A week after the heavy metal pioneer was laid to rest, his official cause of death was disclosed via The New York Times. The death certificate states that Ozzy died of “(a) Out of hospital cardiac arrest (b) Acute myocardial infarction (c) Coronary artery disease and Parkinson’s disease with autonomic dysfunction (Joint Causes).”

Ozzy passed away at the age of 76 mere weeks after returning to the stage for his Back to the Beginning farewell show. His death prompted an outpouring of tributes from across the music world.

In exclusive interviews with Guitar World, Jake E. Lee, Geezer Butler, Zakk Wylde, and Rudy Sarzo shared their own memories of Ozzy and reflected on their final moments with the legend.

It was heavy metal's equivalent of the 1990s Leno/Letterman late-night wars: in February 2003, Metallica announced that its new bass player was Robert Trujillo, formerly of Suicidal Tendencies and Ozzy Osbourne's band.

Less than a month later, at a press event at 3rd Encore Studios in North Hollywood, Osbourne introduced the world to his new bassist: Jason Newsted, Metallica's anchor from 1986 until he left the band in 2001.

The event wasn't a huge media circus as one might expect, considering Ozzy's rekindled mega-stardom from his bizarre MTV reality show The Osbournes. Instead, a couple of dozen writers and photographers were invited to hear the new lineup play an intimate four-song set in a modest rehearsal studio.

Bass Player joined earplugged journalists from MTV News, CNN, ABC News, and a handful of local music zines as the band ploughed through the tunes with head-vibrating sound pressure levels.

During breaks Ozzy entertained the subdued, seated gathering with his familiar profanity-laced witticisms. Meanwhile, Newsted wallowed in metal's equivalent of hog heaven. He bantered with drummer Mike Bordin and guitarist Zakk Wylde, and armed with a Sadowsky Modern 5 plugged into a rented SVT backline, held it down as if in mid-tour form.

“I'm levitating,” he said during a post-set Q&A. “When I got this call I was flabbergasted. I was thinking, ‘This is not real.’”

Though Newsted was still brand-new to the band, Ozzy was excited after the energetic set. “I'm thrilled," he raved. “Jason is like a rock. I've always loved his bass playing, and I think he'd be a great asset to any band. Not that Robert Trujillo is a bad bass player, but Jason just has this edge.”

So was it Ozzy's idea to approach Newsted? “Actually, my son Jack was the first to mention it,” he said, referring to the Osbourne’s then resident teen slacker. "He mentioned it to Sharon, and a lightbulb went ping. You've got to pass the torch on; if you don't it's going to die, man.

“When new blood comes along it always makes me feel like I have a new band – and when I played with Jason for the first time, I knew he was the one for me. I'm all for progress, and to have Jason onboard is my honor.”

“Jason's coming from a different kind of music," said drummer Mike Bordin, "and he seems more of a push than a pull. With Ozzy I try to lay back and create a Black Sabbath-style groove that just gets there when it gets there. But I think in the super-aggressive music that Jason's been playing for the last 15 years, he's used to really going after it. To be sure, we end up in the same place.

“But it's like a baseball player using a different glove: you can do a great job with it – but it hasn't been your glove for the last 15 or 20 years, so there's an adjustment. The glove adjusts to you, and you adjust to the glove.

“As Ozzy has said, Jason adds a new energy. It's like trading Derek Jeter for Nomar Garciaparra – nobody loses. It's a huge blessing.”

Fernandes Guitars – the Japanese brand best known for its innovative electric guitar pickup, the Sustainer, and its range of cult affordable guitars – has filed for bankruptcy yet again, after the cessation of operations in July 2024 and initial bankruptcy filings that were later withdrawn.

However, unlike last year's report, there may be a glimmer of hope for Fernandes fans worldwide.

The company officially received a decision to commence bankruptcy proceedings from the Tokyo District Court on July 9, with Attorney Taro Awataguchi appointed as the bankruptcy trustee. According to a report released by TSR, the total debt accrued amounts to around 730 million yen [approximately $4.98 million] owed to approximately 60 creditors.

“In recent years, the company's performance has deteriorated due to the rise of the secondhand market and intensifying competition,” states the report [translated from Japanese].

“Although the company attempted to make a comeback by creating catalogs and releasing new products, sales fell to 166.08 million yen [approximately $1.31 million] in the fiscal year ending January 2022, and the company recorded a final deficit of 24.14 million yen [approximately $164,513]."

The report goes on to say that, as the company's credit declined, its cash flow reached its limit, leading it to cease operations in July 2024. However, before the court granted proceedings, according to an inside source, “part of the ‘FERNANDES’ trademark has been ‘transferred to another company.’”

Whether this could lead to a revival, a hybrid revival, or an acquisition of sorts remains to be seen – especially since the company itself hasn't issued any new statements, while its official website remains offline.

The Saitama-based company started in 1969 and evolved to receive worldwide recognition, even becoming the guitar du jour in the ’90s after being wielded by members of Metallica and Green Day – particularly Kirk Hammett and Billie Joe Armstrong.

In Japan, the guitars were often the go-to choice for players in the visual kei genre of rock, with X Japan and Buck-Tick notably championing the brand.

The company went on to produce a multitude of signature guitars over the years, with Robert Trujillo, Dave Kushner, and Brad Gillis among its artists, alongside Japanese stars like Hotei and Hide – with Keanu Reeves even being among its endorsees at one point.

Robert Trujillo’s son, Tye Trujillo, is following in his father’s footsteps in cementing the family’s bass legacy with his recent team-up with Morley Pedals on his signature TruDrive wah pedal.

The younger Trujillo – who plays in thrash, funk and metal three-piece OTTTO –wanted a switchless wah that had a built-in “Always On” drive as an inextricable part of the wah. As its makers aptly put it, “The wah was designed to have a slight amount of drive built into the front end, which already gives the wah more presence and bite.”

Furthermore, the TruDrives comes with a “Wah Mix” knob, which allows players to customize the amount of wah in the signal – alongside a separate distortion circuit with independent “Level,” “Drive” and “Tone” controls that adds an extra punch to your wah.

“We are very proud to be working with Tye to develop this cool new Wah for the next generation of players,” comments Morley’s Bill Wenzloff. “Plus, it’s a bonus that this pedal sounds great with guitar as well as bass.”

Trujillo wanted the pedal to look “awesome”, so its aesthetics are as eye-catching as its specs: a race car blue base, chrome treadle with diamond plate treadle grip, and, to round it out, a glow-in-the-dark toe-end logo. And to make it fully road-proof, able to withstand years of use and abuse, it's housed in cold-rolled steel.

Priced at $199, the Tye Trujillo TruDrive Wah is now available for pre-order from Morley partner retailers.

The younger Trujillo has already made his mark in the bass world. At the age of 12, he already had “played with Korn” on his résumé, while in 2022, it was revealed that he added extra guitar parts to Metallica's Master of Puppets when the track was included in the Stranger Things soundtrack.

If you know your Metallica history, you'll know that Jason Newsted and Robert Trujillo aren't the only guys to have filled the bass chair with the thrash metal giants. The first, Ron McGovney, joined in January 1982, but his time with the band was to be short-lived.

The story goes that McGovney was at a concert in San Francisco with guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich when they saw Cliff Burton play with his band Trauma.

“Cliff starts going into this bass solo. And they’re just looking at him and their eyes are wide open,” McGovney told Bass Player in 2018. “I kind of knew right at that point: ‘This is the guy that they’re gonna go after.’ I could just feel it.”

Tension with guitarist Dave Mustaine eventually led McGovney to quit – he was more interested in being a motorcycle mechanic than in playing thrash metal. Burton joined in September 1982, but he always respected McGovney’s time in the band, giving him a backstage pass to a concert at the Palladium in 1984.

Burton’s impact on Metallica’s music was immense – listen to Orion from their superlative Master Of Puppets album for evidence – and on the next generation of metal bassists, all of whom owe him a debt to a greater or lesser degree.

Burton’s most famous instrument was his 1979 Rickenbacker 4001, uniquely modded with three replacement pickups: a Gibson EB, a Seymour Duncan stacked Jazz, and a Duncan Stratocaster pickup under the bridge for extra top end. It’s this bass that you can hear on Kill ’Em All and Ride The Lightning, but by the time of Master Of Puppets, he had switched to an Aria Pro II.

“Cliff’s style was very aggressive,” says Robert Trujillo, Metallica’s bass player since 2003. “When I joined Metallica, I became more familiar with where he was coming from creatively. That’s when I realized how special he was.”

By 1986 Metallica were riding high, but the year was to end in tragedy. While on tour in Sweden the group's tourbus skidded and crashed. Burton was trapped under the bus and killed. He was 24 years old when he died.

It looked like Metallica had been dealt a blow from which they would never recover, but they made the decision to carry on, with Jason Newsted joining in October 1986. For his audition Newsted had learned the band's entire back catalogue. When they asked him which song he wanted to play, he replied, “Whatever song you want.”

Newsted’s stint with Metallica was commercially successful, but also creatively inconsistent. While his bass playing was always exemplary, delivered on a range of basses including his beloved Sadowsky, he was inaudible on the 1988 album ...And Justice For All, while other, less assured records such as Load and Reload divided the Metallica fanbase.

Still, 1991’s self-titled LP – the Black Album – was a massive success, selling over 30 million copies worldwide.

Metallica found a new, bottom-heavy sound thanks to Canadian producer Bob Rock. “In Bob Rock I found someone who knew what he wanted and how to achieve it,” said Newsted. “I learned a lot by listening for what he wanted in terms of bass sound. I learned to bring lots of mids up. I didn't do that before.”

As current bassist Robert Trujillo told Bass Player: “You could hear Jason’s parts better for sure, and they were a bit more delegated, but still great, though. There’s an art to simplicity, and Jason brought that art.

“Obviously Cliff was very aggressive, very melodic, and a busier player, so it’s not like one way’s better than the other, but it would be safe to say that Jason’s parts were easier for me to learn, for sure.”

After one too many disputes with the other band members Newsted called it a day, and left in January 2001.

Following Newsted's departure, Rock kept the group's album plans alive by playing all the bass guitar parts on its 2003 Elektra release, St. Anger. Rock played just three gigs with Metallica, but in the studio he became an essential part of the group's bass legacy.

“Please – tell all the bass players to be easy on me, man,” Rock told Bass Player. “I did my best to represent you well!”

Robert Trujillo – who had played with Suicidal Tendencies, Ozzy Osbourne, Black Label Society and Jerry Cantrell's solo band prior to joining – was announced as Metallica's new bassist on February 24, 2003, following a two-day try-out that was captured on their fly-on-the-wall Metallica: Some Kind of Monster rockumentary.

Bassists Pepper Keenan, Jeordie White, Scott Reeder, Eric Avery, Danny Lohner and Chris Wyse – among others – also tried out for the role, but after months of auditions, Trujillo was officially declared the new bassist.

“For the first couple of years, I was literally just hanging on,” said Trujillo. “We hadn’t even done Anesthesia until the Puppets anniversary show in 2006, so I did a lot on my own, to stay ahead of the game, because for the first three years I was chasing it.”

When we ask about his his predecessors, Trujillo reflected: “Hard shoes to fill. Both guys are incredible players. Considering Newsted's a pick player, and the speed and dexterity involved in this music, I think it's a tall order. And for Cliff too, who was a finger player.

“I'm not being disrespectful to all the bass players out there, but there aren't many bassists that could do this job. Playing with Metallica is the most demanding gig there is.”

Last Friday (December 13), Metallica maintained tradition by hosting their annual All Within My Hands Foundation event, which saw the heavy metal legends tap a host of special guests – and eyebrow-raising electric guitars – to perform a range of covers, deep cuts, and reimagined fan favorites.

Over the 13-song setlist, Metallica delivered both acoustic and electric sets, with lesser-played tracks getting air time, and an intriguing cast of guest musicians helping punctuate the evening's festivities.

While some tracks got live debuts and others were dusted off for their first showing in nearly 30 years, it was perhaps Hetfield’s decision to sling an oddball Danelectro Long Horn Baritone over his shoulder for a rendition of Fuel that especially stood out.

With a street price of around $550, the Long Horn isn’t exactly a wallet-thinner, but with its lengthy 29.75" scale and B-to-B tuning, it’s arguably not your archetypal trasher. However, Hetfield used it to help Metallica break out of the key of E, as they gave Fuel a heavier run-out in the key of B.

Fuel followed an impromptu guitar solo from Hetfield as he showcased his new Danelectro’s low twang. Hammett’s bonus harmonies, via a single pickup Fender Esquire, are a treat, too.

Pearl Jam bass player Jeff Ament was the most high-profile guest of the evening, featuring on a fresh take of the primal trash classic, Hit The Lights. With Robert Trujillo still playing a part – rather than simply sitting one out – Ament helped give the band’s heavy metal thunder plenty of extra oomph.

Metallica’s acoustic set had plenty to delight, too, with Low Man's Lyric reportedly getting its first live performance since 1998 (according to SetlistFM). That was followed by a live debut for their take on Bachman-Turner Overdrive's Away From Home, and a world-first acoustic rendition of If Darkness Had a Son from the Grammy-nominated 72 Seasons. They were joined by sibling strings duo SistaStrings, comprising cello and violin, for extra spice.

Hammett wielded a Fender Acoustasonic, and Robert Trujillo a Tele-style acoustic bass, for the performance as the band capitalized on the chance to arm themselves with atypical axes.

The lead guitarist also made full use of his Acoustasonic’s electro-acoustic specs by testing its soloing credentials before the band concluded their acoustic set with the superlative Nothing Else Matters.

San Francisco multi-instrumentalist Avi Vinocur of Goodnight, Texas featured extensively across both sets, wielding everything from mandolins and acoustic guitars to a black and gold Les Paul for Fuel. Taking to Instagram afterward, he purred, “Well, yesterday was nuts.”

