At 9age James started taking piano lessons but he wanted to make noise, and soon, at 14age, the piano was replaced by guitar. Hetfield learned to play guitar by playing along with Scorpions and UFO albums, slowing the turntable down to copy Michael Schenker's solos. His stepbrother, Dave had a band and he was the drummer.Dave also taught James to play drums. They jammed together in the basement whole day and night.James and his school friends Jim Arnold and the Veloz brothers formed a heavy metal band called Obsession.Hetfield on rhythm guitar and vocals, the Veloz brothers on bass and drums and Arnold on lead guitar, played in their basements and garages. A pair of friends- Ron McGovney (bass) and Dave Marrs (drums) acted as a band's roadies. :) Slowly James developed his taut, muscular style of rhythm playing from hours of study with Black Sabbath.BIOGRAPHY 2
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Then all of a sudden shit happened to James. "I didn't really see any turmoil", he says. "They didn't argue in front of the kids. Then dad went on a "business trip" for more than a few weeks, you know? I was beginning junior high. It was hidden that he was gone. Finally my mom said, 'Dad is not coming back'. And that was pretty difficult. There were some bad times- my mom needed to be home when we kids were home, or I'd have killed my sister [Dede]. We beat the living hell out of each other. I remember burning her with hot oil and that was,'Wow, it went too far'. My mom worried a lot, and that made her sick. She hid it from us. All of a sudden, she's in the hospital. Then all of a sudden, she's gone. Cancer got her."
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BIOGRAPHY
