Metallica · Song guide
Nothing Else Matters
Low and gravelly by design. Clean technique on it sounds wrong, and dirty technique done badly costs you your voice.
Nothing Else Matters
What to listen for
Low and gravelly by design. Clean technique on it sounds wrong, and dirty technique done badly costs you your voice.
In metal, that shows up as a specific technical problem rather than a general "sing better" one. Safe grit: distortion produced above the folds rather than with them.
If the song does not fit today, the fix is usually a key change rather than a training plan. Transposing is what working singers do, every night, and a song delivered well in your key beats a song survived in someone else's.
Nothing Else Matters
A little preparation
Safe grit: distortion produced above the folds rather than with them.
Nothing Else Matters
Find your comfortable key
Can you sing it?
We know what "Nothing Else Matters" asks for. We do not know what you have yet. The range finder measures your lowest and highest note in about a minute, then this page names the key that fits you.
No signup, no card. Works on a phone mic.
Nothing Else Matters
Where the melody lives
Most pages that answer this give you two notes and stop. Two notes are not the answer, because the hardest thing about a song is almost never its highest note: it is where the melody spends its time. "Nothing Else Matters" tops out at G4, but by our estimate it lives between D3 and B3, and that second pair is what decides whether you finish the song sounding like yourself.
The skill this song is asking for is safe grit: distortion produced above the folds rather than with them. Our curriculum trains that in the tone track, and the daily session will put it in front of you when your voice is ready for it rather than when you happen to search for it.
- Full range
- B2 to G4
20 semitones, about an octave and a half. These are the notes the song requires every time.
- Tessitura (estimated)
- D3 to B3
Where the melody actually sits, and the number that decides comfort. No published score lists this, so it is our estimate from the recording.
- Original key
- E minor
As recorded. Transposing is normal and not cheating.
Nothing Else Matters
Your questions
What is the vocal range of "Nothing Else Matters"?
B2 to G4, about 20 semitones. By our estimate the melody spends most of its time in a narrower band, D3 to B3, which matters more for whether you can actually perform it.
Is "Nothing Else Matters" hard to sing?
Low and gravelly by design. Clean technique on it sounds wrong, and dirty technique done badly costs you your voice. Difficulty is relative to your voice rather than absolute, which is why the tool on this page compares the song against your measured range instead of giving everyone the same answer.
What key should I sing it in?
The original is E minor. Whether that is right for you depends on your range: measure it with the free range finder and this page will name the key that fits, including how many semitones up or down that is.
Is transposing cheating?
No. Keys are chosen for the singer who recorded the song, and professional singers move keys constantly, including on their own material as their voices change. Straining through a song in the wrong key is the only mistake available here.
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