The Unforgiven II, the sequel to a Black Album masterstroke, was played for the first time since 2015, with the band wrapping up the night with Master of Puppets. Hetfield’s iconic white Gibson Flying V and Hammett’s prized "Greeny" Les Paul also featured, standing as more typical guitar picks.

Robert Trujillo has recalled the surreal feeling of going from being a teenage Ozzy Osbourne fan to a member of his band. In addition to being a dream gig for Trujillo, one thing really sealed the deal for him to join Osbourne's band.

“I used to play Black Sabbath songs and Ozzy Osbourne solo songs like Crazy Train, and, you know, all these tracks in backyard parties when I was 16. And then all of a sudden, I'm playing in his band, you know, and I'm in front of the guy. And I'm like, ‘Wait a minute, am I dreaming?’” says Trujillo in a Dunlop interview alongside Marcus Miller.

“And the cool thing about him is that he loves bass. So he was like, ‘Rob, listen, I want you to play as loud as you want to play.’ I was like, ‘Yes! I found my man.’”

Surprisingly, Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler reported having the complete opposite experience with Osbourne. 

In a recent interview with Bass Player, Butler said, “When recording, we would have to put the bass cabs in a different studio completely. It was deafeningly loud. You have to crank it up, but Ozzy doesn't understand that – it drove him nuts. He would never stand in front of the bass rig. He told me to turn it down one night, so for a laugh I turned it up.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Trujillo notes that the bass is “always something that is super-important and vital to any composition that I've ever been a part of.” Naturally, this includes Metallica, in particular, Cliff Burton's groundbreaking basslines.

“Cliff Burton brought the bass to prominence, and had a melodic phrasing and voice to this music in this genre that wasn't supposed to feature bass in that way,” asserts Trijullo.

According to him, Burton followed in the footsteps of jazz fusion bassists Stanley Clarke and Jaco Pastorius, who pushed the envelope of what bassists could do.

“They were bringing the bass as an instrument that had a voice that stood out, like the lead guitarist, you know, and all that. And that's what was happening in Metallica and early Metallica. And I thought that was pretty fearless of Cliff, to make that statement with the instrument.”

The old adage “never meet your heroes” usually rings true. However, for Mastodon's Bill Kelliher, meeting guitar heroes like Metallica's James Hetfield and Slayer's Kerry King were key moments in his career that pushed him to improve his guitar playing. 

“It was funny when I first met Hetfield, who's been an idol of mine. It was in Portugal or some big festival we were doing, and I shook his hand,” Kelliher says on The Rockman Power Hour podcast. “I was like, ‘Thank you for teaching me how to play guitar.’ And he was like, ‘What are you talking about?’ ‘Like, you know what I'm talking about. You paved the way for me.’”

Meeting Metallica’s Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo was another surreal moment for Kelliher. “When I met Kirk and Robert, they were walking around together and they saw me, and they came running over and they're like, ‘Hey, man, what's up? Can we get a picture with you?’ I was like, this is a joke. Like, I should get pictures. Yeah, you guys are Metallica. I'm just fucking Bill from Mastodon. That's awesome. It was wild.”

Rubbing shoulders with his heroes was also important for Kelliher to realize that he needed to take his instrument more seriously. One incident, in particular, served as a true wake-up call. 

“Watching Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman warm up before a show and I'm walking around drinking a beer. ‘What are you guys warming up for? Know your fucking songs,’” he recalls. 

“And then I realized there's something to this. I started practicing guitar way, way fucking more. I was like 'You're a guitar player. You're in this really big fucking band. You should be better, like you should spend your time not drinking and playing more guitar. Get better at your craft.’”

Kelliher has previously spoken about his experiences meeting Metallica and their diligent practice routine. In a 2021 interview with Guitar World, he recalled, “Metallica practiced for three hours a night before playing onstage for another two. Meanwhile, we were sitting around drinking beer and picking our noses!”

Mastodon will be heading out on a co-headline tour with Lamb of God this July. The co-headline tour celebrates the 20th anniversary of the two band's 2004 albums Leviathan and Ashes of The Wake respectively. The tour kicks off on July 19 at Grand Prairie, Texas, with Kerry King supporting on select shows. 

A new four-part docuseries, Geddy Lee Asks: Are Bass Players Human Too?, is set to premiere on Paramount Plus on December 5th – and you can watch the first trailer below.

Highlights include snippets of Lee fishing with Les Claypool, flying a plane with Krist Novoselic, and surfing with Robert Trujillo. “The idea for this show was born out of interviews I did for my first book, The Big, Beautiful Book of Bass,” says Lee. “I was struck that these accomplished musicians also lived incredibly interesting, multifaceted lives offstage.”

The series follows Lee as he travels to the homes of four bass legends: Nirvana’s Krist Novoselic, Metallica’s Robert Trujillo, Primus’ Les Claypool, and former Hole and Smashing Pumpkins bassist Melissa Auf der Maur.

“I’m trying to show the world that a bass player can do many things,” Lee says in the trailer. “Join me as I try to answer one really important question: are bass players human too?”

Another neat takeaway from the trailer that’s bound to get bass guitarists raving include Trujillo’s rendition of Portrait of Tracy on what appears to be Jaco’s Bass of Doom. Trujillo helped the Pastorius family to recover Jaco’s infamous 1962 Fender Jazz Bass back in 2010.

As well as glimpses of Lee trading bass licks with Auf der Maur, the trailer also pays tribute to Lee’s world-conquering curiosity, with the Rush frontman stripping his coveralls following a tour of Claypool’s “Rancho Relaxo” home in Sonoma County, before defiantly asking, “Is this what they call good TV?”

Aside from the new series, Geddy Lee is also gearing up for a book tour in support of his upcoming memoir, My Effin’ Life, which is set to arrive on November 14th. The tour starts in New York City on November 13th, and runs through to December 7th in Toronto. See below for a full list of dates.

• November 13 – New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre
• November 15 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Met Philadelphia
• November 17 – National Harbor, MD @ The Theater at MGM National Harbor
• November 18 – Boston, MA @ Orpheum Theatre presented by Citizens
• November 19 – Cleveland, OH @ State Theatre at Playhouse Square
• November 21 – Montréal, QC @ Théâtre Maisonneuve
• November 23 – Vancouver, BC @ The Centre in Vancouver
• November 24 – Seattle, WA @ Moore Theatre
• November 26 – San Francisco, CA @ The Masonic
• November 28 – Los Angeles, CA @ Orpheum Theatre
• November 30 – Denver, CO @ Paramount Theatre
• December 03 – Chicago, IL @ Auditorium Theatre
• December 04 – Detroit, MI @ The Fillmore Detroit
• December 07 – Toronto, ON @ Massey Hall

Geddy Lee Asks: Are Bass Players Human Too? premieres on Paramount+ on December 5th. My Effin’ Life is out 14th November via HarperCollins.

Robert Trujillo’s credentials are pretty impressive. After developing his bass guitar craft with Suicidal Tendencies, he later formed the funkier outfit Infectious Grooves before taking on two of the most demanding jobs of his career – Zakk Wylde’s Black Label Society and a seven-year stint with Ozzy Osbourne.

It was just the experience he needed to prepare for life in Metallica, having joined when the band was still reeling from the departure of Jason Newsted, and the recording of the aptly named St. Anger album. A lot has changed in the 20 years since, but one constant has been Trujillo’s unwavering onstage energy, which often culminates in his famed crab walk.

Speaking to The Howard Stern Show, Trujillo recalled how Ozzy Osbourne had inspired his signature move during a rendition of Black Sabbath’s Sweet Leaf at a show in Vegas. “We just went into that groove. All of a sudden, Ozzy gets in my face and we're doing this dance and it's like we're sumo wrestlers. It turns into this body position where we're going lower and lower. Next thing we know, our booties are a foot off the ground and we're doing what I call the crab walk.”

Trujillo first met Osbourne when Suicidal Tendencies offshoot Infectious Grooves were making their debut album The Plague That Makes Your Booty Move. Trujillo recounted his first meeting with The Prince of Darkness for Vans Off The Wall TV back in 2013. “We were recording our first album and next door was my hero, Ozzy Osbourne. We thought it would be great to ask Ozzy to sing on one of our songs. He ended up singing the chorus on a song called Therapy. We finish the album and Ozzy demands that Infectious Grooves tours with him on his Theatre of Madness Tour. Five years later I joined his band.”

Trujillo went on to enjoy a seven-year tenure with Osbourne before finally joining Metallica in 2003. “Ozzy’s a guy that I grew up listening to – obviously, with Black Sabbath, and then his solo material, and playing Ozzy’s music in backyard parties back when I was 16 years old – and now there I was, doing a crab walk with this guy in front of 18,000 people, in a sold-out arena.”

The creation of Trujillo's crab walk soon became a mainstay in Metallica shows. “It's a performance move that I've been doing up until this day and I enjoy doing it. Sometimes Kirk and I do it during For Whom the Bell Tolls. So, thank you Ozzy, thanks for providing me with your choreographed ingenuity and helping me turn on my stage performance with the crab walk. I appreciate you for that."

Metallica's latest album, 72 Seasons, is out now via Rhino/Blackened Recordings.

While there’s no question Cliff Burton and Jason Newsted’s contributions to Metallica will echo for eternity, Robert Trujillo has now been in the group longer than any of his predecessors. 

The Warwick endorsee – who had played in Suicidal Tendencies, Ozzy Osbourne, Black Label Society and Jerry Cantrell’s solo band prior to joining – was hired in 2003 at the end of the audition process famously captured on their fly-on-the-wall Metallica: Some Kind of Monster rockumentary. 

With Hammett co-writing four of the new songs and Trujillo helping pen three, he describes their latest work as “a very collaborative experience” – especially in light of its 2016 predecessor being solely composed by Hetfield and Ulrich, save for his contributions to ManUNkind. This time it was very much a team effort.

“Every record is like a different journey,” says Trujillo, calling GW just a few days after we spoke to Hammett. “There are some that lean more on Lars and James, which was the path we took for the previous record… and that ended up being a great album. And before that one, [2008’s] Death Magnetic was more collaborative. I’m not saying one is better or worse; it just makes for a different experience, but it’s always great. 

“This record had more involvement from all of us. There was also all that interesting energy around the pandemic – how we had to create these songs and get the process going was a challenge because it was all happening from our home studios. That was a challenge in itself, trying to start writing and creating from that kind of first launchpad.

It must’ve been nice when you all finally got into a room together.

“Yeah, that’s when it gets really fun and interesting, standing there with all that talent and getting to play those blueprint arrangements as a unit, as a team, in person and physically. You have to do that when you’re working out all the transitions and details. 

“They all happened in person, and those nuances can make it that much more special. The whole journey lent itself to an interesting selection of songs. They always take you out to a place, like a canvas, man… each song is like a painting.”

Sleepwalk My Life Away begins with a bass intro. That must’ve been fun for you, leading the charge like that.”

“I like that one a lot. There’s that real scratchy pulse at the beginning. It’s really abrasive and in your face. It’s a real pissed-off way to start a song with that angry bass, but it’s also got a nastiness in the groove. It just cultivates itself and takes you on a journey through time and space. Once we get into it, it’s grooving pretty hard, like during the chorus where it’s kinda on the up-beat during the key changes, but there’s also this sense of flow. 

“A lot of the songs on this album, believe it or not, remind me of driving in a convertible car along the Pacific Coast Highway in California, humming along to those big riffs. You can feel the sun hitting your face and the wind blowing into your skull while you’re grooving along. That’s definitely something I get from this song, but there’s also that Sabbathy riff in the middle that came out really nice, which is a real banging moment.”

Kirk described You Must Burn! as his favorite track on the new album. That must be nice to hear considering you were heavily involved.

“That middle riff about four minutes in is very special to me. It might be one of my favorite riffs I’ve been a part of writing in this band, to be honest. It’s so visual. There’s this evilness to it and this dark edge, but it also has space. I was actually pulling from Believer by Ozzy Osbourne on that. And when you hear the vocal part, that’s me singing along with James doing my best Ozzy impression. [Laughs] 

“That whole section pulls from Sabbath and Ozzy’s solo stuff; it has that whole call-and-answer thing going on. So yeah, the breakdown riff means a lot to me. I remember when James and I were working on that in one of the many cities we were in. A lot of these songs come from being on tour and jamming before we go on stage. 

“So this is probably my favorite song on the album and quite possibly my favorite composition I’ve done with the guys. It was a very collaborative song. And I’m glad Kirk likes it! I always say to him, “Do you like soloing over this part? Is it good for you?” And he was like, ‘Hell yeah!’ Even on the demos, soloing over that section of this song was like riding a wave for him.”

The other track you heavily contributed to was Screaming Suicide, which mixes old-school Metallica with things the band haven’t quite done before.

“What I love about that song is the chorus hook. It reminds me of Siouxsie Sioux or Siouxsie and the Banshees. I don’t know if you put them on any sort of pedestal, but I do. James might hear something different, but to my ears that’s what it sounds like. It has that flavor. This whole album is very visual. You close your eyes and the music will take you somewhere. 

“That’s always a beautiful thing. The canvases are vast and epic. Nothing is so pedestrian anymore. It’s a rollercoaster ride. Sometimes you’re in this amusement park of sound and moments… but it’s always the right one. It’s supposed to be an experience.”

When you’re writing riffs, how do you know which James, Lars and Kirk will like best? Is there an art to cherry picking what you come up with?

“One of the beautiful things about being in Metallica is that there’s no shortage of great ideas. Our blessing is also a curse. We have more riffs than we know what to do with. With every handful of riffs we get out of Kirk, there’s another 500 we didn’t hear. I might have 10 spare ideas for every one I put forward, things that don’t even get listened to. So I have this arsenal of bass lines and riffs that I sit on. 

