The vocal range of James Hetfield
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- Опубликовано: 6 июл 2024
- Known for his chesty belting style and his tendency to end every word on an "ah" vowel, James Hetfield's vocals as frontman of Metallica have made him quite famous across the world over the last 30 years. However, it's seldom recognized that he actually has a pretty decent vocal range as well, mainly because he doesn't make a habit of singing as high as many other metal singers. Nonetheless, over the course of his career, he's developed a very solid lower register, and definitely has a fantastic fourth octave range that he demonstrates regularly. What he lacks is a strong fifth octave, but he has certainly proven himself capable of going up there on occasion. It's also notable that he has experienced some very extreme vocal changes over the course of his career, as he had a MUCH higher voice when Metallica started out. Personally, I was a fan of his tone on the early Metallica albums, but I think his best vocal work is from the 1990s onward, after his voice settled and he gained a richer, more mature tone. Therefore, this video is mostly geared towards that era, though he definitely had his share of good notes in his early days as well.
1. 0:00 - First we have a nice demonstration of both ends of Hetfield's range from “Cure” - strong A4s and a B♭4 in the main vocal, and sustained E♭2s in the second vocal. We'll be hearing more from this song later in the video.
2. 0:29 - The climactic final chorus of Metallica's “Loverman” cover, with lots of VERY powerful sustained F♯4s. Great performance by the entire band here!
3. 1:16 - The classic chorus of “Nothing Else Matters”, featuring some of Hetfield's signature singing up to G4.
4. 1:43 - Some emotional singing up to G♯4 from “Bleeding Me”.
5. 2:18 - Great sustained A4s from Metallica's cover of "Sabbra Cadabra", tuned a major third lower than the original. Those who have seen my vocal range video for Ozzy Osbourne may recognize this passage from there!
6. 2:45 - Some impressive singing up to B♭4 from the “Stargazer” portion of Metallica's “Ronnie Rising Medley”. Though Hetfield omits some of the top notes from the original, he handles the songs in this medley quite well!
7. 3:09 - An epic sustained B4 from "The Unforgiven III"!
8. 3:27 - A powerful chesty C5 from “Some Kind of Monster”. This is one note that I've never heard Hetfield successfully hit live.
9. 3:50 - A clean C♯5 from a 2012 performance of “Hit the Lights”. Nowadays, Hetfield sings this note in just about every performance of the song.
10. 4:04 - A slide up to a clean sustained E♭5 from a 2013 performance of “No Remorse”! Easily one of his best fifth octave notes.
11. 4:18 - Now jumping back a few decades, we have a raw false cord scream from a 1988 performance of “Battery”. Pitch is F5.
12. 4:27 - Some howls up to A5 and B♭5 from a 1998 performance of “The Small Hours”. As far as I've heard, this is ultimately the top of Hetfield's consistently usable range.
13. 4:53 - Now for a big surprise - a piercing A6 whistle scream from a 1982 performance of “Hit the Lights”! It would appear this was a complete one-off, though, as I've never heard Hetfield hit controlled sixth octave notes anywhere else since.
14. 5:02 - Now we start off the lows section with some easy singing down to C♯3 from a 2012 performance of “The Judas Kiss”, played a half step lower than the studio version.
15. 5:22 - A nicely sustained C3 from “Sweet Amber”, followed by some G4s.
16. 5:44 - Some warm and relaxed singing down to B2 from “Mama Said”, with a couple of short G♯2s too.
17. 6:10 - Some dark singing around B♭2 from “The Unnamed Feeling”
18. 6:47 - Strong melody singing down to B2 and G♯2 from “The Unforgiven II”.
19. 7:22 - The opening verse of “Low Man's Lyric”, with lots of strong singing around G♯2, several short F♯2s and one F2. Easily one of Hetfield's best songs for low notes!
20. 8:07 - Some beefy low talk-singing from “Cure”, reaching numerous notes in the F♯2/F2 area, getting down to E♭2 at one point as well. Also features some higher singing up to F♯4.
21. 8:41 - Some very strong E2s from "All Nightmare Long".
