Kirk Hammett

Kirk Hammett (born Kirk Lee Hammett on November 18, 1962 in El Sobrante, California, USA) is the lead guitarist in heavy metal group Metallica. Kirk is one of the most well-known guitar students of legendary guitarist/instructor Joe Satriani.

Biography

Hammett was born in El Sobrante, California to a Filipino mother and an Irish Merchant marine father. As a child and teenager, he showed great interest in his older brother Rick's extensive collection of hard rock records, including material by Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, The Rolling Stones, and UFO. One of his biggest influences was Jimi Hendrix and was quoted as saying he wanted to be Jimi. He has also performed parts of his 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 even took a job at a Burger King restaurant to raise funds for a Marshall amplifier.

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, and drummer Tom Hunting. 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. 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 and remains a role model for many modern guitarists.

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, "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 single on Metallica's Black 1991 album and was ranked 399th on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. 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". 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."

Hammett is married to his wife Lani (who is half-Hawaiian and half-Sicilian), and lives in San Francisco.

Equipment

Guitars

ESP KH-2 (Main touring guitar) Kirk's signature model guitar is based upon the modifications he made to his M-II. (Nicknamed "Skully" because of the skull and crossbone inlays)
ESP KH-2 M-II - Boris Karloff Mummy graphic (Kirk's favourite guitar. A one of a kind as well, as Kirk owns the rights to the image on it)
ESP KH-2 M-II - Ouija
ESP KH-3 Eclipse - Pushead Spider graphic
Gibson Les Paul Custom 1968 also known as "Black Beauty"; Kirk also use regular Les Paul's at some performances
Jackson Randy Rhoads Model
ESP KH-2 M-II - Skull & Crossbones II
ESP M-II Red Frankenstein graphic
ESP M-II Skull & Crossbones I
ESP WaveCaster Blue- Wave Machine (Only 3 in existence)
Fender Stratocaster 1998 - American black and green Stratocaster
Gibson 1974 Flying V
ESP Flying V

Amplifiers

Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier Amp
Mesa Boogie Strategy 400 Stereo power Amp
Mesa Boogie Tremoverb 2x12 Combo Amp
Mesa Boogie Triaxis Pre-Amp
Marshall DSL and TSL Amps

Cabinets

Mesa Boogie 2x12 Speaker Cabinet
Mesa Boogie 4x12 Speaker Cabinet
Marshall 4x12 Speaker Cabinet

Accessories

Jim Dunlop Tortex 0.88mm Custom Picks (Green)
Dean Markley "Regular"
Custom Levy's straps
Rack-mounted Dunlop Cry Baby and expression pedals
EMB Audio Remote Wah System
Digitech Whammy Pedal
Lovetone Meatball Pedal (used on 'I Disappear')
Ibanez Tube Screamer TS-9

Trivia

Hammett has been friends with Primus bassist and vocalist Les Claypool since they were children. Claypool claims it was Hammett that got him into rock music. He also knew Primus's guitarist Larry LaLonde, from Metallica touring with his former band Possessed.
Thanks in large part to his links with the band, he appeared in Primus's John The Fisherman music video.
Kirk produced the first demo by then up and coming Bay area thrash band Death Angel, entitled Kill As One in 1986.
He is a lacto-ovo vegetarian
He is a Buddhist
He appears on the Echobrain (which is the band of Jason Newsted, ex-Metallica bassist) Record and the Strange Enjoyment for All EP on the track Suckerpunch.
He contributed a guitar solo to Pansy Division's "Headbanger", from the For Those About To Suck Cock EP, initially under a pseudonymn, although he later openly acknowledged playing on the record and only used the pseudonymn so that people wouldn't automatically buy the record just because he played on it. The song also appears on the Essential Pansy Division compilation CD/DVD.
Hammett was voted #11 on Rolling Stone Magazine's "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time."
Kirk is known to frequently play with the middle finger of his right hand visibly extended, though has claimed this is just involuntarily and something he does by habit.
In the magazine "Hit Parader" Kirk was named at number 13 in the top 100 Heavy Metal Guitarists
Collects comic books.
Kirk purchased the copyright to the movie poster of Boris Karloff in The Mummy which he has painted on his guitar. Nobody in the world can purchase a guitar with that design on it without Kirk's permission.

References

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