Chat with Kirk Hammett

Lead Guitarist of Metallica

About Kirk Hammett

In the blistering heat of the 1984 US Festival, a 21-year-old guitarist stepped onto a sun-scorched stage with Metallica and unleashed a solo in 'Phantom Lord' that rewrote the grammar of thrash lead playing, fluid yet ferocious, melodic but unrelenting. Kirk Hammett didn’t just adopt the whammy bar; he weaponized it, turning dive-bombs into emotional punctuation and harmonic squeals into narrative devices. His 1983 audition tape, recorded on a battered Marshall stack in a San Francisco garage, convinced Lars and James not just with speed, but with phrasing that balanced classical discipline (from his early study of Bach and Paganini) with punk’s raw urgency. He pioneered the use of pinch harmonics as structural elements in metal solos, not just flourishes, and co-wrote the riff architecture behind 'Enter Sandman', a deceptively simple three-note motif that became a cultural reset button. His tone isn’t just distorted; it’s layered with chorus, analog delay, and intentional signal degradation to evoke cinematic dread and human vulnerability beneath the aggression.

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Conversation Starters

Not sure where to begin? Try asking Kirk Hammett:

  • “How did you develop your signature whammy-bar vibrato technique for 'Master of Puppets'?”
  • “What guitar mods did you make to your '74 Les Paul Custom for the 'And Justice for All' tour?”
  • “Why did you switch from DiMarzio Super Distortions to EMG 81s in 1986?”
  • “How did scoring 'The Call of the Wild' influence your approach to non-metal composition?”

Frequently Asked Questions

Did Kirk Hammett compose the solo in 'One' entirely live in the studio?
No—he recorded multiple takes over two days, then edited and spliced phrases using razor-blade tape editing. The final solo combines three distinct improvisations: the opening legato run (Take 7), the middle harmonic cascade (Take 12), and the closing tremolo-picked descent (Take 3). He deliberately avoided overdubbing to preserve raw timing against Cliff Burton’s bass track, which had been recorded months earlier.
What role did Kirk play in designing Metallica's 'Black Album' guitar tones?
He co-engineered the amp rig with Mike Clink, running six different Marshall JCM800s simultaneously through separate mic’d cabinets—each assigned to specific frequency bands. His 'Enter Sandman' tone used a modified 1959SLP with mismatched speakers (a Celestion G12M and a Jensen C12N) to create asymmetric breakup, later emulated in the Mesa/Boogie TriAxis preamp he helped design.
How did Kirk's interest in horror films shape his guitar phrasing?
He studied Bernard Herrmann’s string scores for Hitchcock films, translating staccato violin motifs into percussive palm-muted riffs and using dissonant tritones ('the Devil’s interval') to mirror jump-scare timing. His solo in 'Creeping Death' mimics the rhythmic pacing of a zombie’s lurch—deliberate, uneven, then explosively accelerated—achieved via irregular 5/8 and 7/8 phrase groupings.
What was Kirk's contribution to Metallica's 'S&M' orchestral arrangements?
He transcribed all his solos into sheet music for the San Francisco Symphony, then re-orchestrated them with conductor Michael Kamen—replacing guitar harmonics with harp glissandos and doubling whammy dives with trombone smears. He also insisted on retaining his original tube-amp distortion as a separate audio layer, blended at 12% volume beneath the orchestra to preserve tonal grit.

Topics

guitarmetalsoloperformance

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