Gary Holt, Exodus guitarist and former Slayer member, has let the world in on a big industry secret: "Everybody cheats" at downpicking — including Metallica's James Hetfield, who's commonly regarded as the greatest downpicker in metal history.
Holt unveiled this revelation during a recent conversation with Anthrax's Scott Ian and Zakk Wylde (Ozzy Osbourne, Pantera, Black Label Society) for Guitar World. At one point, the interviewer mentioned that all three axmen are masters of the downpicking technique — the act of repetitively and nimbly strumming downward, which is crucial to shaping the lightning-fast riffs that define thrash-metal.
However, the interviewer also references one of Holt's guitar-instruction tuitionals in which he supposedly admitted that he mixes in other, non-downpicking notes when he plays a song like Exodus' "Verbal Razors" live today, removing some of the downpicks that exist on the original 1989 recording.
"Everybody cheats," Holt emphasized. "Even [Metallica's] James Hetfield cheats now ... I've seen it enough times! If he's doing a savage downpick section and then he throws in a 'brrrp' [motions descending slide], then that 'brrrp' is there for a reason. It allows you to lose a couple of notes."
"It's okay to take a nice little breather," Wylde adds, affirming Holt's assertion that guitarists won't play the exact number of downpicks that they recorded on a given song.
Holt goes on to say that in his case, the "cheating" serves a function.
"It's become really hard for me after battling this chronic tennis elbow in both arms," Holt said of his ability to downpick. "Towards the end of Slayer, I was getting so many cortisone injections I couldn't even count them. It turns your tendons into mush!
"I have a friend who is a San Francisco Giants hand surgeon and he saw my MRI and said I might need Tommy John Surgery. I couldn't play anymore. I'd play for 10 minutes and my arms would lock up. I've been through therapy and don't have any injections anymore, so I'm good now, but downpicking is harder than it used to be. Age catches up!"
"But I'm grateful I'm still playing every day and playing injection-free," Holt added. "I need my sound to be really good and then I can ride. If I have to cheat a little more on downpicking because of it, so be it."