22. 8:52 - The finale of “King Nothing”, featuring a belted G♯4, a solid E♭2, and a short B♭2 at the very end.
23. 9:19 - A clip from the Some Kind of Monster documentary where Hetfield casually sings a run from a falsetto C♯5 down to a solid C♯2. Great range demonstration!
24. 9:28 - Strong chanted C2s from "Some Kind of Monster". Nice display of three octaves in this song!
25. 9:46 - A haunting spoken passage from “Loverman”, bottoming at A1 - Hetfield's lowest note to date! Unfortunately, he has never recorded any real singing this low, but it sounds like he definitely could if he tried.
26. 10:15 - Now to close off, we have the ending chorus of “Hate Train”, featuring melody singing up to B4, some easy G4 singing, and another climactic sustained B4 at the very end! 
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Great, great analysis! Thanks for sharing! James is a perfect example of how a singer progresses, can't recall a better one.
Andriy Vasylenko hi frrriend
frrriend indeed
Very underrated vocalist - love that gruff sound he has, and not to forget that he plays extremely fast rhythm guitar while doing all this.
+Timliu92 not underrated at all.......
He is a great vocalist but I rarely hear people talk about his vocal skills compared to his rhythm guitar (which is amazing lol). :D
he's actually pretty underrated as a singer. For me he's up there toghether with Ozzy, for example, and Ozzy's not a great singer. Ozzy's more iconic than great technically speaking. It's all about charisma in the voice and James has it.
plus james is fucking awesome live!! he dominates the crows all the time!!
He means underrated as a singer (vocalist) when he actually is pretty good.He can reach some really high notes and also has a deep and low voice when he sings ballads.
4:55 That A6 is crazy
4:22 I remember finding that concert on RUclips and being blown away by that random and powerful scream. It really sounded like he could have held the note even longer if he wanted to.
i always thought that this scream would be the best scream that james hetfield did in his entire life. it gives me chills.
He can still do it ...... Did u know that?
+Bryan HDGaming how?
FearLess3431 I saw a few hit the lights screams and in other songs like sad but true (Live 2012,2013,2015,2010) so He can still do it it's just he doesn't want to screw it up again
Bryan HDGaming it's not the same as battery scream.
i didn't realize james could sing like that!
@@bryantham11 Now It's been 8 years since that comment, how do you feel about it? lol
I wish I could meet James in person and play 4:55 for him just to see his reaction, and to see if he remembers it
Late response sorry, in a Kill 'em All anniversary he was talking about his vocals during that era you should check it out!
Gabriel Ledezma link?
3:44 EPIC
His best album vocally is Death Magnetic. He has passion throughout, good energy, and never sounds like he struggles to hit high notes, like that B4 in Unforgiven III. It really shows off how strong of a singer he is.
Eye of The Beholder is also very hard to sing. I agree, Death Magnetic was the hardest to sing in scale, but ...And Justice For All required the biggest amount of effort.
His best album vocally is garage inc imo(the 1998-1999) era. His performance on loverman is incredible
I would say Load Magnetic was Autotuned
@@thedancingguy828 Load and Reload weren't because they were recorded before autotune became a thing, but I feel certain parts of DM may have been.
@@AniW2x4 i know i Just forgot the ,
holy crap, that A6 was axl rosey like
Another example of James' impressive screaming is on the demo for "Disposab Heroes" when the "I was born for dying!!" part comes up he holds it for a good few seconds
4:08 Amazing
Awesome post bro, thanks!
4:53 wtf
that was the "fuck yeah" most weird i ever heard
It’s like he hit puberty XD
The widest voice crack ever
He was 19.... Puberty??
Love that whooo does at the end of sad but true in S&M
Damn that fuck you was crazy.
People: wow! A6!
Me: fuck! A killer Bb4!
I love how you included some great, often-overlooked songs, especially one from Beyond Magnetic, an orgasmic EP. You should have used the studio version of The Judas Kiss, though! He sings an octave lower in that section than in the live recording.
4:06 very nice
That Ronnie Medley was awesome!!