“And it’s not that nobody wanted to listen to them – we just had enough. There comes a point where you don’t need any more. All of these songs have a lot of cool ideas in them. Suicide & Redemption from Death Magnetic, for instance, was a bass line that I had for a long time and I always had Metallica’s name written on that thing.”

So it’s a case of stockpiling ideas over the course of a long period of time? 

“Yeah. I remember jamming that one with some friends. At one point it was Brooks Wackerman, who plays in Avenged Sevenfold; we hang out a bit and occasionally record, and he was like, ‘Oh wait, what is that riff? It sounds really cool!’ And I said, ‘Oh no, this is for Metallica!’ I already knew it had Metallica’s name on it. The same goes for that power groove four minutes into You Must Burn! – I had it already mapped out. 

“It was something I’d been stewing up and working on because I envisioned it being something Metallica embracing. Things like that just happen. You just come across a part or riff and you just know it will sound larger than life when you hear the band playing on it, with Lars’ power grooves and James’ massive guitars. 

“It’s a beautiful thing being in a band like this, beyond my wildest dreams, pulling together all these riffs to be played by such amazing musicians who each have their own signature. That’s a special thing for me. But the scary thing is that there’s always another 10 other riffs that didn’t make it to the drawing board… they’re just sitting there. It’s gotta be the best for Metallica.”

The tempos of these riffs feel really well-considered. If Darkness Had a Son, for example, has an infectious mid-tempo bounce.

“I really like those riffs you can sing. For some reason this one reminds me of Cheech & Chong in a car singing the riff going, ‘Temptation! Duh-duh-duh!’ It’s got this swagger to it that I love. Sure, there’s a simplicity to it but also this power groove. This is a song that I think is going to be very impactful live. 

“I can really visualize playing it in front of a crowd, with people just bouncing and grooving and singing the riff… which happens a lot in this band. A lot of these tracks are going to be really fun to play live. We’ve been working on them pretty religiously and can’t wait to present them to the world... warts and all.”

Room of Mirrors presents an interesting mix of melodic and heavy.

“Yeah, I agree. There’s a nice balance on this track between stupid heavy stuff with the melodic layered harmonies, the feel-good stuff that reminds me of Thin Lizzy. Big musical statements with a fair amount of accents and jabs.

“There’s a lot of energy in this track. I love those harmonized guitar moments because they feel like melodic sections. It’s something that works so well for this band. Metallica wouldn’t sound like Metallica without those Thin Lizzy-style layers, right?”

And the grand finale Inamorata closes with finesse and panache.

“You pretty much said it… what an epic way to finish this journey. It’s a closing statement with five exclamation points. It’s another feel-good song with the power grooves, but there’s also a funkiness to it, almost in a Sabbath kind of way. It’s another song that makes me envision driving in the car with the hood down. Then it all strips and breaks down in nothing, the simplest moments. 

“I was pulling from that kind of place that Geezer Butler might go and just started feeling it with my eyes closed, letting each note speak. Then James introduces himself into that moment and the drums build and build. It takes you out! From thereon, you’re driving down the road and end up really far from where it started. It’s a very powerful song and very dynamic.”

We’re guessing your prized Warwick five-string bass guitar and Ampeg SVT-2 Pro bass amp heads came in handy in the studio?

“We usually do what we call a ‘taste test’ with our ears. We don’t play favorites. I’ll try eight different basses on whatever section of a song, and whichever sounds best is the one that wins. It’s all about how it sits in between the guitars and the impact of each note and how it represents the song. 

“In the studio I find those SVT-2 Pros, as well as some vintage amp heads, tend to have the right amount of warmth and punch. The bass needs to have a personality. There are a couple I have that seem to win all the time, and yeah, the scary thing is one of them is a five-string. Traditionally I tend to gravitate to an old-school four-string P-Bass, but that five-string I call my ‘secret weapon’ always has serious magic and resonates [with] the walls. It makes everything rumble!”

Why do you think that is?

“It could be down to the wood… who knows?! There’s always your attack as a player, your skill set and technique. I always like to have a little bit of nail to get extra grit in my fingers. I’m not against using a pick, but I’ll only use one when the personality of that kind of tone is needed. A lot of the time, if you get the right amount of callus and nail, you can go a long way. 

“You can find a lot of punch in your fingertips depending on how you hit that string. Those one or two basses always seem to work against what Kirk and James do and speak to the songs of Metallica! They’re not even allowed to leave the studio. They live there and they have to live there. We don’t want anything to happen to those things!”

• 72 Seasons is out now via Rhino/Blackened Recordings.

Let's take a deep dive into the biggest metal guitar record of the year, Metallica’s 72 Seasons, and who better to join us as guides than lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bass guitar player Robert Trujillo. 

Strap yourself in for fast stuff, bouncy stuff, thrashing riffs, evil tones, power grooves and ‘total noise’ solos... 

1. 72 Seasons

Blasting out of the gate, the album’s title track is a statement of intent, proving that Metallica are still capable of impressive ferocity. The double-time blasts feel like 320bpm, and Hammett cleverly highlights accents from the main riff with a lead line packed with doublestops. The wah-drenched solo is packed with Hammett trademarks and comes out into a melodic lead guitar hook.

Kirk Hammett: “It has all the elements – fast stuff, bouncy stuff, [a] super strong melody. It’s designed to just suck you into the album. We all agree that the middle part of 72 Seasons is one of the most difficult Metallica riffs we have ever played. It’s not the choice of notes or how the notes are played; it’s all in the timing and the phrasing. You have to use your head; you can’t just punt it. It shifts and it has weird counts.”

Robert Trujillo: “72 Seasons has all the perfect ingredients of an opening track on a Metallica album. I love when it gets chuggy and falls into half-time. It strips down to just the guitar and the hi-hat, but the energy is still pulsing through with the guitar double-picking. Then we all come back in and it blasts into the lead section, like ‘Hey Kirk, come on in – let’s party!’”

2. Shadows Follow

There’s a distinctly old-school Metallica vibe in Shadows Follow, with a riff that emphasises that most metal of intervals, the diminished 5th. 

Kirk’s doublestop licks in the solo speak of the Angus Young influence he tells us about, and he also performs some classic pull-offs onto open strings, another early AC/DC favourite. There is also an echo of Battery, the opening song from Metallica’s classic 1986 album Master Of Puppets.

Hammett: “Shadows Follow falls in line with the second Metallica song on every album: usually mid-paced, super rhythmic and has a real driving quality to it. Someone said, ‘Hey, why don’t we come up with a Battery type of rhythm solo?’ So that’s what you hear right before the solo…"

Trujillo: “This does speak evil! This song has a lot of everything, but it definitely registers on the ‘evil tone’, the flat 5th. It just has a lot of personality in that evil range. The accents play a role in that, and there are a lot of variations, too. I like how there’s a descending sequence.”

3. Screaming Suicide

Metallica slow things down in the intro of this 200bpm, half-time shot of adrenalin. The riff is in parallel 4ths, which makes it come on like a turbocharged Deep Purple. This is the first of many tracks to feature a memorable octave unison line between the guitars towards the end.

Hammett: “I just love this song, because right off the top I can just vomit out wacky wah pedal melodies. That wah pedal jumps and grabs you by the throat! The song really is a tribute to the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal that we still bow to even to this day. We use the parallel 4ths a lot because it’s a dark sound without being too minor.”

Trujillo: “This track has an evil slide in it. I love those rakes and accents. It’s that classic Hetfield thrashing of the strings, and it’s something that you feel. James and I will double up on those so we’re both hitting the strings as hard as we can but muting it so it becomes a percussive effect. It’s just energy.”

4. Sleepwalk My Life Away

This is the first of a few songs that remind us of the band’s self-titled album from 1991 – known to all as ‘The Black Album’. The four-on-the-floor intro and Trujillo’s bass riff, together with some excellent pickslides, build excitement for another riff that leans hard on the flat 5th. The wah-fueled solo sees Kirk creating hooks with repeated rhythmic ideas, and the band sounds thunderous as they exit the solo into a half-time section.

Trujillo: “I could see the comparison with Enter Sandman. It’s got that swagger and it’s not too fast. There’s a feeling of simplicity but the pulse takes you in a certain direction. It’s a power groove. Before you even get to the riff you’ve got that scratch on the bass that sends this thing off. It’s kinda simple but I’m proud of it.”

Hammett: “There’s a lumbering feel to it. Rob and I love this riff. It sounds like Cheech and Chong in the lowrider cruising down Hollywood Boulevard, smoking joints.”

Trujillo: “In the descending part of the intro, James is covering that and I’m just on root notes and stabs on the descend. Then all of a sudden it just punches you in the face with that riff.”

5. You Must Burn!

This is a standout track. A slow, stomping beast that reminds us of Sad But True and the heavy parts of The Unforgiven. Heavy, heavy stuff.

Hammett: “My favourite song on the whole album – and I didn’t write any of it! That Sabbath-y middle riff that James wrote is epic. And I love the guitar solo. I can’t remember playing any of these guitar solos to be honest, so it’s amusing to hear them again. I get to pick and choose what parts I want to play live and what parts I want to change, and that’s beautiful.”

Trujillo: “I have so much love for this song. It resonates with me almost like an old horror movie, like Nosferatu. It’s really got swagger, like Clint Eastwood or something. The mid section, James and I came up with this on the road and there was originally a bass break. I was straight out pulling from some of the classic Ozzy songs like Believer [from Osbourne’s 1981 album Diary Of A Madman]. And there are backing vocals by Trujillo on this one!”

6. Lux Æterna

You’ve heard this already, but it sounds even more frenetic coming after the plodding You Must Burn. Hammett's whammy bar abuse riled his haters, but we’re with him – the noise solo works.

Trujillo: “I love the intro. I love that the snare is in sync with our descending guitars. It’s like a beatdown. You’re getting pulverized, and there’s no time for a buildup – it’s just in! For me this one’s an arm burner. Although I’m just pulsing on the A note, it’s a challenge, man. You start to run out of gas. When we first rehearsed it, I didn’t get a chance to warm up, so I tried to sneak a pick in there, thinking that our producer Greg Fidelman wouldn’t notice. He immediately gets on the mic, ‘Robert! Are you playing this song with a pick?!’”

Hammett: “When I step up to solo, I’ll listen to the song and say, ‘This one needs a total noise solo’, or ‘This needs a really melodic solo’. Lux Æterna was fucking pedal to the metal, total adrenaline. Trying to play a tricky melody when the band’s going all out – is that really appropriate? If I play a total noise solo, that’s gonna fit beautifully over what’s happening because what’s happening is already chaotic. So I just went in there and did my Judas Priest and K.K. Downing imitation. I love the chromatic thing that goes completely down because no one does that!”

7. Crown of Barbed Wire

The opening powerchords have the 5th in the bass, what Trujillo calls the “tension chords”, for an extra sinister crunch. A groovy, single-note riff is, as Hammett says, unusual for Metallica, but sounds closer to their '90s output than anything before or since. Hammett's solo incorporates a Chuck Berry/Angus Young rock ’n’ roll repeating lick, and after the solo he doubles the main riff in a higher octave.

Hammett: “We haven’t really ever had a riff or part that has ever sounded like this. It was on a tape that I made and like Lars just loved it. I was like, ‘Really?’ James said, ‘I would have never thought of using that.’ But Lars just went with it and said, ‘This riff has something you guys aren’t hearing.’ Then we came up with this song and, you know, he was right. I think that song will become a deep cut that eventually people will start asking us to play live.”

Trujillo: “The tension chords that James plays are kind of the setup to this. I’m playing a repetitive hammer-on riff, and the tension chords are the strength in that issue. Then all of a sudden it’s just a pulse. The bass is carrying it through with a nice power groove.”

8. Chasing Light

One of many songs to switch intelligently between half-time and double-time, this opens at 90bpm but soon shifts to feeling like 180. Hammett plays a lick in the solo that is not unlike Jimmy Page’s repeating lick midway through his solo in Stairway To Heaven. The rhythm is not the same as Page’s, but it displaces on each repeat. A similar idea shows up in Too Far Gone.

Hammett: “That main riff is super cool. It’s a different kind of riff for us in terms of hand-positioning. James and I were looking at it one day and he said, ‘It’s weird, it’s like one riff fits inside the other riff.’ It’s like a two-tier riff. Tons of energy. It has these rhythmic shifts that I just love doing, lots of stop-starts and rhythms that make us who we are, basically. That song is just filled with them.”

Trujillo: “The thing with this song to me is the groove. It’s pretty much a song centred around the feel. James’s vocal approach is really cool. There’s a soulfulness to it, almost.”

9. If Darkness Had a Son

This has an insistent and menacing reverse-gallop groove. Hammett's solo draws on his Ritchie Blackmore influence. There’s a string bend that he re-picks while gradually releasing the bend, and some pull-offs to the open string in a slightly neo-classical style.

Hammett: “I gotta say, man, that riff is so weird to me. It’s a riff that sounds like a guitar solo lick, but when you play it lower, all of a sudden it goes from a guitar lick to a really cool riff. This song also has a technique that we’ve been doing for the last few albums, which is taking melodies and turning them into chord progressions. 

“When James sings the title, the riff is really a melody, with those slides, but we’re playing it on chords. We started doing it on [2008 album] Death Magnetic and it’s really cool. James likes it because he can do counter-melodies and they just make the song melodically hookier.”

Trujillo: “You can sing the riff in that Cheech and Chong style! It has a certain nastiness to it. I really believe that if we play it live, you’re gonna get the crowd singing the riff – that happens sometimes, especially in South America.”

10. Too Far Gone?

With a classic metal chord progression moving from E5 to C5 and a melodic chorus, this reminded us of early-'80s metal. The rhythm guitar parts make heavy use of triplets, which at this high tempo is a different feel from any of the other tracks.

