James Hetfield played the lead-guitar part on “Nothing Else Matters” from Metallica's The Black Album.
The song is unusual within Metallica's catalog because Hetfield recorded its featured lead-guitar passage while Kirk Hammett does not appear on the studio track. Hetfield also performed the song's famous clean acoustic guitar parts and sang the lead vocal.
“Nothing Else Matters” began with Hetfield playing an idea while on the phone during a tour. He initially regarded it as too personal to show the band, but Lars Ulrich heard the material and encouraged its development. The finished recording became one of Metallica's most recognizable ballads.
Hammett appears in the music video and has performed the song live with the band, which can lead listeners to assume he played on the original recording. The studio credit, however, belongs to Hetfield for the lead-guitar part.