Underrated metal vocalist
Update this and take hardwired to self-destruct into consideration
F#4 is generally what I hear him sing the most live
4:04 - E Flat 5 are you kidding James?
Perfect metal voice on "Ride... "
You should put the performance of In my Life, where he uses falsetto at the end
I would love to find this version. Any chance you could link it in?
+Ivan Matias Isasi Astigarraga you mean beatles cover ?
FearLess3431
yes, that cover
C5
Holyyyy shit some cleeaaannn Eb5’s wowww did not expect that. He probably could have used that register if he wanted to incredible and underrated vocalist
This is actually amazing. I've been wondering what his vocal range is!
I feel like his voice has gotten better over time
4:04 No me esperaba eso😱😱😱
I’m glad you added his vocal warm ups 😂😂😂
"FUCK YAAAAAAAU"
Really thought James was just the Golden Standard for metal singing but now I realize he truly is a special singer in it of itself
4:23 😍
The highest note I can hit is an E4, this man is insanely talented.
The A1 is vocal fry and I'm pretty sure the C2 is as well. Still great singer :) C#2 is great for a baritone.
+misukiy Lambertson Well the fifth octave notes aren't all full voice either, but i was focusing more on his overall range than what's fry/full/falsetto etc for this video. I tend to find that a singer's ability to use certain notes in controlled melody lines is more important than what register they choose to hit them in, personally :)
Tarantinomaniac I think fry shouldn't really count for anyone doe :0
I dunno man, there's some pretty controlled fry notes out there. I think any register should count as long as it's controlled and solid enough to be used as part of a melody line.
Tarantinomaniac I can vocal fry to B0, it really shouldn't count
If you can control it, it should. There's a fine line between controlled fry that can be used for actual singing, and just pure gurgles.
4:56 Holy shit!
4:55 um James please elaborate
4:06 from here, he began quietly to take a second octave. Although still the timbre of a baritone, don't sing.
I feel like singers like Robert Plant do that and what happens is they skip over the vocal break
But see I can do that but the problem is I wanna do head voice but I keep doing that and seeing as you know some terms anyway you could help me?
I wonder how high he could've gone in the 80's if he really fucking pushed it and how low he can nowdays.... Still, he does a great fucking job singing like this and playing at the same time!
give us all the notes on the Unforgiven III performance from S&M :-)
I don’t know what my vocals would be. I have a deep voice but they kinda sound like a mixture between master of puppets james and justice
Ryan Thistle Same,lol :)
I am not sure if that is an a6 (sounds more like a very sharp a5 bit who gives).
He's lucky, I'm forced to sing A#4 on Ozzy - Over the mountain.
So a lot of the fourth octaves are when he really pushes up. Where do the other parts of those song land? At the top of the 3rd octave?
I am a vocal bass . Can I Sing The Low notes of James Hetfield?
Well James is a baritone, and if you're a bass then it means you can sing his lower notes much easier.
What subcategory of Baritone is he? Lyric? Dramatic?
@@SamuelBoy1991 verdi baritone or dramatic tenor
His full vocal range is Eb1-A6(5 octaves and 4 notes),his Singing range is C2-Bb5(3 octaves and 5 notes)
I dont care what anyone says. Kill em all has the best vocals from James. Ofc ajfa is a very very very very close second
0;29 I don't understand that part , when i try to sing here i feel like it's the same note and same octave but when i open my "DaTuner" app in my phone it says its a F#3.I can't even go above D4 with my chest voice and i have a almost higher voice than Hetfield.can someone help me ?
Devrim Odabaşı probably something wrong with your tuner
Devrim Odabaşı That's because this video lists a few notes in the wrong octave. Your tuner is most likely correct
do you think that was a F#3 ? it looks like that when i go to my piano
Devrim Odabaşı As someone with perfect pitch, I can tell you that it is indeed an F#3
"The vocal range of Peter Steele" is blocked in my country. Would anyone be kind enough to send me it?
I don’t know if I’m too late but
ruclips.net/video/RLfa5V0uF-Q/видео.htmlsi=CnK1SXPv4oXRp4FE
Can he legit sing A1? Was that chest voice?