Trujillo: “This riff has been around for a while and I’m so happy to see it made its way onto  this record. It has a New Wave Of British Heavy Metal personality. It’s just a driving tune: old-school feel, banging guitar solo, banging riff. I like when a song takes you on a ride. It’s got that forward momentum.”

Hammett: “We all love playing this song. It has all the elements that make a really pleasurable song: the guitar parts are really fun, the arrangement’s really great, and it’s really straightforward. This is another song where we turned melodies into chord progressions. There’s a harmony solo that James and I do.”

11. Room of Mirrors

Some of the outro harmony guitars remind us of the approach Metallica took on their cover of Whiskey In The Jar, the traditional Irish folk song popularized by Thin Lizzy. As the melody repeats, the interval of the harmony changes for some nice development.

Trujillo: “There’s a bit of that punk feel. There’s a couple things here that are challenging, at least for bass, because you’re going from straight pump-pump style and all of a sudden you’re doubling it. It’s a challenge for a finger player. It’s definitely a song that moves, but some of the melodic and the guitar layers have that classic Metallica statement. Hopefully we’ll play this one live.”

Hammett: “Again, that song is New Wave of British Heavy Metal to the max. For the repeating lick in the solo, I showed up at the studio one day, and Greg said, ‘You played this lick the other day. Let’s build a solo off that.’ So that’s what happened! It was a kind of Ritchie Blackmore approach, where he takes a melody and just expands on it.”

12. Inamorata

Metallica’s longest-ever song is likened by Hammett to Orion from Master Of Puppets and To Live Is To Die from 1988 album …And Justice For All. There is an undeniable Black Sabbath feel to Inamorata, although the harmonized guitars are a nod to Iron Maiden and Thin Lizzy. Hetfield’s epic melody is rhythmically intricate and makes for a strong finish. Best Metallica album this century? We think so.

Trujillo: “The ultimate closing statement to an album. I call it the shortest 11-minute song! It feels like it’s at least half that time because it takes you on a journey. It’s sludgy, but I feel like I’m in a convertible car driving up the coast. It strips down to this minimal moment where it’s just the bass, and I’m pulling from Geezer Butler. James had a vision for really stripping it down to rawness. 

“Every note I played on this, especially in the breakdown, I was closing my eyes and just feeling it. I almost felt like I was floating in the bending of the notes, and then all of a sudden it just releases itself into these beautiful layers of guitar for this melodic statement that takes you on the journey out. You can feel the interplay when we start coming out of the bass break. There’s this moment where we’re almost dancing together between the instruments.” 

Hammett: “One day James said, ‘You know, this song needs an extended harmony solo’, and he literally sat down and came up with the entire solo one afternoon. I went in and learned the harmony to it and that was it. It is a little bit of a tribute to songs like Orion and To Live Is To Die. When we were coming up with this song I thought, ‘Is this one even gonna make it on the album?’ But it became a fucking mammoth!”

• 72 Seasons is out now via Blackened Recordings.

Kirk Hammett has a confession to make. Metallica’s lead guitarist is talking about the band’s new album 72 Seasons, and how the energy within it comes from a spontaneous approach to writing and recording...

“First and foremost I’m an improvisational musician,” he says. “I’ve realised that everything you do is pretty much improvisation. Any songwriting is improv. Writing melodies is improv. Improvisation is playing guitar.”

And as he muses on this subject, he admits to a longstanding ‘fixation’ with one of hard rock’s greatest lead players, AC/DC’s Angus Young. “One of the things I love about Angus is how he never plays the same solo twice,” Kirk says, before adding in a conspiratorial tone: “I have to confess that this is the album that got my Angus fixation out of my system finally.

“I’ve been obsessed with AC/DC most of my life – Angus and Malcolm’s guitar tones, just their whole approach. I don’t speak too much about it because it’s a real common thing. Everyone’s blown away by AC/DC. 

“But I’ve always marvelled at Angus’s guitar style because it’s the perfect combination of blues, hard rock and boogie. He has a lot of humour in his playing, and yet it’s just so intense. You can’t fucking beat it! Coming from Angus it’s just so organic. You know he’s not thinking about what all the guitar magazines are gonna say. He just goes up and fucking does it. And I love that.”

A similar ethos is at the heart of 72 Seasons, which finds Metallica doing exactly what they did in the ’80s. Not always sounding like they did in the ’80s, but determinedly being themselves without giving a single shit what other people think.

The weight of history can be a heavy burden. Metallica’s key albums – such as Master Of Puppets from 1986, and their self-titled multi-million-seller from 1991, forever known as ‘The Black Album’ – are landmarks in metal, which now come with more than 30 years of attached memories and myths. 

Other legendary bands have been intimidated into mediocrity by that kind of pressure, but 72 Seasons has Metallica operating at full power, drawing on everything from their thrash metal roots to the heavy grooves of their classic early ’90s songs Enter Sandman and Sad But True. Some of 72 Seasons will remind you of old Metallica because this is Metallica. But all of it sounds reinvigorated. 

Aside from 2011’s Lulu, the band’s one-off collaboration with Lou Reed, 72 Seasons is Metallica’s third studio album since bassist Robert Trujillo joined the ranks alongside Kirk and the two founding members, guitarist/vocalist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich. And with Hetfield currently unavailable for interviews, it’s Kirk and Robert who speak to TG about how this album came together.

For Kirk, the years between this album and its predecessor, 2016’s Hardwired... To Self-Destruct, saw him rediscovering his earliest influences.

“I started a deep dive into all the guitar players that really influenced me when I was a kid,” he says. “Hardwired was me listening to a lot of Michael Schenker and that generation of guitarists. On this [album], I went back even further. I realised that there’s a generation of British guitar players that I love. I even like the obscure ones, like Kim Simmonds of Savoy Brown. So I started relearning all this stuff, and that British guitar player influence really rubbed off on me when we started doing this album.”

Incredibly, ‘new’ bassist Robert Trujillo has now been in Metallica longer than Cliff Burton and Jason Newsted combined. While Kirk revisited British blues-rock, Trujillo took cues from his predecessors in the band. 

“Cliff and Jason were so different in the way they play, and in their approach to the instrument,” he explains. “It’s very exciting for me because I understand what they did best. I have what I can offer to the song, but I can also pull from that existing bag of possibilities from Cliff or Jason. I love Cliff’s melodic approach. 

“If you take a song like For Whom The Bell Tolls, it’s melodic yet edgy, and has that anthemic quality. He was so great at that, and also changing the sound of the instrument and bringing it into an arrangement. That idea wasn’t really prevalent in metal. Jason was just really solid. The Black Album has very well‑produced bass parts.”

Tonally, both Kirk and Robert’s choice of sound is influenced by James Hetfield’s gargantuan rhythm tone.

“One of the important things about being a bass player in Metallica is to find the sound that sits well between James’s and Kirk’s guitars,” Robert says. “Fortunately, our producer Greg Fidelman is really aware of that. On the record you can hear every note of the bass. The way the parts are slotted together, everything works so it becomes a team effort. There’s a lot of energy in the songs, so the sound is important, the attack of each note.”

Kirk’s British blues-rock kick also influenced his choice of gear. His main axe is Greeny, the 1959 Les Paul formerly owned by Fleetwood Mac’s Peter Green and then by Gary Moore, which Kirk acquired in 2014 for an undisclosed price reportedly “less than $2 million”. 

His guitar amp choices also reflect the tones of that era. When TG suggests it sounds like Metallica have been using Marshalls, Kirk replies “We always use Marshalls.” But while Marshall amps are almost always part of Metallica’s tonal equation, they have rarely been this prominent. 

“I was so much more into Greeny’s sound, and that classic British thing of plugging a Gibson Les Paul into a 50-watt Marshall,” Kirk says. “I really fell back in love with that whole sound. I have a special Marshall that I use in the studio, a hot rodded ’80s Marshall. It never really leaves the studio, and whenever we record it always works its way into my setup.”

The secret sauce on his tone is the Solodallas Schaffer Replica EX Tower, a replica of the tone circuitry from the Schaffer Vega Diversity wireless system most famously used by AC/DC. 

“It’s a type of preamp compression unit,” he explains. “People like Angus Young, David Gilmour and Eddie Van Halen were able to boost the output on that transmitter, hence Angus’s amazing guitar sound. So the Tower is a bit of a secret weapon – I can’t believe I’m telling you about it! 

“It’s a large part of how I got that super dynamic lead sound. It’s really full sounding, there’s a lot of mid, but it doesn’t sound harsh or too bold or solid. The harmonic distortion is amazing. I hit a note on Greeny and it literally will never quit.”

He continues: “The tone on 72 Seasons is based on my live sound, which is a Fractal Axe-Fx modelled on a blend of my Fortin Meathead amp and my Dual Rectifier. We took that lead sound and tweaked a little EQ, added the Tower and we’re good to go. Maybe there’s a Tube Screamer in there also, because I just love that sound.”

For parts requiring a Floyd Rose, Kirk used an old favourite. “Guitar-wise, I just went back and forth from Greeny to my Mummy guitar. Why bother with anything else? The Mummy is my best-sounding ESP, and Greeny... everyone knows how that sounds! There was no need for a really crystalline clean tone. There’s not even a ballad on this album.”

That lack of ballads reflects the incredible energy Metallica felt when they first reunited after Covid lockdowns. Instead of mellow tracks, Trujillo says there was one key ingredient: big riffs. “You always go to that, go back to your anchor. A great riff makes songwriting a lot easier. When you have that you can play with it so many different ways. That’s where we incorporate accented rakes, muting, and all that kind of stuff.”

One great riff is on Screaming Suicide, which found Kirk paying homage to another early hero. “That is a complete tribute to Ritchie Blackmore. The melody is very reminiscent of what he plays in [classic Deep Purple song] Black Night. A large part of my guitar style and attitude comes from him. He had such a vision and he wrote great songs. I just feel indebted to him for his music and his spirit.”

In the first track released from the album, Lux Æterna, Kirk’s frenzied whammy solo drew a lot of criticism, of which he is well aware. 

“That solo seemed to get people talking on the Internet to the point where people were doing their own version,” he says. “I was just laughing the whole time. Yeah, anyone could do a technically better solo than anyone else on any song, but what’s the point? My fucking friends down the street could probably play a better solo than Lux Æterna, but the solo that’s on there is part of the experience. For me, what’s appropriate is playing for the song and playing in the moment.”

He speaks again about the value of spontaneity. “I’m constantly working on my improvisation,” he says. “Constantly finding more ways to get within the groove. The groove is everything. If you’re in the groove it really doesn’t matter what you’re playing. You can even play outside notes, but if the groove is there you’re golden. You get a bad note? Play the next note and it’s good. After playing guitar for 40 years, I’ve come to this conclusion. I wish I knew back in the ’70s and ’80s, but that’s just not how it was meant to be for me.” 

This renewed enthusiasm for improvisation comes from another of Kirk’s recent discoveries. “I’m really into prog and jazz fusion these days. A lot of those bands embrace everything that I was just saying. I missed out on prog while it was happening because I was into Tygers Of Pan Tang and Angel Witch. But I’ve discovered a whole world of music I love.”

He says that this desire for spontaneity extends to the entire songwriting process. “If we get to the point where we’re agonising over something, that means we need to move on to something else fresh. The last thing I want to be is stuck on any music, like I don’t have any more ideas and I’m too locked into this feeling. We never agonise over anything, and if anything’s too complicated to play, that means it probably shouldn’t be on the album.”

Spontaneous or not, the songs on 72 Seasons are all meticulously arranged, and the intros are a particular highlight, as Robert points out: “Pretty much every song builds into something. It doesn’t start out as the thing it’s ultimately gonna be,” he says. Similar care was placed in selecting the tracks for the album. “It’s like you’re looking at works of art in an exhibition and each song has its place in there,” he continues. “You take songs like You Must Burn or Chasing Light, and then you take a song like Room Of Mirrors and it helps complete the overall picture.”

Kirk’s contributions, meanwhile, are focused on melody and hooks. In many songs he memorably doubles Hetfield’s riffs in a higher octave. “Sometimes not playing a harmony but playing an octave is just as effective,” he reflects. “We tried harmonising a lot of the stuff, and sometimes harmonies just make something sound a bit more pretty than the intention. 

“If you play an octave, it kind of underlines the statement. If I could sum up my playing on this album, my solos are mostly rhythmic. That’s just how I feel like playing these days. I really wanted to sit in the rhythm, lock in with the groove and play for the song.”

For Kirk, playing for the song means more melody and less shred. “I don’t try to reach outside the boundaries of the song,” he says. “I don’t think that’s appropriate. I could string together six or seven three-octave arpeggios, sit there every day and practise it and go, ‘Hey, look what I can do!’ But where am I gonna put it? 

“Arpeggios mapped out like a lot of people do, four or five chords with a different arpeggio over each one? Come on, it sounds like an exercise. I don’t want to listen to exercises and warm-ups. The only guys who I think play arpeggios as a means of expression are Joe Satriani, Yngwie Malmsteen and Paul Gilbert.”

Warming to his theme, Kirk argues that melodic playing is both more meaningful and, counterintuitively, more difficult than shredding. “I could fill up these songs with a bunch of really fast modal playing,” he says. “I know my modes, Hungarian scales, symmetrical scales, whole tone scales, I know all that shit. Is it appropriate? Diminished runs – is that appropriate? Maybe earlier in our time, but not now. 

“What’s more appropriate is coming up with melodies that are more like vocal melodies. And guess what? The best scale for mimicking vocal melodies is the pentatonic. There’s a reason why the blues is so expressive, and it’s because of pentatonics. I prefer pentatonics because they’re more expressive.

