Kirk Lee Hammett (born November 18, 1962) is the lead guitarist and a songwriter in the band Metallica and has been a member of the band since 1983. Before joining Metallica he formed and named the band Exodus. In 2003 Hammett was ranked 11th in Rolling Stone's list - The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.
Biography
Early life (1962-1980)
Born on November 18, 1962 in San Francisco to a Filipina mother (Chefela) and an Irish Merchant Marine father. He grew up in El Sobrante, California and has a younger sister, Tawny. Kirk Hammett attended De Anza High School in Richmond, California.
As a child and teenager, Kirk Hammett showed great interest in his older brother Rick's extensive collection of guitars, Rickenbacker basses and hard rock records, including material by Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Queen, Status Quo, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix and UFO[citation needed]. One of his biggest musical influences was Jimi Hendrix[citation needed], and Hammett was quoted as saying he wanted to be Hendrix[citation needed]. Hammett has also been known to perform parts of Hendrix's songs during his guitar solos.
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 also took a job at Burger King to raise money for a Marshall amplifier.
Exodus (1980-1983)
Hammett's musical interests eventually drew him into the fledgling thrash metal genre. In 1980, he formed the group Exodus with vocalist Paul Baloff, guitarist Gary Holt, bassist Geoff Andrews, and drummer Tom Hunting. He played on Exodus' 1982 Demo. Exodus was a crucial early player in the Bay Area thrash movement.
Metallica (1983-Present)
Hammett was invited to join Metallica following the dismissal of the band's original lead guitarist Dave Mustaine in 1983. This was prior to the release of Kill 'Em All. At the time Hammett was taking private guitar lessons from the now-famous Joe Satriani.
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 3:15 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.
The bridge for "Creeping Death" was originally an Exodus riff that Hammett took with him to Metallica.
Hammett is also known for always having his picking hand taped up. During the course of a full tour, due to constantly palm muting and fast picking, the back of his hand takes sizable abuse.
Hammett's playing style is noted for his extensive use of the wah-wah pedal in his solos. Hammett says "The wah-wah is an extension of my personality." He also once said, "They'll have to cut off my leg if they want me to stop using the wah-wah pedal." Hammett's use of the wah-pedal hadn't been featured in recent Metallica solos, but has seen a resurgence in his solos on the newest album, Death Magnetic.
Hammett initially 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 admitted himself, "We tried to put in solos but they sounded like an afterthought so we left them out".
Personal life
Hammett has been married twice. His first marriage to ex-wife Rebecca lasted only 3 years, having ended in 1990, during the recording of the Black Album, which consumed the band members' lives for almost an entire year.
Hammett now resides in Hawaii with Lani, his second wife, whom he married in 1998. They have two sons, Angel Ray Keala Hammett (September 29, 2006) and Vincenzo Kainalu Hammett (June 28 2008).
Hammett's interests include surfing, cooking, horses, archaeology, cars, science fiction magazines and collecting horror film memorabilia.
Kirk also commented recently on the T3 gadget website in their audio interview that he was previously addicted to video games. Stating that the addiction resulted in the loss of eating, social interaction and guitar.
Other appearances
In 2005, Hammett played guitar on the Carlos Santana track "Trinity".
In 2006, Hammett voiced himself on The Simpsons ("The Mook, the Chef, the Wife and Her Homer"). He also provided various voices on the Adult Swim show Metalocalypse, including a two fingered fan ("The Curse of Dethklok"), The Queen of Denmark ("Happy Dethday"), and a Finnish barkeep ("Dethtroll"). * He also appeared as a guest in an episode of Space Ghost: Coast to Coast titled "Jacksonville" alongside fellow Metallica member James Hetfield.
Hammett played guitar on the track "Satan" with Orbital for The Spawn: The Album soundtrack released in July 1997.
After performing a set with Metallica at Bonnaroo in June 2008, Hammett played one song with My Morning Jacket and a couple songs with the annual Superjam collaboration, which also included Les Claypool and members of Gogol Bordello playing primarily Tom Waits songs.
He also appeared on the "Kichigai" E.P. by punk band Septic Death. He played additional lead guitar on the title track.
He appeared as a guest guitarist on K'Naan's "If Rap Gets Jealous" off of the Troubadour (K'naan album) album
He will also be one of the main characters in Guitar Hero: Metallica along with the rest of Metallica
Equipment
In January 2007, ESP Guitar Company announced the release of a 20th anniversary Limited KH-20 Guitar to celebrate 20 years of relationship with Kirk Hammett (based upon the KH-2 guitar with some modification). There will only be 41 guitars made and the price has been set at $9,999.
In September 2007, Randall Amplifiers announced a partnership with Hammett to design a line of signature amps, heads, combos and preamp modules.
In 2008 Jim Dunlop started working in partnership with Hammett to create a signature wah pedal. There is no release date or confirmation on this product as of yet.
