See the statement.
Former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted was interviewed by Ultimate Guitar and asked what he thought of Metallica's latest album, Hardwired… To Self-Destruct. Newsted said:
"This album is a little different from the ones that came before. Robert is a great bassist, he always has been. I've known him for 25 years, he has my respect. He got there, and he can work with those guys and make it sound the way it sounds? Peace, very good for him.".
This new album kind of puts Metallica back on track; it has something very concrete about it.
Asked if he would change anything about Metallica's bass playing after leaving, Newsted said:
"I saw an interview Robert did with Sam Dunn and he captured a four or five-second bass transition [see the video below, the excerpt is from Spit Out The Bone ]. It's kind of a distorted thing, trying to get a Lemmy-esque sound and almost trying… well, I'll say, almost trying a Jason sound, with Marshall bass amps and stuff."
The aggression and tone that comes from the attack when you play with a pick, you can't get that playing with your fingers. There are quite a few things you can achieve with your fingers that you can't achieve with a pick either, I know that.
I think he could have achieved a better level of aggression if he wanted to. I'm not trying to criticize or anything like that. If I had heard that part, I would have changed exactly that. I would have said, 'Dude, try with the pick for a minute. For 10 seconds, play with the pick so you can get what you want.' That's it. Beyond that, I don't think about it much."