“It’s actually harder to say stuff with pentatonics because you don’t have that many notes. It’s easier to play modal, because you’ve got so many notes. Okay, some of them are repeated in different octaves, but I will challenge anyone on that. One, two, three, five notes – what’s more difficult? You tell me.”

What Kirk says in conclusion is that this passion for improvisation will be carried forward into Metallica’s live show, which UK fans will witness over two nights at the Download festival in June.

“I have every intention on playing every solo from this album differently when we play live,” he says. “If you watch old videos of Ritchie Blackmore, Jeff Beck, or even Michael Schenker, they’re not playing the solos on the album – they’re playing whatever the fuck they wanna play. I love that because it’s a moment of real honesty. 

“With this album I went in intentionally to improvise 20, 30 solos, give them all to Lars and Greg, and go ‘You guys edit them!’ I know I’m gonna play something completely different live, so I can offer something different every time you see Metallica. When you buy a ticket to a Metallica show, you’re not gonna hear carbon copy versions of the album. 

“At a time when it’s just so accessible to see videos of your favourite band, there needs to be some sort of impetus for people to go out and see live shows that are actually somewhat spontaneous.” He laughs. “That’s my thing these days – and if people don’t like it, that’s just tough!”

• 72 Seasons is out now via Rhino/Blackened Recordings.

One of the true masters of jazz, tenor saxophonist and composer Wayne Shorter passed away during the early hours of March 2. The bass playing public has since gathered to express their appreciation for Shorter’s constant creativity. “My favorite musician just left this earthly plane,” said Tal Wilkenfeld. “The lessons I learned from Wayne Shorter are immeasurable and profound.”

Throughout his career, Shorter was known to seek out some of the finest bass players in the business. His debut as bandleader in 1959 featured the great Paul Chambers. With Miles Davis he shared the stage with Ron Carter and Dave Holland. As a leader of fusion supergroup Weather Report he enlisted Miroslav Vitous, Alphonso Johnson, Jaco Pastorius and Victor Bailey. 

“Our fearless leader,” wrote Felix Pastorius, whose father Jaco starred alongside Shorter in Weather Report from 1976 to 1982 when the band was at its peak with hits like Birdland. “Thank you for your unwavering dedication to the pursuit.”

In 2000 Shorter formed his longest-running ensemble, the Wayne Shorter Quartet, featuring a handpicked group of musicians that included bassist John Patitucci. “Wayne challenged us and empowered us to go on the most incredible journey of life, spiritual unity and artistic growth," Patitucci wrote on social media. "Before we would play concerts Wayne would sometimes recount the idea he and Miles Davis would express of ‘playing like we don’t know how to play.’ He never lost that childlike wonder of discovery. My gratitude for him is boundless."

Robert Trujillo, who crossed paths with Shorter during the making of 2015’s Jaco Pastorius documentary, said, “So grateful to have worked with him on Jaco. A wise man, creative master and positive spirit. Just hands down the coolest cat!”

Beyond his work with his quartet, Shorter had also spent recent years composing an opera in collaboration with Esperanza Spalding. “If there was a language with a word 100x stronger than ‘gratitude’ to express what I feel about this friend, teacher, trickster...I reckon that language is in all his music,” wrote Spalding. “Now we keep listening deeper and more expansively than ever.”

Richard Bona added, “And the genius is gone... RIP Wayne Shorter.”

More tributes can be found below.

Flea

“One of the greatest musicians to ever walk the planet. Thank you for setting the bar so high Wayne. Your music will ring out and touch hearts forever. It will be studied and admired always. My god, you gave us so much. Some of the best concerts I was ever lucky enough to witness. My hero. I’ll spend my life working towards being a fraction as good as you. We felt all your intellect, all your spiritual depth, all your love, in every note you recorded. Fly on.”

Ben Williams

“Every piece of music I’ve written, you were the bar from which I measured my work. Every note seemed to come from somewhere divine yet always felt rooted. I can’t thank you enough for the impact you’ve had on the world. You’ve left us so much to do, to think about it, to consider and reconsider. Peaceful journey.”

Gary Willis

“We’re all better for having shared the planet with this giant, Wayne Shorter. For a short period of time I was lucky enough to have the best seat in the house. I remember sometimes after solos I’d notice his eyes roll back down as if he’d been looking up in the heavens visiting another world. I’m sure whatever world he finds now is also richer for his presence.”

Linda May Han Oh

“In the few brief conversations I had with Mr Shorter, we spoke about our favorite Neil Gaiman books and I told him that we shared the same birthdate. I never expected him to remember me, but on a few occasions when he saw me he’d motion to me like he was playing the bass and pulling the strings hard. His music has touched me to the core and I’ve always been fascinated by his playing and his incredible output as a composer, improviser and his resilience. Rest in Power Wayne Shorter. What an inspiration.”

Darryl Jones

“A giant has changed worlds. I cannot express how important Wayne Shorter is to those of us who are disciples of this music. As an instrumentalist, his creative breadth and excellence has very few peers. As a composer, his body of work stands at the vanguard of modern music. As a conceptualist, he stands shoulder to shoulder with the greatest architects of sound and rhythm the world has produced. He was/is an immensely unique individual in a field of incredibly unique individuals. Long live Wayne Shorter. A giant has changed worlds.”

Will Lee

“RIP Mr Shorter. He was a time traveler, innovator, explorer of textures and harmony. A scientist, a demonstrator of how it’s done, an observer, an icon. Thank you for all your creations you shared while you were here for this short visit to our plane. No doubt your Buddhist teachings informed of the next phase, but we’ll certainly miss you being with us. Peaceful journey.”

Derrick Hodge

“Wayne Shorter breathed life into me as a creative at 18 years old. I heard his music in a way that dared me to imagine and pursue what is possible. We recorded Fall on my Color Of Noize album in dedication to Wayne and the great Ron Carter specifically.  The entire music community owes you a great deal of gratitude.  All I can say at this moment is a heartfelt THANK YOU for being a true guiding light.”

John Clayton

“Wayne Shorter. His music was beyond powerful. It was vast in its expressiveness and he really knew no boundaries regrading style and influences. My granddaughter, barely walking at 1, would freeze in her tracks, hypnotized and swaying when she heard Wayne's Ponta de Areia. Sure, it could have been another song, another composer, but it was Wayne, and only Wayne.”

Steve Pearce

“I am privileged to have been alive for his visit to this earthly existence. I was that wide-eyed 17-year old newbie driver, parking outside the Rainbow Theatre in 1977, buying a ticket off a tout for £6.00, and then bathing in the magnificence of Wayne, Zawinul, Jaco, Acuna, and Badrena. Wayne played Thanks for the Memory as his feature. Still somewhat astonished that I actually got to record with him, enjoy lunch and sci-fi tales with him! An improvisational genius and a unique force, indeed.”

Born on February 10, 1962, in Castro Valley, California, Cliff Burton had three years in Metallica, recording three groundbreaking albums.

1983’s Kill ‘Em All, featured jaw-dropping bass guitar solo (Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth, which stamped Burton's identity firmly on the emerging thrash metal movement. Ride the Lightning, released a year later, saw Cliff at his best on Call of Ktulu and For Whom the Bell Tolls, while Metallica fans would argue that his creative peak came on 1986’s Master of Puppets.

“Cliff was absolutely amazing for Metallica,” said Robert Trujillo, Metallica’s bass player since 2003. “His ideas, his presence, and where he was taking the bass and taking metal, were so special. And his stage presence – he was such a physical player. He played what he felt, and that was the bottom line. His approach was, “I’m gonna play what I feel, and if you don’t like it, screw you!'”

Cliff would undoubtedly have made an even greater impact on the heavy metal and hard-rock worlds had his life not been cut short at the age of only 24. Following his tragic death in a bus accident in 1986, the band hired Jason Newsted, who helped them reach superstardom before his departure in 2001, which led to the appointment of Robert Trujillo.

“When I auditioned for Metallica in 2002, I was playing in Ozzy Osbourne’s band with one of Cliff’s best friends, Mike Bordin of Faith No More,” says Trujillo.

“I was staying at Mike’s house in San Francisco and in the guest room at Mike’s house, where I would be practising Metallica’s music, there is a big photo of Cliff - and at a random moment at two in the morning, I looked up and saw that photo. I actually spoke to the photo. I said, ‘Cliff, I won’t let you down, I promise. I’ll give it my best shot.’ So in a weird way I feel connected to Cliff. I feel like I know him."

For Trujillo, learning Cliff’s basslines presented quite a challenge. “When I learned The Call of Ktulu, I really directed Cliff’s bass parts and took a lot of pride in doing that. I really wanted to know it, and feel it, and get it into my soul, so I spent time with it.”

Cliff gave the band’s early albums a unique charisma that has never been obscured, despite the enormous success which the group achieved in the 1990s and beyond. “No disrespect to my brothers in Metallica, but Cliff was older than the other guys, and in a lot of ways a better musician,” says Trujillo. “He had a very broad creative skill set – a musician’s musician, in a lot of ways.

"He could play the piano and he knew classical music, as well as being a fan of Lynyrd Skynyrd. He used to ask Kirk to show him Lynyrd Skynyrd guitar solos so he could play them on bass, and not many bass players were doing that back then. I thought that was so cool. Cliff was a force on a lot of different levels.”

• Joel McIver’s book, To Live Is To Die: The Life and Death of Metallica’s Cliff Burton, is available now.

Jaco Pastorius will be forever remembered as arguably the number one bass player of all time. Even today, his aggressive but melodic upfront style, demonstrated in such inspired fashion on his 1976 self-titled debut, stands as a reference point by which modern bass guitar playing divides into ‘pre-Jaco’ and ‘post-Jaco.’ The album became to the electric bass what Are You Experienced by Jimi Hendrix was to the electric guitar.

“I think it’s impossible to pick up a fretless electric bass and not think of Jaco Pastorius,” says jazz bassist Christian McBride. “Much in the same way that you can't pick up an alto saxophone and not think of Charlie Parker. At some point you either consciously try to avoid that or you address it without even knowing."

Our clip features a roll-call of bass players from jazz, rock, blues and funk who each cite Pastorius as an inspiration, speaking of an artist who changed the game. “When I first heard Jaco's solo record it stopped me in my tracks," said bassist and bandleader Laurence Cottle. "He employed techniques that had never been executed on the bass guitar before. Joe Zawinul once said that Jaco had that magical thing about him, like Jimi Hendrix had. He was a real superstar.”

Laurence first met Jaco in the early 1980s. “Weather Report were playing in Boston and just as we were going into the theater he was walking out," says Laurence in the clip. "We talked about music and all about the gig. He said that he was a keen juggler and I was as well, so we went out onto the common and had an afternoon of juggling. Jaco was a superstar and embraced everything that went with it, but in his formative years he was completely dedicated to music. Music was everything to him.”

Jaco's 1976 debut album is available to download. For more info visit jacopastorius.com. The full 90 minute Beneath The Bassline documentary is available to download and stream.

If you have found yourself hankering for even more low-end from your bass guitar, then you are in luck! The best 5-string bass guitars give you the extra heft of an added string while still remaining as playable as a regular four-string bass. Expanding your sonic range is essential for many modern bassists, and if your current set-up just isn’t cutting it anymore, it might be time to upgrade.

While the extra string technically only offers five more notes, this extended range allows you to take your bass playing into dimensions hitherto undiscovered. Many of the most famous bass guitar players have utilized these, from classic players like John Paul Jones and Jack Bruce to modern masters like Fieldy and Robert Trujillo.

So whether this is your first foray into the world of 5-string bass guitars or you're looking to upgrade your current gigging workhorse, we've hand-picked the best options on the market right now. By covering a wide range of price points, this guide has something for every low-end warrior.

If you have any questions, scroll down to the FAQ section, where we tackle the most common queries about 5-string bass guitars.

Our top picks

Best overall

The Yamaha BB435 TBS is a super versatile instrument that can do vintage or modern tones thanks to its P/J pickup configuration. Considering the low price-point you get a brilliant spec too, with materials you’d normally find on pricier instruments.

Independent volume controls for each pickup allow you to mix and match the characteristics of both, resulting in excellent tonal flexibility. A single tone knob does your EQ sculpting for both pickups simultaneously.

As you’d expect from Yamaha the build quality is second to none. The low B feels rock solid with no floppiness at all, helping you really nail those super low grooves on the bass guitar. The ingenious bridge with its 45-degree string break angle means you get great intonation and stability too.

Best active budget

The Sterling by Music Man S.U.B. StingRay 5 is the cheaper version of its full-blooded Music Man brethren, but it’s more than a match for any premium-level 5-string bass guitar. Versatile enough to handle anything from pop to hard rock, this guitar proves you don’t have to spend big for huge tone.

The sound is very close to its more expensive big brother, with a single humbucker that’s versatile thanks to the onboard 2-band EQ. Dig in with a pick and you get that signature punchy bass tone, with a round warmth when you use your fingers.

The string spacing at the bridge is narrower than your typical 5-string bass, making it extremely comfortable for those with smaller hands. The ‘D’ profile of the neck feels sleek enough that you can move quickly despite the extra width required for the extra low string. 

Best passive budget

Fender’s Jazz Bass is a legendary sound in the world of bass guitar and with this Squier Classic Vibe ‘70s version you get a boutique tone on a budget. If you’re in the market for vintage tone, you could do a lot worse than this great bass.

The two single coil pickups in the classic Jazz Bass configuration offer that trademark growl in spades, and it retains great articulation when playing the low B. The controls give you individual volume for each pickup, allowing you to blend both for your perfect tone.

It’s a glossy neck but it doesn’t feel sticky like some new necks do, offering great playability from the off. The build feels hefty overall, and it’ll certainly put up with plenty of abuse on the road, on stage, and in the studio.