In January 2009, ESP Guitar Company has announced the rare release of the famous "ouija" a limited basis for 2009 only
Guitars
* ESP M-II "Zorlac" - This was the starting line for the whole fk series. It features a vertical skull & crossbones as opposed to the horizontal ones featured on today's KH's, and an upside down Jackson Guitars style headstock which is what Hammett originally intended. However, Jackson Guitars was not thrilled about this, and threatened law suits if this model ever hit stores[citation needed]. So the headstock was changed to a typical ESP but flipped upside down.
* ESP KH-2 (Main touring guitar) - Hammett'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" I - Boris Karloff Mummy I graphic. Hammett owns the rights to the image on it and it will not be released by ESP.
* ESP KH-2 M-II "Ouija" - This guitar contains 2 spelling errors on it. It sports the words "WILLIAM FUED TALKING BAARD SET" but it in fact should say "WILLIAM FULD TALKING BOARD SET"
* ESP KH-2 M-II "Boris Karloff Mummy" II - Boris Karloff Mummy II graphic. Same as the Mummy I but with hieroglyph inlays.
* ESP ESP M-II "Skully" 7-String - Though it belongs to Hammett, James Hetfield mainly used it in the studio for St. Anger, as Hammett does not tour with it
* ESP KH-3 Eclipse - Pushead Spider graphic. It is taken from a classic Les Paul Jr. shape with a floyd rose vibrato and EMG pickups.
* ESP KH-4 M-II "Fuck You" - It's the same as a typical KH-2, but with a pearloid pickguard, dot inlays, a Roland midi unit (for roland vg8/vg88), and the words "FUCK YOU" written at the 12th fret.
* Gibson Les Paul 1968 Custom - Hammett also uses regular Les Pauls at some performances
* Jackson Randy Rhoads Model RR1T - Custom-Made specifically for Hammett. It is usually tuned one step down from standard tuning, and used for the song "Sad But True".
* Jackson Soloist Used for the song "The Thing That Should Not Be".
* Jackson Guitars Roswell Rhoads used for recording "Load".
* ESP KH-1 Flying V
* 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 Flying V 1974 - Used mainly for recording the first four albums. In 1989 he replaced the stock pickups with EMG 81s. Was the third guitar he ever owned.
Kirk Hammett's first guitar was a Montgomery Ward brand guitar, with a shoebox and small speaker for an amplifier.[21] Metallica's "St. Anger" DVD rehearsals features a new guitar which has "Invisible Kid" written on it, which he uses in the song "Invisible Kid".
On the 25th anniversary of Metallica's Kill 'Em All, Kirk Hammett appears on the cover of Feb. 2008's Guitar World sporting his new custom ESP. This model is the KH20, the 20th anniversary model from ESP.
In the video for "One", Kirk Hammett is seen using what is most likely an ESP Vintage Plus. It appears however to be modified; it has a Floyd Rose tremolo, which could have been Hammett's own work or a custom model.
Current tourning guitars for World Magnetic tour:
ESP KH-2 M-11 SKULLY
ESP KH-2 M-11 DRACULA(same specs as the kh-2 with dracula graphics)
ESP KH-2 M-11 CUSTOM(it has the same specs as a kh2 but a chrome pickguard
Natural Gibson Explorer(stock pickups and tuners)
Red ESP Flying V
White Ouija KH-2
Black Ouija KH-2
Amplifiers & Cabinets
* Randall RM100KH signature model (modified version of the MTS series RM100)
* Randall 4x12 RS412KHX
* Randall 4x12 RS412KH100
* Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier
* Mesa/Boogie Mark IV
* Mesa/Boogie Triple Rectifier
* Mesa/Boogie Quad Preamp
* Mesa/Boogie Simul-class 295
* Fender Twin
* Various models of Marshall and Diezel
Pickups, Effects and other Equipment
* EMG 81 and EMG 60 pickups
* Rack-mounted Dunlop Cry Baby(Wah) with expression pedals
* Ibanez Tube Screamer Modded by Keeley
* Native Instruments Guitar Rig 3 control edition
* Lovetone Meatball pedal (used on I Disappear)
* Jim Dunlop Dunlop Jazz III Picks
* Ernie Ball Power Slinky (.11-.48) #2220 electric guitar strings
* Ernie Ball Skinny Top Heavy Bottom (.10-.52)
* Custom Levy's strap
* Radial Tonebone Hot British distortion pedal
* MXR EVH Flanger
* Line 6 FM4 Filter Modeler
* Line 6 DM4 Distortion Modeler
* Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler
* Line 6 MM4 Modulation Modeler
* Digitech WH1 Whammy Pedal ( this pedal is used in the solo for Devils Dance)
Discography
Exodus
* 1982 Demo
Metallica
* Kill 'Em All
* Ride the Lightning
* Master of Puppets
* ...And Justice for All
* Metallica (The Black Album)
* Load
* Garage, Inc.
* ReLoad
* St. Anger
* Death Magnetic
(from Wikipedia)
