Kirk Lee
Hammett (born on November 18, 1962) is the lead guitarist in the band
Metallica. Hammett is one of the better-known students of guitarist and
instructor Joe Satriani.
Hammett's
musical interests eventually drew him into the fledgling thrash metal
genre. In 1982, he formed the group Exodus with vocalist Paul Baloff,
guitarist Gary Holt, bassist Geoff Andrews, and drummer Tom Hunting. He
played on Exodus's 1982 Demo. Exodus was a crucial early player in the Bay
Area thrash movement.
Hammett was
invited to join Metallica after the 1983 dismissal of the band's original
lead guitarist Dave Mustaine for substance abuse, just before Metallica was
to record its first album, Kill 'Em All. At the time Hammett was taking
private guitar lessons from 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 more than twenty 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 (particularly on more
recent albums), but he insists, "The wah-wah is an extension of my
personality". He usually 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".
