A sitar appears in the intro to Metallica’s “Wherever I May Roam” from The Black Album.
The song’s opening stands apart from the rest of the record through its unusual instrumentation. Alongside a gong, the intro uses a sitar and an overdubbed Warwick 12-string bass, creating a distinctive metallic and Eastern-influenced texture before the standard heavy-guitar arrangement enters.
The unusual sound does not mean the entire song uses exotic instrumentation. The guitars and main bass parts use standard tuning, and a conventional four-string bass carries the principal bass performance after the introduction. The 12-string bass was used for effect, emphasizing selected accents in the opening.
Live performances created another point of confusion. Metallica generally relied on the original sitar recording for the intro, while guitarist Kirk Hammett used a Danelectro electric sitar during the S&M performances before switching to his regular ESP guitar. Thus, the studio intro and certain live versions involve related but not identical instruments.