KIRK HAMMETT
Name: Kirk Hammett
Birth name: Kirk Lee Hammett
Born: 18 November 1962 San Francisco, CA, U.S.
Genre(s): Heavy metal, Thrash metal, Hard rock
Occupation(s): Musician, Songwriter
Instrument: Guitar
Kirk Lee Hammett (born on November 18, 1962) is the lead guitarist and
songwriter in the band Metallica and has been a member of the band since 1983.
Respected among his peers for his guitar style, in 2003 he was ranked 11th in
the Rolling Stone's The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.
Born in San Francisco to a Filipino mother and an Irish Merchant Marine father,
he later attended De Anza High School in El Sobrante, California when his family
moved to the East Bay where he met Les Claypool from Primus. As a child and
teenager, he showed great interest in his older brother Rick's extensive
collection of guitars, Rickenbacker Basses and hard rock records, including
material by Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Status Quo, The Rolling Stones, Jimi
Hendrix and UFO. One of his biggest influences was Jimi Hendrix, and Hammett was
quoted as saying he wanted to be Jimi. He has also performed parts of Hendrix's
songs during his guitar solos. He took up the guitar for the first time at the
age of fifteen, beginning with a Montgomery Ward catalog special and little more
than a shoebox with a four inch speaker for an amplifier. After picking up a
1978 Fender Stratocaster, Hammett attempted to customize his sound with various
guitar parts, eventually falling for a 1974 Gibson Flying V. He also took a job
at Burger King to raise money for a Marshall amplifier.
Hammett's musical interests eventually drew him into the fledgling thrash metal
genre. In 1980, he formed the group Exodus with vocalist Paul Baloff, guitarist
Gary Holt, bassist Geoff Andrews, and drummer Tom Hunting. He played on Exodus'
1982 Demo. Exodus was a crucial early player in the Bay Area thrash movement.
Hammett was invited to join Metallica following the dismissal of the band's
original lead guitarist Dave Mustaine for his known abusive & violent behavior
in 1983. This was prior to the release of Kill 'Em All. At the time Hammett was
taking private guitar lessons from the now-famous Joe Satriani. In 2002, he
became the first inductee into Guitar World magazine's "Hall of Fame". He has
recorded and toured with Metallica for 25 years.
Though he is primarily Metallica's lead guitarist, Hammett has written and
contributed riffs for Metallica songs since the mid-1980s (particularly in the
1990s during the Load era). One of these riffs, used in "Enter Sandman", was
written in a hotel room at 3:00 am, and became one of Metallica's most popular
songs. It was the first track and first single on Metallica's self-titled "Black
Album" and was ranked 399th on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest songs of
all time. Also the riff for "Creeping Death" was originally an Exodus riff that
Kirk took with him to Metallica. Kirk has often been criticised for his
extensive use of the wah-wah pedal in his solos, but he insists, "The wah-wah is
an extension of my personality". He also once said, "They'll have to cut off my
leg if they want me to stop using the wah-wah pedal." He sometimes adds
harmonies to his solos, as seen on "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)", "Disposable
Heroes" and "The Thing That Should Not Be". Kirk wanted to have guitar solos on
Metallica's 2003 album, St. Anger, but drummer Lars Ulrich and producer Bob Rock
thought that the solos did not sound right in the songs. He later himself
admitted, "We tried to put in solos but they sounded like an afterthought so we
left them out".
Name: Kirk Hammett
Birth name: Kirk Lee Hammett
Born: 18 November 1962 San Francisco, CA, U.S.
Genre(s): Heavy metal, Thrash metal, Hard rock
Occupation(s): Musician, Songwriter
Instrument: Guitar
Kirk Lee Hammett (born on November 18, 1962) is the lead guitarist and
songwriter in the band Metallica and has been a member of the band since 1983.
Respected among his peers for his guitar style, in 2003 he was ranked 11th in
the Rolling Stone's The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.
Born in San Francisco to a Filipino mother and an Irish Merchant Marine father,
he later attended De Anza High School in El Sobrante, California when his family
moved to the East Bay where he met Les Claypool from Primus. As a child and
teenager, he showed great interest in his older brother Rick's extensive
collection of guitars, Rickenbacker Basses and hard rock records, including
material by Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Status Quo, The Rolling Stones, Jimi
Hendrix and UFO. One of his biggest influences was Jimi Hendrix, and Hammett was
quoted as saying he wanted to be Jimi. He has also performed parts of Hendrix's
songs during his guitar solos. He took up the guitar for the first time at the
age of fifteen, beginning with a Montgomery Ward catalog special and little more
than a shoebox with a four inch speaker for an amplifier. After picking up a
1978 Fender Stratocaster, Hammett attempted to customize his sound with various
guitar parts, eventually falling for a 1974 Gibson Flying V. He also took a job
at Burger King to raise money for a Marshall amplifier.
Hammett's musical interests eventually drew him into the fledgling thrash metal
genre. In 1980, he formed the group Exodus with vocalist Paul Baloff, guitarist
Gary Holt, bassist Geoff Andrews, and drummer Tom Hunting. He played on Exodus'
1982 Demo. Exodus was a crucial early player in the Bay Area thrash movement.
Hammett was invited to join Metallica following the dismissal of the band's
original lead guitarist Dave Mustaine for his known abusive & violent behavior
in 1983. This was prior to the release of Kill 'Em All. At the time Hammett was
taking private guitar lessons from the now-famous Joe Satriani. In 2002, he
became the first inductee into Guitar World magazine's "Hall of Fame". He has
recorded and toured with Metallica for 25 years.
Though he is primarily Metallica's lead guitarist, Hammett has written and
contributed riffs for Metallica songs since the mid-1980s (particularly in the
1990s during the Load era). One of these riffs, used in "Enter Sandman", was
written in a hotel room at 3:00 am, and became one of Metallica's most popular
songs. It was the first track and first single on Metallica's self-titled "Black
Album" and was ranked 399th on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest songs of
all time. Also the riff for "Creeping Death" was originally an Exodus riff that
Kirk took with him to Metallica. Kirk has often been criticised for his
extensive use of the wah-wah pedal in his solos, but he insists, "The wah-wah is
an extension of my personality". He also once said, "They'll have to cut off my
leg if they want me to stop using the wah-wah pedal." He sometimes adds
harmonies to his solos, as seen on "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)", "Disposable
Heroes" and "The Thing That Should Not Be". Kirk wanted to have guitar solos on
Metallica's 2003 album, St. Anger, but drummer Lars Ulrich and producer Bob Rock
thought that the solos did not sound right in the songs. He later himself
admitted, "We tried to put in solos but they sounded like an afterthought so we
left them out".