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37 - One (Metallica) · Barracuda Breakdowns

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, we're gonna do a full breakdown of Metallica's epic song one off And Justice for All.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: I've never seen the movie or read the novel, but um I know the song and let's dive into it.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so just before we dive into like all the music theory and everything, I love how the song obviously it's like Metallica Stairway to Heaven, right?
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: It starts off with like the choppers and like the gunfire, but it starts off with like clean and then it like ends up like super epic and really heavy, okay?
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: But in the clean section, like the first half of the song, I love how it's not just like D minor, it's not just like melancholic and sad.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: It has a beautiful counterpart to it, which is revolves around D major.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna get to all this, but I just love how they have like beauty in this.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of like the departure of life, you know, it's like the ascension.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I just love how they incorporate that.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: Let's dive in.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: So we got the iconic intro riff, which revolves around B minor.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: And if you need an anchor for the perfect fifth, that there it is right there.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's like Star Wars.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: So many songs have this interval, and then it goes and that's the minor third.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: So right away the riff is like really establishing B minor because we're doing like the root, the fifth, and the minor third, and that's a minor triad right there.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like it can't get any more minor than that.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: And then it goes, and that's the sixth chord, alright?
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: I always talk about the deep and dark six chord.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: So in the context of B minor, it's one, two, three, four, five, six.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: That's G major, and that's what he's outlining there.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: But I love that by the time he goes, that's like a major seven interval, so it sounds like kinda like heavenly.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's like beautiful.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: Such a simple riff, but so effective.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: And then that's a high G, same thing as just a low octave.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: Forward movement really propels you forward.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: And then I love this, the seven chord that really opens things up.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of like a major kind of lip, it's like a bright kind of movement right there.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: And then we sink down to and then live, James Headfield likes to go.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: And then we get this.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: I love that it's just boom boom boom.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's like an extra two beats because we're in 4-4.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: And then it goes like we're so we're 4-4, but that extra It's really nice.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's just like comes out of nowhere.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's very metallica to do that, like add beats here and there.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Really cool.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: So that's outlining He's outlining the minor four and the minor fifth.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's very subtle, just you know, it's just part of the riff, but that's essentially the notes he's covering.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: E is the four in the context of B minor, and then the F sharp is the fifth.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: So and then right here, Kurt Hammett's first out of three solos in the song.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: All three solos are incredible, okay?
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: Perfectly crafted melodically.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: So we got and just again, just outlining B minor, he's pretty much down here, right?
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: He's like kind of playful right there.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: And he's playing uh over the B minor to G, the same progression as the intro.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: Watch.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: That's so beautiful.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: He's playing the major third of that chord, so it sounds sweet.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, but that part is it's uh and then that's just climbing down the B minor scale.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: I love the slight polmution of the D string, and then back to those notes.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: I love it as a slight and then we got I love the space that Kurt Hamma gives.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: Oh man, like Jesus.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: That's a rake, four string rake.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: That's like a prime all-time curk like right there.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: And then we'll get to that.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: Here we go.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: After he does the and then down here.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Love the climbing of the B minor scale before we were going down with a Alright, but here he's like there's like hope.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: But it's still melancholic, and I love these like staircases right here.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: This is like still heaven right here.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: Right, he's like And then live, he's like And then we get Okay, now this part is really cool because the drums have already entered, right?
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like Lars entered halfway through the solo.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Really nice.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: And the drums are there.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: What a sound, right?
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: Let's stop for a second and talk about the sound of Injustice for All.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, there's no bass infamously.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: There's no bass on the record.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: I think it was like a the trauma response to losing Cliff, and then once they got Jason Newstead, they like just turned him way down.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: I know it was largely a large uh decision to do that, but I will say that the sound of Injustice for All is super unique, right?
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: Just like the aggression, like the mid-range strength of the guitars and the drums, like the the snare and the kick is like it's so in your face.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's very like large and James heavy, right?
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: And then like her lead tone is awesome throughout the album.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: I actually really dig the uniqueness of the Injustice for all sound, despite there not being a bass.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: Like the low end then gets dominated by like the kick and the snare in the guitars.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: But I digress.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: So we've been in 4-4 this whole time, besides those little those little 2 beat uh additions.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: But then after the solo, we go to 3-4, and it's not 6-8, it's 3-4.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: We go.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: Look at that.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: I love how they morph the riff to this like 3-4 situation going on here, right?
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's the same riff as before, it's just now we're in 3-4 and we're adding the And then we get this gorgeous.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so this is when what I was mentioning earlier, like the beautiful counterpart in this first half of the song, we like ascend into like the beauty of like the afterlife or something like that, right?
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's like, I'm sure after you die, there must be some sort of like just like ascension that happens, right?
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: So now we're in D major, which is just the relative major of B minor.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of songs go from like the minor key to the relative major, but it's the way, it's the contrast, the way that they do it after this very like brooding intro, right?
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's so melancholic.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: Back to but but when we have this lift here, it's just it really sticks out, and you're like, whoa, what's going on?
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: Sounds very kind of like a flower, man.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: But check out the guitar parts going on here, right?
