How to Play The Call of Ktulu by Metallica On Bass

Track info

Artist: Metallica

Song: The Call of Ktulu

Album: Ride the Lightning (1984)

Bassist: Cliff Burton

Transcriber: Andriy Vasylenko

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Metallica The Call of Ktulu bass tab preview (download below)

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Metallica ‘The Call of Ktulu’ bass isolated with tabs (latest version, commentary below):

This bass track consists of two parts: from the recent Apocalyptica cover (pitch adjusted) and the original instrumental from Ride the Lightning, links to both are below. You can easily tell where’s either. The clearer parts are the Apocalyptica ones, for Cliff bass there was treated specially. Unlike the Metallica mix where it was so overshadowed by guitars. Thus, it’s so hard to isolate bass from the Ktulu ’84, and the recent remaster didn’t really help that.

Plus, audio separation software gets confused by Cliff’s unorthodox distorted lead bass: it thinks that’s guitar and can’t isolate properly. That’s why you hear some extra noises and instruments bleed in on the craziest bass passages, because those bits are taken from the other isolated tracks. Some EQ and compression was applied to make the Burton parts as readable as possible.

Based on the result, for from perfect yet nearly the best we can have at this point, the bass lines were transcribed. Unfortunately, the Apocalyptica cover featured not the full Cliff’s track: the 3rd, 4th and 6th lead bass rounds were cut, as well as the very outro. But having the bits at out disposal, we can extrapolate at least the beginnings of the rounds, which are more-less identical. It gets a bit more diverse on the D riff, but still distinguishable enough, and then the tail is unique every time.

The live London version rom 1984 with loud bass provides some clarity on the vague licks (link below as well). But Cliff improvised a lot there, so the parts still differ from the studio version. Luckily, the craziest lead, the one with bending that’s right before the break riff, sounds pretty close in both cases, so the live version went onto the sheet. The remaining mysterious leads before the build-up are still not as clear, but this is what I could discern there.

Hope you find it useful. More improvements may come. If you have any suggestions, feel free to share them in the comments. Happy 40th birtday Ride the Lightning. R.I.P. Cliff.

Ktulu bass isolated from Apocalyptica mix:

Ktulu bass isolated from Metallica mix:

Metallica performing ‘The Call of Ktulu’ live with Cliff Burton being loud af:

Tags: metallica, the call of ktulu, bass tab, cliff burton