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Kirk Hammett |
Kirk
Lee Hammett was born on November 18th, 1962 in San Francisco,
California. He got his first guitar at the age of 15, a Montgomery
Ward Strat copy from a friend for ten dollars and a Kiss album
("Dressed To Kill").
As a youngster, Kirk kept to
himself. The family moved from San Francisco to a suburban area in
East Bay. He suffered from culture shock, and the music he
would listen to, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix or Cream set him apart from
the other kids even more. But playing his favorite songs like
"Purple Haze", "Wild Thing" and "Communication Breakdown" on the
guitar made him feel closer to the music he was listening to. The
first real good guitar Kirk bought was a blonde Strat with a maple
neck, because of Hendrix. After listening to UFO, with Michael
Schenker, he bought a black Flying V, which can be heard on the
first three or four Metallica albums.
By
then, he had formed a band called Exodus, and they would play Thin
Lizzy, UFO, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden cover songs.
Exodus opened a couple of shows with Metallica and Kirk was very
impressed by them and their original sound. When lead
guitarist Dave Mustaine got expelled after a fight with James
Hetfield, Kirk was invited to an audition in New York and he was
asked to join the band.
In
1982, a few weeks before Metallica recorded their debut album, "Kill
'Em All", Kirk took lessons from Joe Satriani. "Kill 'Em All" would
mark the beginning of an incredible rise in the bands popularity.
Hammett's playing has evolved since the early years of "Kill 'Em
All". Witnessed on "And Justice For All", where he showed off his
speed. But on the "Black Album" and subsequent albums "Load"/
"ReLoad" Kirk dropped some speed in favor of a more bluesy playing
style and experimental sounds.
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Best of Metallica - Transcribed Full Scores
Performed by Metallica. Guitar (Transcriptions with notes
and tab). With notes and tablature. Size 8.5x11 inches. 192
pages. Published by Cherry Lane Music. (2500424) See more info... |