Best for metal

Whilst not well known for its bass guitars, Schecter has been steadily building its name as one of the premier guitar manufacturers since 1976. The Schecter Stiletto Studio 5 is an exquisite looking bass guitar with the sound to match.

A pair of EMG 40Hz pickups matched with a three band EQ give you plenty of powerful low end rumble and a distinctive tonality. Rather than try to emulate the classic bass tones, Schecter have opted to give the Stiletto 5 its own voice.

The mahogany body helps this guitar deliver bags of sustain, paired with a maple and walnut neck. The thin ‘C’ profile is nice and slinky in your hands and an absolute joy to play on, making light work of various playing styles.

Best traditional

The Fender American Professional II Jazz Bass V is a top-of-the-line instrument that’s the result of decades of innovation from the California-based outfit. Coming with newly modeled pickups and a host of other upgrades, this is one of the best 5-string bass guitars money can buy.

The Jazz Bass offers a different tonality to its more popular brother the P-Bass. We find it more versatile and understated, and the new V-Mod II pickups help deliver plenty of punch and clarity when you explore that low B string.

The neck uses Posiflex graphite rods for reinforcement, so you know it’ll put up with plenty of abuse out on the road. The sculpted neck heel allows for more comfortable playing higher up the neck while a HiMass Vintage bridge gives you enhanced sustain and stability.

Best multi-scale

The Ibanez EHB1005SMS is a space-age 5-string bass that gives you a boutique feature set without the price tag. The fact that Ibanez is able to offer a multi-scale bass guitar at this price is truly an astonishing feat.

A set of Bartolini pickups with Vari-mid 3-band EQ gives you a huge variety of tones to choose from. An EQ-bypass switch lets you change the bass to a passive one for even more sounds, as well as helping you save your battery.

The neck on the Ibanez EHB1005SMS will take some getting used to if you’ve never played a multi-scale instrument before. Once you adjust however, the sound benefits it offers will make you wonder how you ever did without one.

Best premium

The Warwick German Pro Series Thumb BO is seen as a modern classic bass guitar, excelling in both metal and funk styles. This is a thoroughbred bass guitar that’s geared towards players of modern styles.

The MEC pickups deliver an in your face bass tone that’s powerful, yet still remains articulate on the low B string. A two band EQ offers great flexibility despite the lack of a mid control, with a handy push-pull knob that bypasses the active electronics.

The ovangkol body and neck are sustainably sourced, offering a tonal quality reminiscent of rosewood. Combine that with outstanding German-made build quality, and you’ve got yourself a bass guitar that will last a lifetime.

FAQs

 Buying a 5-string bass guitar can be a minefield if you’re not experienced with the subject. From the additional weight to the longer scale length, there’s plenty to think about when making a purchase. Lucky for you, here at Guitar World, we know a thing or two about getting low, and we're here to ensure you make an informed purchase. 

Why trust us?

☑️ A global audience of 3.8 million guitarists monthly
☑️ 1,200+ reviews on GuitarWorld.com
☑️ 30+ years of product testing at Guitar World

Guitar World boasts over 44 years of expertise and stands as the ultimate authority on all things related to guitars. The magazine and website feature expertly written gear round-ups and top-quality, authoritative reviews penned by a team of highly experienced industry professionals.

Guitar World's inaugural print issue hit the shelves in July 1980, and ever since, it has been captivating players and enthusiasts with engaging lessons, insightful interviews with the biggest guitar heroes, and priceless buying advice for newbie players.

Furthermore, GuitarWorld.com continues this legacy online and serves as the hub of the world's foremost authorities on guitar playing. The site not only hosts content from Guitar World but also showcases articles from respected publications such as Guitarist, Total Guitar, Guitar Techniques, and Bass Player. With a reach extending to 3.8 million players each month, GuitarWorld.com is a go-to destination for guitar fanatics globally.

How we choose

Here at Guitar World, we are experts in our field, with many years of playing and product testing between us. We live and breathe everything guitar and bass related, and we draw on this knowledge and experience of using products in live, recording and rehearsal scenarios when selecting the products for our guides.

When choosing what we believe to be the best 5-string bass guitars available right now, we combine our hands-on experience, user reviews and testimonies and engage in lengthy discussions with our editorial colleagues to reach a consensus about the top products in any given category.

First and foremost, we are guitarists, and we want other players to find the right product for them. So we take into careful consideration everything from budget to feature set, ease of use and durability to come up with a list of what we can safely say are the best 5-string bass guitars on the market right now.

Read more about our rating system, how we choose the gear we feature, and exactly how we test each product.

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Ozzy Osbourne’s new album, the as-yet-untitled follow-up to 2020’s acclaimed Ordinary Man, will land by spring 2022, according to Sony’s recent financial statement. 

Sony Group Corporation is the over-arching parent company of Sony Music Entertainment and, in turn, Osbourne’s label, Epic. Eagle-eyed fans spotted the revelation amongst the company’s catchily-titled ‘Supplemental Information for the Consolidated Financial Results for the Second Quarter Ended September 30, 2021’.

A single line under the heading ‘Selected upcoming releases anticipated over the next six months’ states the name Ozzy Osbourne. Given the document is dated October 28, 2021, this means the record should be out by the end of April next year. 

Beyond this rough release window, we already know a fair bit about the album, thanks to hints and interviews from Ozzy, producer Andrew Watt and guitarist Zakk Wylde.

Ozzy confirmed Wylde’s involvement back in early October, revealing that he’d also managed to recruit a dream line-up of guitar guests, including Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Tony Iommi. 

“It definitely sounds slamming,” Wylde said recently. “The same goes for all the guys – what Tony Iommi played, and then Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck, it’s all killer for sure. On those tracks I’m playing rhythm guitar for my heroes… it’s crazy!”

Meanwhile, Andrew Watt told us back in June that Robert Trujillo is returning on bass duties, meaning the stars have, quite literally, aligned for the new record.

Clearly, after the commercial and critical success of Ordinary Man, it’s not just us guitarists that are rubbing our hands in anticipation of the follow-up…

Keep an eye on Ozzy Osbourne’s official site for more information. 

Metallica surprised fans with a last-minute hometown show at The Independent in San Francisco last night (September 16).

The metal legends announced via social media that a limited amount of $20 tickets would be available for the 400-capacity show on a first-come, first-serve basis, stating:

“Hey! Gonna let you in on a little secret. We're playing tonight at The Independent in downtown SF. Grab a $20 bill and get your ass to the box office right now! Proof of vaxx is required to get a wristband and it's gonna sell out fast. One ticket per person, cash only!”

The band performed 16 tracks in total for the lucky fans, including a three-song encore of Battery, Fuel and Seek And Destroy.

Metallica recently celebrated the 30th anniversary of The Black Album (releasing a remastered version and the 53-track covers album The Blacklist) but did not draw particularly heavily on the record for the surprise set.

Obviously tickets for the performance sold out within minutes, but the four-piece are scheduled to play some larger hometown shows this December at the Chase Center (on December 17 and 19), as the closing dates of their fall US tour. The band will then head to Europe in summer 2022.

Metallica’s setlist at The Independent, San Francisco - September 16

1. Whiplash 
2. Ride The Lightning
3. The Memory Remains 
4. Now That We're Dead 
5. Holier Than Thou 
6. No Leaf Clover 
7. Sad But True 
8. Moth Into Flame 
9. Fade To Black 
10. For Whom The Bell Tolls 
11. Creeping Death 
12. One 
13. Master Of Puppets

Encore:

1. Battery
2. Fuel
3. Seek & Destroy

The appearance at The Independent follows another recent performance from Metallica on the Live On the Stern Show, with Miley Cyrus, who is one of the artists featured on The Blacklist album.

Suicidal Tendencies took to the stage for an appearance at the Blue Ridge Rock Festival in Danville, Virginia, last Saturday (September 11) – minus regular bass guitar player Ra Diaz, who is currently busying himself with Korn on tour.

As such, the hardcore punk band were forced to draft in a suitable replacement for the show – Robert Trujillo’s 17-year-old, bass-wielding son, Tye. A fitting appointment, given the Metallica man played for Suicidal Tendencies at the start of his career.

No stranger to coping with the limelight of big shows – he toured South America with Korn at the age of 12 as a temporary Fieldy fill-in, after all – Trujillo looked totally at home on stage, flexing his impressive, ahead-of-his-age slap chops and monstrous low-end tone.

Lining up alongside the rest of the band – which features Mike Muir, Dean Pleasants, Dave Lombardo and Dillinger Escape Plan's Ben Weinman – Trujillo effortlessly and energetically made his way through a number of the band’s tracks, including You Can’t Bring Me Down, Subliminal and Freedumb.

It’s not the first time he’s played with Suicidal Tendencies either, having previously jammed with the band in 2017 before officially performing with them later in 2019.

When asked by DJ Delz of The Delz Show YouTube channel how it felt to play alongside the band, Trujillo responded, “It feels good. It felt good to let out the steam, you know what I mean?

“I’m just trying to keep up. That’s what I’m trying to do. I’m just trying to work on my bass skills.”

Trujillo then went on to discuss his relationship with music, saying he initially picked up the bass after being surrounded by his dad’s music and experiencing tour life with the Metallica member.

“I’ve been playing the bass for about 10 years,” he recalled. “I picked up the bass from seeing my dad around the house and I wanted to get into it. I would go on tour a few times, and it was fun seeing the band play, and I’ve always been around music so I’ve always wanted to play.”

Ottto – the Venice Beach, CA three-piece featuring Robert Trujillo’s son, Tye – have dropped a new video for their single Ride Low.

The thrash-y trio are all aged between 17 and 18 and consist of frontman/guitarist Bryan Noah Ferretti, Tye Trujillo (on bass, natch) and drummer Ryan Duswalt. 

It's easy to make negative assumptions about the output of rockstar kids, but Ride Low is a pretty crushing slice of thrash metal, which nods to Metallica and the snotty raw power of the LA punk scene. We like it a lot.

The single is the first taste of their (as-yet-untitled) debut album, due out later this year, but if you can’t wait until then, you might want to check out their self-titled EP from 2020. It’s got nine tracks on it, which frankly, makes it an album in our book, but whatever…

A nice link for fans of the Trujillo dynasty is that Ride Low’s promo was directed by Paul Marchand, who also helmed the acclaimed documentary Jaco, about the life of Jaco Pastorius, produced by Robert Trujillo.

Meanwhile, Tye Trujillo has been keeping busy. Korn may have brought in Ra Diaz, sparing him another shift filling Fieldy’s shoes (Tye previously toured with Korn aged 12), but the young Trujillo has also formed a new band with Noah Weiland called Blu Weekend. 

Head to Otttoband.com to stay up-to-date with the trio's activities.

Les Claypool has unveiled a short film, Precious Metals, which finds the Primus legend co-starring with Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo in a bass guitar battle for the ages.

The film, directed by Claypool’s son Cage and presented by EMG pickups – which recently unveiled new models for both players – plays on old-timey Western tropes, with Les digging for gold in the hot Northern California sun before being confronted by Trujillo, who brandishes his own precious item: a set of EMG pickups.

The two face off in an old-school shootout, but eventually settle their differences with a friendly, and ridiculously awesome, slap-bass duel. All’s well that ends well!

You can check out Precious Metals above.

“As a veteran music video director and wannabe filmmaker, it swells my chest with puffy pride to see my son Cage delve into the world of cinematography and excel at it,” Claypool said in a statement. 

“He blows me away with his skill set, perspective, work ethic and ease of collaboration. That’s my boy!!”

• Best basses for metal from Warwick, Schecter, Ibanez and more

NAMM 2021 isn't taking place in the physical realm this year, but you'll find all the hottest January gear launches in our guide to the biggest guitar, amp and pedal releases of 2021 so far.

EMG has introduced a new set of 'Pachyderm Gold' Signature bass pickups for Primus player and bass legend Les Claypool, as well as offering three new finishes for Robert Trujillo's existing set of Rip Tide Jazz pickups.

Based off EMG's PA pickups, the 'Pachyderm Gold' set brings a new, modern aesthetic to the tried-and-true tones of Claypool's preferred set of pickups, which utilizes Alnico 5 magnets to ensure warm and rich tones.

"Short, squat coils" are also included, ensuring a noise-free performance from the Pachyderm's, with a solderless design ensuring a seamless integration into bass guitars.

The EMG Les Claypool 'Paychderm Gold' pickups will be available for $149 when they are released later this year.

Elsewhere, Metallica man Rob Trujillo sees his signature Rip Tipe J pickup set updated with three new Metal Works finishes.

Previously available in only Black Chrome, new finishes include Brushed Black Chrome, Chrome and Brushed Chrome.

Despite these new appearances, the Rip Tide set maintains its original, thick tone that Trujillo has been using since before his Metallica days. Designed for a traditional four-string Jazz Bass, they are also said to be suitable for narrow 5-string basses.

Again, a solderless wiring harness features for an easier installation.

The flashy new Rob Trujillo Rip Tide pickups will be available later this year for $219.

Head over to EMG for more info.

Suspect208, the new band formed by the sons of rock royalty Slash, Robert Trujillo and Scott Weiland, have released their debut single.

The group is made up of 20-year-old frontman Noah Weiland (son of Stone Temple Pilots’ Scott Weiland), 18-year-old London Hudson (son of Guns N’ Roses’ Slash) and Tye Trujillo (son of Metallica’s Robert Trujillo).

Guitar duties, meanwhile, are handled by Niko Tsangaris who, as far as we know, doesn’t have a famous father, but has also performed with London Hudson in Classless Act.

The band’s debut single, Long Awaited, is available now, and certainly recalls the work of Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver, with grungy palm-muted riffs and Weiland’s half-croon-half-yell vocal approach, while Tye Trujillo’s gnarly basslines cut right through the mix.