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: So we got one guitar going.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: Love that like what so mirror-y, and then okay, so these are the chores that it's outlining.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: So if I'm calling this the new one, you know, it all depends on Roman numerals, is all like based on what are you calling the one.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: So if I was if I were to call this like D major, the the key, right?
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: The key of the song is the major one chord, it would be to the major four chord, which is great, but then right here, that's really nice.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: We do F major, F major is not in D major or B minor, right?
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's the minor three chord, because in D major, you need that major third, but they're playing, they're making a major chord out of the minor third.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like kind of melancholic for a second.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: This is a very nice lift with a with the perfect fourth, and then we go and then another fall.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: E minor, that's the minor two chord of D major.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's like it's happy and it's like lifted and still happy, and then wait a second, and then oh man.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: Back to happy, and then I love this.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: And then it goes.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: I can't remember anything.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: That C is such a stark contrast, it like sucks you back into B minor.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's such a nice move.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: But back to the guitar parts, right?
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: So it's going.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: So when that's happening, the acoustic guitar is going.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: Let me grab the acoustic guitar.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: There's actually two acoustic guitar parts.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: So we got right there, right?
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: So there it goes.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, and the other one, the other acoustic guitar part is harmonizing with that, with so I can't really play at the same time, but it's it sounds something like this.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: And then okay.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: And then I can't remember anything.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: I love just like another James Head feel, like beautiful, like little differentiation of the rift to play around, like really add just add variation, like make it, keep it interesting.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: Deep down inside I feel the screen.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: There's that seven chord.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing is real, but play now.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: I love play now.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: Great.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: Let me get my electric.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_01: Now that the war is through with me, I'm waking up, I cannot.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: That there's not much left of me.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: I love his way, he goes, meh.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: He's singing meh as the guitar goes.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's like a half-step clash, it's so cool.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: That there's not much left of me.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's so nice.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing is real but pain now.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, now the distortion part.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, let's talk about what's going on here.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: We go to the sixth chord.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: Look, I just love it, it's like classical, man.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's like so sophisticated.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: It it really is.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then we land back in D major for like the beautiful flowery part.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: But the beginning of this rift centers around the sixth chord.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: Things open up with a seven, furthermore.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's so short-lived, but it's like heavy, it's like a wall of sound, right?
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: Those and Justice for All guitars, like super heavy mid-range, comes in your face.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: Hold my breath as I wish for death.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: Oh please, God, wake me.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: And then we got that major moment again.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, now the second verse comes.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: Back in the womb it's much too real.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: Back in the womb, it's much too real.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: In Pump's life that I must feel, I must feel.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: But can't look forward to reveal.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: Look to the time when I'll live.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: Fed through the tube that sticks in me.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: I love live, he goes, Fed to the tube that sticks in me.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: He like jumps an octave, it's so awesome.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: Instead of fed to the tube that sticks in me.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: Just like a wartime novel tea.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: Tied to machines that make me be.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: Cut this life out from me.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, and then we go back to my breath for death.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's such a short chorus.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: God, it's gotta be like the shortest chorus ever.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: And then it goes back to like the flowery section again for the third time it's happening.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: But now Kirk Hammett does this awesome solo.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: Now I'm gonna play it on lead tone, right?
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like not clean tone.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: The studio version he's playing with a clean tone, but I love live.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: Kirk Hammett plays it on like a distortion clean tone.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: On a distortion lead tone, and it sounds like so I think it sounds better, man.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's such a gorgeous solo.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of like understated in the studio version, but uh man, live, like I love, I love what it does.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: Oh man.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like that right here, that's just an octave above right now.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's melodic, man.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: It sounds like a trumpet could be playing this.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: I love and life he goes.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: I love this too.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: And then we got this awesome tapping thing.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, and it's the same D major flower kind of blooming section under it, okay?
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: But like when you sing the solo, like you really see how like beautiful it is.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like, oh please God, wake me.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: The solo starts.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like what are we doing here, man?
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's like it's so beautiful.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: Back to that chorus, but it's twice as long.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: Oh god help me.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: Now this part is awesome because live he like sings a what would have been like a beautiful harmony.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if they add it in the studio version or not, but he goes, Oh god help me! Look at these notes.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, now this moment right here, actually before I continue, like let's really look at that again.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: That is like gorgeous And then the Palmutin.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: Again, now this moment we literally leave B minor, okay?
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: We leave B minor and we go to E minor, and it starts on the four chord A.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: So one guitar, the other guitar is going.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: But the other guitar is like really accentuated the A, so and I know it's E minor because this is the dominant five chord.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: We're not like B minor anymore.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: That would be that would be a B minor.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: But this is the five chord now.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: Six to the four.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: I love that, and then it gets to the My God, it's like teeth gritting, man.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: God, I d that that change is so awesome.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: Modulation of the E minor, but it starts on the four chord, like it's so musical, man.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: I just love that's finally E minor.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: Look at that.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like the the the placement of the palm meeting is so great, like open opens up again.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's like and like the chords that it opens up to are like so badass, like the major five chord.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: And then finally now I got something to say about this because I love that I love that that they don't do this.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: They don't just do E minor power chord, right?
