Cliff Burton - style & technique

[ReMmy]

a snippet from the latest BP Mag describing "Battery":
Harmonically, Cliff tips off his awareness of the greater musical picture with just four notes of the line. The guitars and bass are essentially in single-note/power-chord unison the whole time except for the last three eighth-notes of bar 2 and the first eighth of bar 3, where the guitars play E minor 3rds as follows: E-G, E-G, D#-F#, EG. Burton takes this opportunity to emphasize each interval’s minor 3rd, G-G-F#-G, in the lowest register possible, propelling the riff in a subtle but effective way. That stuff didn’t happen by accident; Cliff was a classically trained pianist, and his knowledge of theory—combined with his fearsome bass technique and windmill-headbanging— helped shape Metallica into the multi-platinum monster it eventually became.
While i detatched my intense love for The Metallicas since "Load" (or somewhere around then), there early stuff still absolutely floors me...

[ReMmy]

Originally Posted by jonly

if only cliff could be resurrected as easily as his thread...

hahahahahahaha! 2005!

[cosmicevan]

cliff is the sole reason i started playing bass. my tastes have drastically changed since then, but none-the-less he's the reason i picked up the bass and not the guitar some 17 years ago.

[sonic assassin]

you want to have a good understanding of the rhythm guitar and drum line. there was a lot of power chords going on. at the breakneck speeds, cliff often touched on the 3rd voicing of the chord because the rhythm guitar wasnt.

take a line in Em that is E, D, C, B. he would somewhere touch on E and G to establish that its an Em. the C is major, so he could find an E in there while the guitar is on C. this has established C major.

to some its a matter of playing by hear and what sounds good, but he knew what he was doing from playing piano.

often times he would just sit back in the mix and cop the rhythm guitar to make the guitars sound huge. its been brought to the worlds attention lately that he didnt always play triplets with the guitars. sometimes less is more.

another trait of cliff is following that greasy mook lars ulrich. they had to be on lock, and lars never pulled his weight. you have to know your drummer and all his shortcomings (no pun intended).

another fun cliff move is to not hang on a long chord/note. the 4 horsemen is a good example "horsemen are drawing nearer.. leather seats they ride". subtly in the back at the end of the passage you hear him ascend the scale and back into the first note.

one thing ive noticed is that he doesnt tend to hang on 5ths as much as i feel like a metal bassist would. i could be wrong, but i dont hear as much of it as i feel like i should. i know i do it a hell of a lot in a dense rock mix.

[kcamsdog1387]

Originally Posted by sonic assassin

to some its a matter of playing by hear and what sounds good

Wow, i think my whole theory on bass up until a year or so ago was just summed up in one sentence.

[makanudo]

His style was unique, he was the heart and soul of metallica, he got them where they are now, he influenced many etc, i think he was a very cool person and a very good musician, he has been missed since that sad september day, but at least he is rocking with dimebag..

[makanudo]

Originally Posted by \m/cliffB\m/

u no all that stuff is re recorded by another band to put in to the game its not the original

No, it is the actual master track (In GH:MetallicA i mean)

[Mad Russian]

Love Cliff as well. Who says he didn't use chordal tones? Go to Youtube search for "For whom the bell tolls master bass track". Much of the verse he use octave chords - sounds very cool.

[mizmor]

Originally Posted by makanudo

No, it is the actual master track (In GH:MetallicA i mean)

Are they getting the individual tracks for GH? You can't solo tracks once they have been mixed and mastered.

[\m/cliffB\m/]

i started cuz of cliff and he still is like amzeing to me

[makanudo]

Originally Posted by mizmor

Are they getting the individual tracks for GH? You can't solo tracks once they have been mixed and mastered.

Yes you do, James himself said they were looking for the master tracks of the Kill Em All songs in the game and they found them in some garage or old studio.

So yeah, it really is the original track

[Raven2k360]

I didn't start because of Cliff, but Anesthesia is one of the first songs I started trying to learn (still working on it, but only because I don't practice regularly) and is to this day one of my all-time favorite songs. I will say, however, that because of Cliff, it's prompted me to learn more about musical theory. Say what you want, but I still believe that Burton is one of the baddest bassists ever.

[MusicBokonon]

Originally Posted by Raven2k360

...I still believe that Burton is one of the baddest bassists ever.

Baddest in the good way right?

[Raven2k360]

But of course -- I use proper grammar...LOL!

[kingbolterz]

For me it was always Cliff's attitude that really mad me dig him, just how he always seemed to just be himself as a bassist and not really imitate anyone else, and you can tell from any of those old Metallica videos that he just really had an unbelievable passion for playing. When I was first starting out my Metallica obsessed guitarist friend put on For Whom the Bell Tolls off the Cliff 'em All dvd and I just thought WOW! thats how ya play bass!