Based on this evidence, Tsangaris is a guitar star in the making, too, with a wild vibrato and an array of memorable licks.

We can expect more from the band in the forthcoming year, as Hudson proclaimed on Instagram, “We got more shit coming soon!”

Tye Trujillo is no stranger to big gigs, having filled in for Fieldy during a Korn tour back in 2017 – and he was just 12 years old at the time.

It’s become something of a tradition for James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett to perform an electric guitar version of The Star-Spangled Banner before a San Francisco Giants game each year, as part of the annual Metallica Night celebration of the Bay Area band by the Major League Baseball team.

Hetfield and Hammett did it again this year, although given the fact that COVID-19 has prevented fans from attending games, they played the anthem virtually from the confines of Metallica HQ rather than on the field at Oracle Park.

In a pre-game interview, Hammett said of The Star-Spangled Banner, “The thing about the anthem is that musically, it’s not difficult to play, but when you execute it, you have to execute it perfectly, you can’t mess up any notes, because everyone knows that tune.”

Additionally, bassist Robert Trujillo threw out the ceremonial first pitch – in an alley, rather than from the mound.

Back in 2015 Hetfield talked to Bay Area station Live 105 about the Metallica Night tradition, saying, "We are fortunate enough to live in the Bay Area and hook up with the Giants. They are a bunch of local boys doing good and we are hopefully in the same department as that. It's basically a fun night. Local people. Local music."

NAMM 2020: EMG has unveiled three new sets of pickups for metal ahead of this year's show, including the Jim Root signature set, a Robert Trujillo signature bass set and a 57/66-TW Dual Mode set.

The Jim Root Daemonum Signature set has been three years in the making, and has a Retro Active design. Unlike traditional open coil pickups, both the bridge and neck pickups in this set utilize stud poles in both coils. This pickup set can be heard on the entirety of Slipknot's latest album, We Are Not Your Kind.

The Jim Root Daemonum fingerboard pickup uses ceramic studs, giving it ultra-clean high-end sounds, while the bridge pickup has black steel poles and features a ceramic magnet.

Both of the pickups pack custom Retro Active preamps, which are exclusive to this set.

The Robert Trujillo "Rip Tide" set is designed for a traditional 4 string jazz bass, but is also suitable for narrow 5 string basses. Built with stainless steel caps, the set produces Trujillo's dependably beastly tone with a fresh, modern look.

Featuring EMG's solderless wiring harness, the pickups have a standard volume, volume tone setup.

A dual mode version of EMG's decade-old 57/66 set, the new 57/66-TW Dual Mode pickups feature selectable single and dual coil sounds using the company's signature three coil design.

The 66 finger board pickup uses both ceramic and alnico magnets from the single coil position, with the goal of producing cleaner, more straightforward tone. 

The 57 neck pickup, meanwhile, uses a combination of alnico and steel, and is effective in both single and dual coil positions.

The set includes EMG’s solderless wiring harness, with a push pull potentiometer for each pickup along with two standard tone controls. 

EMG's Jim Root signature set, Robert Trujillo signature set and 57/66-TW Dual Mode set are each available in early February for $229, $219 and $269, respectively.

For more info, stop by EMG.

You can have a rock-solid drummer, a perfectly capable guitarist, and a show-stopping frontperson, but when it comes down to it, many would argue that a bassist could make or break a band. After all, would Give It Away be the same without Flea's bombastic bass? What would YYZ sound like without the genius of Geddy Lee? Our guess is not nearly as good. 

So it begs the question: if you could have any (any!) bassist join your dream band, who would that be? Here is our list of low-end juggernauts that could take your band from bars to the big leagues.

Dave Ellefson

Speed is the name of the game with Dave Ellefson, and he can help crank your band’s intensity all the way up to eleven. The Megadeth bassist’s playing is the foundation of the band’s sound, delivering driving bass lines at breakneck speeds that are certain to blow away your audience. Ellefson is a perfect fit for any band looking to push BPMs to the limit, while also starting a few mosh pits here and there.

Geddy Lee

You have to go big or go home when it comes to selecting the right bassist, and nobody embodies this better than Geddy Lee. His pronounced playing style immediately makes itself known; he takes charge while delivering some of rock's most complex and proggy bass lines. Lee is definitely not a bassist who will hide in the shadows - he thrives in the limelight and will make sure you never forget his playing.

Carol Kaye

If you somehow land Carol Kaye in your lineup, you've struck gold. The L.A. studio ace has played on over 10,000 recordings, including timeless works by the Beach Boys, Stevie Wonder, Frank Sinatra and more. Plus, having Kaye as a bandmate could serve a dual purpose - she began her career as a jazz guitarist, so just in case your guitar player isn't cutting it, you're probably covered there, too. Watch Brian Wilson, the musical genius behind the Beach Boys, gush over Kaye in this video.

Victor Wooten 

When it comes to technically precise bass parts overflowing with musical vocabulary, Victor Wooten is your guy. As a member of the genre-blurring supergroup Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, Wooten has proven his virtuosic chops and innovative take on the bass - and having five Grammy awards under his belt wouldn't hurt your band's cred, either.

Les Claypool

We hope your guitarist doesn't mind taking the back seat, because that's likely to happen if Les Claypool joins your band. The propulsive bassist and frontman of Primus is credited for furthering slap bass technique and helping introduce it to hard rock, earning him a rightful place as one of the most respected figures in low-end lore.

Flea

Granted you're ok with a little bit of on-stage nudity, enlisting Flea to your lineup would be no-brainer. A founding member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Flea's first entry into music was playing jazz trumpet. He later picked up bass, fusing hard funk and punk with his own melodic adventurousness to approach the instrument in an entirely new way.

Geezer Butler

The word “legend” gets thrown around a lot, but Geezer Butler is more than worthy of the title. On top of writing some of metal’s most iconic bass lines, Butler was one of the first in the genre to use a wah pedal and implement down-tuning. Plus, he’s responsible for nearly all of Black Sabbath’s Ozzy-era lyrics, so get ready for your band’s songwriting to receive a serious upgrade.

Doug Wimbish

Want a player who will add a little versatility to your sound? Look no further than Doug Wimbish, a bassist with some serious studio experience under his belt. In addition to his time with Living Colour, he’s recorded with everyone from the Rolling Stones and Joe Satriani to Madonna and Billy Idol. No matter what sound your band is shooting for, you just can’t go wrong with having Wimbish on your side.

Robert Trujillo

If you’re looking for heaviness with a hint of funk, give Robert Trujillo a call. His jazz fusion background and love of slap bass shine bright in his work with Suicidal Tendencies and Infectious Grooves. Plus, his preference to tackle Metallica’s catalog without a pick is no small feat, solidifying his place as a thrash titan.

Paul McCartney

As far as rock bassists go, you can't do much better than Paul McCartney. His bass lines stand alone as masterworks, lending brilliant melodicism and counterpoint to any song he graces. And it wouldn't hurt to have a Beatle around to help out in the songwriting department, either.

On July 26 Metallica’s Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo performed with Ugly Kid Joe singer Whitfield Crane, drummer Joey Castillo (Queens of the Stone Age, Danzig) and guitarist Doc Coyle (Bad Wolves, God Forbid) as the Wedding Band. The one-off gig took place at Cosmopolitan Music Hall at the Cosmo Music event in Richmond Hill in Ontario, and saw the group play covers from bands as varied as AC/DC, Black Sabbath and Motorhead to Billy Idol, Chic and Kool & the Gang.

You can check out fan-filmed footage of the Wedding Band’s performance of Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" above and Kool & the Gang’s “Jungle Boogie” below.

Additionally, Hammett's horror exhibit, titled It’s Alive! Classic Horror and Sci-Fi Art from the Kirk Hammett Collection, is being presented now at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. The show runs through January 5, 2020.

Head here for more information. 

As has become standard at Metallica shows on their WorldWired tour, guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo used their co-solo spot on July 6 at Berlin’s Olympiastadion to pay tribute to a local artist—in this case, Berlin’s favorite metal sons, Rammstein.

The two paired up for a rendition of Rammstein’s “Engel,” from their 1997 album, Sehnsucht. Hammett handled the riffs and solos, while Trujillo took on the bass and vocals—though, as is apparent in the above clip, the crowd practically overpowered him in the singing department.

Metallica’s current European WorldWired run wraps August 25 in Mannheim, Germany. 

For more information and a full list of dates, head over to Metallica.com.

Metallica kicked off the newest leg of their ongoing WorldWired tour in Lisbon, Portugal on May 1. The opening night setlist for the newest trek saw the band add several less-played songs to the lineup, including the St. Anger opening track “Frantic,” which was last performed eight years ago at the Fillmore in San Francisco.

You can check out pro-shot video of the performance above.

Metallica’s current European WorldWired run wraps August 25 in Mannheim, Germany. 

For more information and a full list of dates, head over to Metallica.com.

Metallica have announced a special, one-off concert with the San Francisco Symphony.

The show—which will take place Friday, September 6—will be the first concert at the city’s Chase Center venue, and will mark the 20th anniversary of the band's 1999 live album, S&M.

“We’re honored to take part in the Grand Opening of the Chase Center in San Francisco as we celebrate the 20th Anniversary of S&M,” the band wrote in an Instagram post. “Join us at what is sure to become a cultural landmark in the Bay Area for S&M².”

S&M—produced by Bob Rock, singer-guitarist James Hetfield, drummer Lars Ulrich and conductor Michael Kamen—was released in November 1999, and was the last Metallica album to feature former bassist Jason Newsted.

A Chase ticket pre-sale is live now, while tickets go on general sale Friday, March 22nd at 10 a.m. PT. You can purchase them at chasecenter.com.

As has become standard at Metallica shows on their WorldWired tour, guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo used their co-solo spot at the March 6 stop at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri, to pay tribute to an artist through one of their signature “doodles.”

Last night, the artist in question was Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour, who was celebrating his 73rd birthday. In recognition of the day, Hammett and Trujillo paired up on a cover of Pink Floyd’s The Wall classic, "Run Like Hell,” with the Metallica men trading off on vocals.

You can check out the performance above.

For all upcoming WorldWired dates, head over to Metallica.com.

As they’ve done on previous legs of the WorldWired tour, Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo used their co-solo spot at last night’s show at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to perform one of their “doodles”—a tribute to a legendary local act from the city or state the band is playing in.

For the Minneapolis gig the two played a snippet of Prince’s 1984 smash, “When Doves Cry,” with Trujillo—and the Target Center audience—on vocals.

Check out the performance below:

Metallica’s current leg of the WorldWired Tour kicked off in Madison, Wisconsin, on September 2. All current tour dates can be found below:

Sept. 6 - Lincoln, NE @ Pinnacle Bank Arena
Sept. 8 - Grand Forks, ND @ Alerus Center
Sept. 11 - Sioux Falls, SD @ Denny Sanford Premier Center
Sept. 13 - Winnipeg, MB @ Bell MTS Place
Sept. 15 - Saskatoon, SK @ SaskTel Centre
Oct. 16 - Milwaukee, WI @ Wisconsin Entertainment and Sport Center
Oct. 18 - Pittsburgh, PA @ PPG Paints Arena
Oct. 20 - State College, PA @ Bryce Jordan Center
Oct. 22 - Charlotte, NC @ Spectrum Center
Oct. 27 - Buffalo, NY @ KeyBank Center
Oct. 29 - Albany, NY @ Times Union Center
Nov. 26 - Las Vegas, NV @ T-Mobile Arena
Nov. 28 - Boise, ID @ Taco Bell Arena
Nov. 30 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Vivint Smart Home Arena
Dec. 2 - Spokane, WA @ Spokane Arena
Dec. 5 - Portland, OR @ Moda Center
Dec. 7 - Sacramento, CA @ Golden 1 Center
Dec. 9 - Fresno, CA @ Save Mart Center
Jan. 18 - Tulsa, OK @ BOK Center
Jan. 20 - Little Rock, AR @ Verizon Arena
Jan. 22 - Birmingham, AL @ Legacy Arena at The BJCC
Jan. 24 - Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena
Jan. 28 - Raleigh, NC @ PNC Arena
Jan. 30 - Cincinnati, OH @ U.S. Bank Arena
Feb. 1 - Cleveland, OH @ Quicken Loans Arena
Feb. 28 - El Paso, TX @ Don Haskins Center
March 2 - Lubbock, TX @ United Supermarkets Arena
March 4 - Wichita, KS @ Intrust Bank Arena
March 6 - Kansas City, MO @ Sprint Center
March 9 - Louisville, KY @ KFC Yum! Center
March 11 - Indianapolis, IN @ Bankers Life Fieldhouse
March 13 - Grand Rapids, MI @ Van Andel Arena

Earlier this week, during the Polar Music Prize ceremony, Ghost teamed up with Candlemass for a dramatic cover of Metallica's "Enter Sandman." You can check out the cover above.

Lars Ulrich and Robert Trujillo of Metallica, who were being awarded the prize, were on hand to witness the cover themselves. The award was presented to the band by no less than Carl XVI Gustaf, the King of Sweden.

Earlier this week, Ghost—hot on the heels of their new album, Prequelle—announced a massive North American tour. You can check out the dates of the tour below.

For tickets and more information on the band, head on over to ghost-official.com.

