{"id":632507,"date":"2026-09-22T14:20:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T14:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/632507\/"},"modified":"2026-09-22T14:20:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T14:20:11","slug":"metallicas-james-hetfield-on-tony-iommi-and-the-black-sabbath-riff-that-shaped-his-playing-he-is-the-riff-lord","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/632507\/","title":{"rendered":"Metallica\u2019s James Hetfield on Tony Iommi and the Black Sabbath riff that shaped his playing: \u201cHe is the riff lord\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

James Hetfield has named Tony Iommi<\/a> as the single biggest influence on his rhythm guitar playing and songwriting \u2014 and pointed specifically to Black Sabbath\u2019s \u201cChildren of the Grave\u201d as a masterclass in riff<\/a> construction.<\/p>\n

\u201cTony Iommi is the riff lord, in my mind, and he is the one that has inspired me the most out of any guitar player for my rhythm guitar playing and songwriting,\u201d Hetfield says in the latest episode of James Hetfield\u2019s Riff Life<\/a> on SiriusXM\u2019s Maximum Metallica.<\/p>\n

Discussing \u201cChildren of the Grave,\u201d Hetfield breaks down what makes Iommi\u2019s playing so effective, from the song\u2019s central electric guitar<\/a> riff to the way the guitarist uses chords, percussion and effects to expand its sound.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Kirk\n<\/p>\n

Kirk Hammett and Hetfield talk with Iommi at Black Sabbath\u2019s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, March 13, 2006 (Image credit: KMazur\/WireImage)<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, Tony is the riff lord and everyone starts the song together on the one riff,\u201d he says. \u201cTony plays off that riff, goes in to hit the big giant chords, which opens the song up. I really love the drum overdub that they did to help with that percussion of the riff and the real cool ghostly guitar sounds at the very, very end.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Hetfield\u2019s admiration for Iommi is hardly surprising. Metallica took up the mantle of heavy metal\u2019s original architects when they emerged in the 1980s, with Black Sabbath\u2019s influence running throughout the band\u2019s music. Iommi acknowledged that lineage in 2024, saying it was \u201cbrilliant to hear about other musicians liking what I\u2019d done, taking the same kind of idea and improving on it, evolving it into their own sound.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n

\"James\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Kevin Mazur\/Getty Images for SiriusXM)<\/p>\n

Metallica made that connection especially clear at Black Sabbath\u2019s star-studded \u201cBack to the Beginning<\/a>\u201d farewell show last year, performing \u201cJohnny Blade\u201d from Sabbath\u2019s 1978 album Never Say Die! \u2014 a deeper cut rather than one of the band\u2019s most obvious classics.<\/p>\n

Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett<\/a> has been equally emphatic about what Black Sabbath\u2019s four original members mean to heavy music. Reflecting on the band\u2019s influence ahead of the farewell show, he said:<\/p>\n

All the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox!<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it wasn\u2019t for those four guys, man, we might still be just kind of like wandering around in the dark. But the fact that they created a genre \u2014 not only created it, but then developed it and then turned it into like a few different things over the course of their career \u2014 is completely awe inspiring to me and my peers musically.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"James Hetfield has named Tony Iommi as the single biggest influence on his rhythm guitar playing and songwriting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":632508,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[93,61,60,278],"class_list":["post-632507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632507\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/632508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}