In Brief: Name: Kirk Lee Hammett Born:November 18, 1962 From: San Francisco, Ca Personal: Married Specialty : Full blown lead guitars and some vocals Vitals: Brown eyes, Brown hair, 5'8", 134 lbs.

Kirk Lee Hammett grew up in the Bay Area town of El Sobrante,Ca.  He began playing guitar at age 15.  His first guitar was a Montgomery Ward Catalogue special and a shoe box with a 4-inch speaker as an amp.  A few years down the road Kirk moved on to a 1978 Fender Sratocaster .  Kirk was always searching for his own sound and eventually managed to "frankenstein" the guitar with different pickup and amp combo's.  Eventually he traded up to a 1974 Gibson Flying V that is still part of his collection and is still heard on Metallica's albums.      With new guitar in hand Kirk started to play with other people.  This led to a whole other problem: money.  A short stint working at Burger King that since it earned him enough money to buy his first Marshall amp.  Around that time Kirk co-founded Exodus with Paul Baloff.  They were twice the support act for Metallica: once on Nov 29,1982 and again on March 5, 1983.       On April 1, 1983 a phone rings "hi Kirk? This is Metallica, we just fired our lead guitar player and we need a new one. Interested?"  After that call Kirk scraped up enough money for a flight to the east coast.  15 days later Kirk Hammett played his first gig with Metallica in New Jersey.  Kirk was never officially asked to join the band and it was not until the recording of "Kill 'Em All" that he knew he was in.  After the "Kill 'Em All" tour Kirk took lessons from Joe Satriani where he learned the virtues of Jazz, Blues, Classical, and Hendrix.  Kirk can currently be found living in the Bay Area with his wife Lani and dog daria.

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