Ghost Tour Dates:

• Oct. 26 - Tulsa, OK - Cox Business Center Ballroom
• Oct. 27 - Kansas City, MO - Arvest Bank Theatre at the Midland
• Oct. 29 - Louisville, KY - Palace Theatre
• Oct. 30 - Indianapolis, IN - The Murat Theatre Nov. 01 - Chicago, IL - Aragon Ballroom
• Nov. 02 - Peoria, IL - Peoria Civic Center - Theatre
• Nov. 03 - Madison, WI - The Sylvee
• Nov. 04 - Ames, IA - Stephens Auditorium
• Nov. 06 - Omaha, NE - Orpheum Theater
• Nov. 08 - Albuquerque, NM - Kiva Auditorium
• Nov. 09 - El Paso, TX - Abraham Chavez Theatre
• Nov. 10 - Phoenix, AZ - Comerica Theatre
• Nov. 12 - San Diego, CA - Spreckels Theatre
• Nov. 13 - Sacramento, CA - Sacramento Community Center Theater
• Nov. 15 - San Jose, CA - City National Civic Center
• Nov. 16 - Los Angeles, CA - The Forum
• Nov. 17 - Las Vegas, NV - The Joint
• Nov. 19 - Midland, TX - Wagner Noel Performing Arts Center
• Nov. 20 - Austin, TX - Bass Concert Hall
• Nov. 21 - New Orleans, LA - Orpheum Theatre
• Nov. 23 - Orlando, FL - Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts - Walt Disney Theater
• Nov. 24 - Miami Beach, FL - The Fillmore at Jackie Gleason Theater
• Nov. 25 - Clearwater, FL - Ruth Eckerd Hall
• Nov. 27 - North Charleston, SC - North Charleston Performing Arts Center
• Nov. 29 - Mobile, AL - Saenger Theatre
• Nov. 30 - Atlanta, GA - Roxy Theatre
• Dec. 01 - Jacksonville, FL - Florida Theatre
• Dec. 02 - Charlotte, NC - Ovens Auditorium
• Dec. 04 - Richmond, VA - Dominion Energy Center
• Dec. 05 - Wilkes-Barre, PA - F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts
• Dec. 07 - Laval, QC - Place Bell
• Dec. 08 - Toronto, ON - Sony Centre for the Performing Arts
• Dec. 10 - Baltimore, MD - The Hippodrome
• Dec. 11 - Upper Darby, PA - Tower Theater
• Dec. 13 - Albany, NY - Palace Theatre
• Dec. 14 - Boston, MA - Wang Theatre
• Dec. 15 - Brooklyn, NY - Barclays Center

Throughout the European leg of the band's WorldWired tour, Metallica's Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo have taken to covering a song—during each show's instrumental break—by a local artist. During their show Wednesday night at Oslo, Norway's Telenor Arena, the two chose to pay tribute to a somewhat unlikely Norwegian act, Eighties synth-pop mainstays A-ha.

Now, unless you've managed to spend your entire life in a cave, you've heard A-ha's ubiquitous 1985 hit, "Take On Me," once, twice, or (more likely) a few thousand times. Chances are decent though, that you've never heard it like this.

You can watch the duo's surprisingly faithful cover—which Trujillo introduces by telling the packed crowd "Remember, this is fun, it's a party!"—above.

For more on Metallica and their ongoing WorldWired tour, be sure to follow the band's always-active YouTube channel, MetallicaTV.

Metallica have announced the second North American leg of their WorldWired tour. Taking place this fall, and deep into the following winter, the tour will find the band visiting arenas in 34 cities that they couldn't make it to on the first leg, including some they haven't been to in decades.

• For the first time in nearly 30 years, the band will stop by Grand Forks, North Dakota, with a show at the city's Alerus Center. The band will also visit Birmingham, Alabama, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, El Paso, Texas and State College, Pennsylvania for the first time in two decades. You can see the full itinerary below.

Metallica are currently supporting their 2016 album, Hardwired...to Self Destruct. The band also recently announced a massive reissue of their landmark 1986 album, Master of Puppets, and a reissue of their 1987 covers EP, Garage Days Re-Revisited.

For tickets and more info, stop by metallica.com.

Metallica 2018/2019 North American Tour Dates

September 2 - Madison, WI @ Kohl Center
September 4 - Minneapolis, MN @ Target Center
September 6 - Lincoln, NE @ Pinnacle Bank Arena
September 8 - Grand Forks, ND @ Alerus Center
September 11 - Sioux Falls, SD @ Denny Sanford Premier Center
September 13 - Winnipeg, MB @ Bell MTS Place
September 15 - Saskatoon, SK @ SaskTel Centre
October 16 - Milwaukee, WI @ Wisconsin Entertainment and Sport Center
October 18 - Pittsburgh, PA @ PPG Paints Arena
October 20 - State College, PA @ Bryce Jordan Center
October 22 - Charlotte, NC @ Spectrum Center
October 27 - Buffalo, NY @ KeyBank Center
October 29 - Albany, NY @ Times Union Center
November 26 - Las Vegas, NV @ T-Mobile Arena
November 28 - Boise, ID @ Taco Bell Arena
November 30 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Vivint Smart Home Arena
December 2 - Spokane, WA @ Spokane Arena
December 5 - Portland, OR @ Moda Center
December 7 - Sacramento, CA @ Golden 1 Center
December 9 - Fresno, CA @ Save Mart Center
January 18, 2019 - Tulsa, OK @ BOK Center
January 20, 2019 - Little Rock, AR @ Verizon Arena
January 22, 2019 - Birmingham, AL @ Legacy Arena at The BJCC
January 24, 2019 - Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena
January 28, 2019 - Raleigh, NC @ PNC Arena
January 30, 2019 - Cincinnati, OH @ U.S. Bank Arena
February 1, 2019 - Cleveland, OH @ Quicken Loans Arena
February 28, 2019 - El Paso, TX @ Don Haskins Center
March 2, 2019 - Lubbock, TX @ United Supermarkets Arena
March 4, 2019 - Wichita, KS @ Intrust Bank Arena
March 6, 2019 - Kansas City, MO @ Sprint Center
March 9, 2019 - Louisville, KY @ KFC Yum! Center
March 11, 2019 - Indianapolis, IN @ Bankers Life Fieldhouse
March 13, 2019 - Grand Rapids, MI @ Van Andel Arena

Rob Zombie guitarist John 5 has premiered a cover of the Metallica classic, "Enter Sandman."

The guitarist recorded the cover with his band, The Creatures—Ian Ross on bass and Rodger Carter on drums. You can check it out below.

Speaking to Guitar World earlier this year about the recording of his most recent solo album— the intricate, technical Season of the Witch—the guitarist said “I was like a fighter training for the fight, which is being in the studio.”

"It would be about three weeks of complete and utter training for hours and hours every day of just one song," he continued. "I would get these complicated songs down so well and I would know every single part and every harmony, then go into the studio and knock a song out in about two hours.”

For more on John 5, stop by john-5.com.

Ernie Ball has announced the launch of the “Hetfield + Hammett Experience,” a partnership with longtime Ernie Ball artists and legendary guitarists James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett that will grant three lucky winners the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hang with the guitarists at Metallica Headquarters in San Francisco, CA.

Winners will also take home their choice of a Hetfield or Hammett Signature ESP Guitar as well as an Ernie Ball Prize Pack complete with their favorite gauge of Slinky guitar strings and other prizes. The contest launches today, September 7, and runs through October 31.

“I have to say that HQ is kinda like NASA,” Hammett said. “You need the right credentials to get in, you need to know the right codes to get through the door. There are constantly people around making sure that whoever is there is there for a purpose. It’s pretty tight because it’s like the brain control…the mission control for all things Metallica.”

This is a pretty cool opportunity to get into Metallica’s creative space and see what it is, why it is, and what is in there that inspires us, Hetfield said. “For me, as a fan of other bands, it would’ve been pretty awesome to have shown up in Phil Lynott’s writing space. This is gonna be a very special moment for whoever gets to show up at HQ.”

“To have artists like Kirk Hammett and James Hetfield trust our strings for over 35 years is something the Ernie Ball family is incredibly thankful and proud of,” Ernie Ball President Brian Ball said. “It also means our strings have been along for the epic ride of ‘Seek & Destroy,’ ‘For Whom The Bell Tolls,’ ‘Sad But True’ and many of the band’s biggest hits. We’re excited about this contest and looking forward to connecting the band and a few lucky fans in a special way.”

Fans can enter Ernie Ball’s “Hetfield + Hammett Experience” by purchasing qualifying packs of Ernie Ball Strings at Guitar Center or from Musician’s Friend, then entering the codes found inside the packs at ernieball.com/metallica for a chance to win.

Metallica's James Hetfield was unharmed after a frightening fall during the band's performance Monday night, September 4, in Amsterdam.

Hetfield fell into one of the four trap doors that allowed tables of percussion to be lifted onto the stage from below. After escaping from the trench will the help of some of the band's crew, Hetfield asked the crowd "Is everybody ok?"

"Yes, I'm ok," he continued. "My ego, not so much. But we're fine. Hurt my feelings a little bit."

You can watch fan-shot video of the incident below.

Metallica have announced a massive reissue of their 1986 album, Master of Puppets. The album has been comprehensively remastered, and will be available in various digital and physical configurations.

The Master of Puppets reissue will be available physically on November 10 as a Standard LP, Standard CD, 3 CD Expanded Edition, and Limited Edition Deluxe Box Set and digitally as a Standard CD (available to stream and download), a 3 CD Expanded Edition (available for download only), and a Digital Deluxe Box Set (available for streaming and download).

The Expanded Edition will include previously unreleased demos, rough mixes, interviews, live tracks, and a 28-page booklet. The Limited Edition Deluxe Box Set will include a 108-page hardcover book including never before seen photos, outtakes and previously unreleased interviews, three LPs, ten CDs, a cassette, two DVDs, a lithograph, a folder with handwritten lyrics, and a set of six buttons.

Master of Puppets was originally released on March 3, 1986, on Elektra Records and went on to become the first Metallica album to be certified Platinum by the RIAA. The album has been certified 6x Platinum in the United States and has sold over 10 million copies worldwide.

The reissue is available for pre-order now. You can pre-order it here.

Those who pre-order the standard album will receive an instant download of "Disposable Heroes (Remastered)". Those who pre-order the expanded or deluxe editions will receive an instant download of "Disposable Heroes (Remastered)" and "The Thing That Should Not Be (Live at the Aragon Ballroom, Chicago, IL - May 25th, 1986)".

Below, you can watch Metallica frontman James Hetfield unbox the reissue, and check out the tracklist for the 3-disc expanded edition of the remaster.

3 CD Expanded Edition Tracklist

DISC ONE: MASTER OF PUPPETS (REMASTERED)

1. Battery (Remastered) (5:12)
2. Master of Puppets (Remastered) (8:35)
3. The Thing That Should Not Be (Remastered) (6:36)
4. Welcome Home (Sanitarium) (Remastered) (6:27)
5. Disposable Heroes (Remastered) (8:16)
6. Leper Messiah (Remastered) (5:40)
7. Orion (Remastered) (8:27)
8. Damage, Inc. (Remastered) (5:32)

DISC TWO: RIFFS, DEMOS, ROUGH MIXES & INTERVIEWS
Previously Unreleased

Battery (Early June 1985 Demo) (4:42)
Master of Puppets (Late June 1985 Demo) (8:21)
The Thing That Should Not Be (September 1985 Drum Room Demo) (6:22)
Welcome Home (Sanitarium) (Late June 1985 Demo) (9:02)
Disposable Heroes (May 1985, Writing in Progress II) (5:42)
Leper Messiah (1985, from James' Riff Tapes II) (0:56)
Orion (November 1985, Work in Progress Rough Mix) (8:23)
Damage, Inc. (1985, from James' Riff Tapes) (1:55)
The Money Will Roll Right In (Work in Progress Rough Mix) (2:58)
The Prince (Work in Progress Rough Mix) (4:50)
Metal Madness Magazine Interview with Cliff (19:30)

DISC THREE: LIVE FROM THE DAMAGE, INC. TOUR
Previously Unreleased

Metallica has released a 12-minute video chronicling the recording and creation of "N.W.O.B.H.M. A.T.M.," a track that would later morph into Hardwired... To Self-Destruct's "Atlas, Rise!"

Shot by the folks over at MetallicaTV, the video shows the song's evolution essentially from the ground up; from Hetfield and Ulrich trying to assemble disconnected ideas into a song map, to Ulrich working on drum fills for the song, to the recording of Hetfield's vocals.

While Hetfield is recording his vocals, he mentions that some of the song's lyrics were inspired by the classic 1984 horror film, Children of the Corn. He even reveals that the line "Wish 'em to the undertaker" is, in fact, a bit of a shoutout to pro wrestler The Undertaker.

You can watch this neat video, and then see the final result—the official music video for "Atlas, Rise!"—below.

Metallica have announced that they will livestream their performance tonight at the Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton in Alberta, Canada, the final North American show of their current "WorldWired” tour.

The stream will be available for viewing both on a webcast website the band created, and on the band's YouTube channel.

"What a summer!! Thank you to some of the craziest, most passionate, intense avid fans on the planet!! This has been another memorable and special summer run for us seeing so many new faces along with lots of old friends as you welcomed us back for our first tour of North America in over eight years," read a statement on Metallica's website.

"As we near the end, we want to share one more evening with all of you by streaming the final night of the WorldWired North American tour live, this Wednesday, August 16th, from Edmonton."

You can view the stream yourself at 8:45PM Mountain Time (10:45PM ET / 9:45PM CT / 7:45PM PT).

Metallica’s MetOnTour video crew have shared footage of the band’s July 19 show at Parc Jean-Drapeau in Montréal. Below you can see their pro-shot footage of the band playing "Motorbreath," a highlight of their incindeary 1983 debut, Kill 'Em All.

Metallica is currently wrapping up its North American tour, with a handful of remaining dates on the West Coast and Canada. They will then spend the fall embarking on an extensive tour of Europe.

When discussing the tour with Rolling Stone, drummer Lars Ulrich said that the band was humbled by the immense crowds they’ve drawn throughout the past year. “It was like, 'Holy fuck, people really still care about this band in ways that you stopped taking for granted literally decades ago.' It was very inspiring and kind of eye-opening."