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: They do C power chord over E.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: So it's the minor six over E.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: So it's but an octave down.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: You got you got the C power chord over E.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like very haunting.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: Large ch chick drum is so awesome, like that double bass drum.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: I read somewhere that they're trying to mimic like uh machine gun fires, right?
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like this is like we're in the war zone, it's like super intense.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: This whole second half is like immaculately crafted out.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I think you could call this two four instead of four four.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: And very slowly it's I love how I love how it opens and it cuts, right?
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: We got I love how they like they expand on the rift.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: Oh and then I remember the first time I ever heard this like darkness absolute horror I cannot live I cannot die I'm talking myself but in my holding self now this part is cool because that's the octave minor second like a Phrygian Phrygian is like a minor mode it's like often used in flamenco music it sounds very the Metallica uses it a lot like that's uh blackened right there right same with uh wherever I may rover I may roam right so we got minor seven sliding back up to that minor second and then land my live they have that amazing pyrotechnic right there land my hands take on my skin tick of my speech take on my hand take on my arms take on my legs take on my soul that you love Oh my god it's kinda hard to like nail but like I gotta like really practice it they gotta like totally get it down tight but the I love that so much and he's doing that minor second again right like this is E Phrygian not E minor E minor would have to be like like this is E minor they're going just brutal and in the snare It's like totally sounds like machine gun and that's four four syncopation there the offbeat access I love that but okay the third solo Kurt Hammett's third solo and keep in mind they're all like in different keys right like the first solo is in B minor the second solo is in the in the relative major of D minor so it's in D major still kind of like the same key but like different kind of tonic center and then the third solo now we're in E minor or E phrygian whatever you want to call it so it's like Okay now Kurt Hammett with the amazing tapping right here So he's just starting on the E minor triad right and then he goes so it's E minor triad and then we move up to the minor six and then he just moves down a string and I love this too so that's uh that's the A minor triad and then he's like just going down the minor scale but he does the major six there for some reason it's really nice Okay but he's tapping that right so he's like and then he charges up right here this is all this is all during the And it's like I love that like what the hell is that?
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: And then I love that explosive Kirk Hammer 20 second fret bends that he always does and then I love those This is like seven tuplets like whatever you want to call it six tuplets seven tuplets like seven tuplets I guess you call it seven tuplets So one two three four five six seven I love it kind of hard to get down super fast and then we got the That's one two three four one two three four one two three four so it's like a lot of repeated patterns and then just winding down E mine he gets like super bluesy here I love it.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like that is so bluesy that's like almost sunshine on your love it's going down like the blues pentatonic scale okay so there's stuff to be said about this okay so we start off at work mainly an E minor He's like really highlighting E minor here Kind of like a weird Dorian move there with that major six and now more E minor stuff E minor again more E minor and then no right here This is weird because he's really accentuating G and I gotta show you what James Hetfield is doing under the solo.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: There's often like really nice sophisticated stuff happening under Metallica solos that like James Hetfield is doing.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: So this is the G part and then more E minor that's like E blues E minor blues but then right here this is G minor It's like instant modulation of G minor Okay so now check out what James Heffield's doing under the solo.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: So first it's like so this is all during a So he's like when it goes that's and then James Heffield is doing this crazy thing where he goes and then So weird and then the pump like we're we're away from E minor right now.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_00: Then it goes and then it goes So when it goes when it goes up that that's the pump like that the He's accentuating G, but we're playing F.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like the major ninth so it's like it's like and then G and now we sink down like that's why when it goes back to this it's like whoa it like feels like extra brutal because we were just like trip morphed into G minor for a second.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_00: It it's so wild and I love like the chord changes that Hetfield does under the solo especially during the And now begins the second half.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I love that chromatic fault that's just so the only sound that it does the G right there the third fret is like at the end of the solo.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_00: So okay now it does the now the final harmony like dance right of the lead guitars it goes I love that sounds like bees or something right like a frenzy just more E minor playing harmonized with the colour like they're speaking their own language here like they're in their own world like they're uniquely them like I I love how like unconventional like they're just doing their own thing here like their own style and right here Lars going to like the crash shh shh listen to the cymbals right in that moment.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like absolutely brutal like what a song man it's like such a journey.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_00: It was one of my favorite Metallica songs for a while and then others kind of took over but like when I really like kind of like dive into the song see exactly what's going on I like found a whole new appreciation for it.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I know it was a big success for them too especially with the music video.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_00: But I really hope you enjoyed diving into that with me.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_00: If you have an original song that you'd like me to break down I do offer a private breakdown and feedback video because I have two different versions a reaction video and a full very coda breakdown video.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_00: Just check out learn.damaricoda.com slash breakdown I'd love to check out what you're working on.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_00: I love to get my opinion and my feedback on the mixing the song production arrangement ideas anything like that.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_00: So feel free to submit a song and check out that link I really appreciate you tuning in and diving into the one with me and I hope you check out the next episode of Vericoda Breakdown.