Bah its vocal fry, isnt countable
no hit the lights 2009 at sonisphere? disappointing
Dark Tenor or Light Baritone ?
Spinto tenor
What about the end of "The House Jack Built?" How low does he get on that?
jill wojahn Maybe a low octave Eb
jill wojahn Yes, it's around Eb1 in vocal fry.
+jill wojahn It's practically pure gurgle. Not a very controlled note.
Tarantinomaniac It sounded like pure fry to me.
Exactly. Not something I'd count as part of his range, personally.
Can anyone tell me what kind of baritone he is? As in lyric baritone, dramatic baritone, verdi baritone, etc etc?
S S I was wondering the same. I don’t think he’s a Lyric as his vocal weight is too heavy, but I don’t think it’s heavy enough to be a Dramatic. I say a Kavalier or a Verdi as he’s in between (like Matt Heafy from Trivium), but not a Dramatic Baritone (like Aaron Stainthorpe from My Dying Bride), or even a Bass-baritone (like Ville Valo from HIM).
Baritenor
@@joewasikowski4426 either kavilier baritone or spinto tenor
Is early James Hetfield a tenor or high baritonr
@@Nictric1 light lyric tenor
How about making videos of other singers' vocal range instead of doing the same ones over and over lol. It's good though, don't get me wrong.
In the end,how many octaves can he sing
Danilo Bajic around 2.8
5
he can't sing 5, he has a uncontrolled and unbelievably strained A6, that's it. His highest sung note is Eb5.
His last audible note is around C2.
3 octaves, 2 notes and 1 semitone.
so his vocal range is 4 octave,right?
5
I'd say 24
But then again, I'm no singer :)
no, that a6 (if it was one that is and not a screechy a5) it was a one time thing and then shortly after that broke his voice.
Well yes and no because if we are counting it over time then yes but since the human voice changes and you lose notes and also James taking alot of vocal damage he lost alot of abilities with his voice like on from kill em all through master of puppets he was a tenor but idk why changed his voice on and justice for all kept that style for the black album and blew his voice out which we can hear on load where his voice sounds very flat and low which is the style he uses now
Hetfield is good at what he does, which is singing in monotones and ending every word in an "ah" sound. His vocal range is around 3 octaves, which is about average. Definitely nothing special as far as vocal ability goes. He sounds great with Metallica, but in my opinion doesn't even make the top 25 impressive vocalists in hard rock/metal. Halford, Dio, Dickenson, Tate, Ozbourne, Gillan, Coverdale, Draiman, all have a much greater range. Halford has twice the range at 6 octaves (To be fair, Halford is a bit of a freak of nature and really is in his own class for range and ability to transition through that range).
What are you talking about. He should at least be in the top 10
Andy Cavassa What you said is true but almost none of the singers you have mentioned play rhythm guitar along with singing that too with thunderous down picking!
shut up
Almost nobody has a voice as powerful as James, listen to any Metallica concert from between 1988-1993 and you'll understand what I mean.
Actually Halford has around 4 octaves.
Well, you just showed us why nobody realizes his vocal range. Because his best performances come on albums that are pure shit!
Max Durk Load and ReLoad aren't shit. If you don't appreciate them, that's one thing, but it's some of the best work Metallica has ever done.
+Shiny McShine I am not a huge fan of Load and ReLoad, but James really sings well in that album.
Man in Rising Medley he use autotune.....
CLEARLY LISTEN
Old James actually have a better melody in his vocal, young james is pretty monotone, just try to listen to every album before Load
YOu tell ME..............about Metallica man?
Ha ha..........go wash some dishes man......!!!
Dave is better on vocals than sell out boys...
Yeah right, Hetfield in his day could whisper more powerfully than Dave’s best scream.
he's an inspiration,but he's not terrific
....
THRASHFKINFILLETS you sir are getting a thumbs down!
6 octaves... can you name another singer with a range that wide?
+crazychicken523 A1-C6
+Den Qwerty A1-A6*