Kirk Hammett
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| Kirk Hammett | |
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 Kirk Hammett performing with Metallica in Vienna in 2007.
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Kirk Lee Hammett |
| Born | November 18, 1962 San Francisco, CA, U.S. |
| Genre(s) | Heavy metal, thrash metal, hard rock |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, Songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | Guitar |
| Years active | 1979 - present |
| Label(s) | Warner Bros., Elektra, Vertigo, Megaforce |
| Associated acts | Metallica, Exodus |
| Website | Metallica Website |
| Notable instrument(s) | |
| ESP KH-2 and KH-3 Signature models | |
Kirk Lee Hammett (born on November 18, 1962) is the lead guitarist and a songwriter in the band Metallica and has been a member of the band since 1983. Respected among his peers for his guitar style, in 2003 he was ranked 11th in Rolling Stone's list - The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
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Born in San Francisco to a Filipino mother and an Irish Merchant Marine father,[citation needed] Kirk Hammett attended De Anza High School in El Sobrante, California when his family moved to the East Bay where he met Les Claypool from Primus. As a child and teenager, he showed great interest in his older brother Rick's extensive collection of guitars, Rickenbacker Basses and hard rock records, including material by Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Status Quo, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix and UFO. One of his biggest influences was Jimi Hendrix, and Hammett was quoted as saying he wanted to be Jimi. He has also performed parts of Hendrix's 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 also took a job at Burger King to raise money for a Marshall amplifier.
[edit] Pre-Metallica
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.
[edit] Metallica
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. In 2002, he became the first inductee into Guitar World magazine's "Hall of Fame".
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(album)|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 voted # 22 in the greatest in top 40 metal 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[citation needed] for his extensive use of the wah-wah pedal in his solos, but he insists, "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". 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".
[edit] Personal life
Kirk Hammett has been married twice. His first marriage to ex-wife Rebecca ended in 1990, during the recording of the Black Album, which consumed the band members' lives for almost an entire year. He now resides in San Francisco with Lani, his second wife, whom he married in 1998. On September 29th, 2006, Kirk and Lani had a son, named Angel Ray Keala Hammett. He enjoys surfing.
[edit] 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.
Metallica feature in the 2006 film "The Darwin Awards"
Hammett played guitar on the track "Satan" with Orbital for The Spawn: The Album soundtrack released in July 1997.
[edit] Equipment
At Mid-January 2007, ESP Guitar Company has 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.[2]
In September of 2007, Randall Amplifiers announced a partnership with Hammett to design a line of signature amps, heads, combos and preamp modules.[3]
[edit] Guitars
- ESP M-II "Zorlac". This was the starting line for the whole KH 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 Kirk 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.[4][5]
- 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)[6]
- ESP KH-2 M-II - Boris Karloff Mummy I graphic (Kirk's favorite guitar. Kirk owns the rights to the image on it and it will NOT be released by ESP.[7]
- 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"[8]
- ESP KH-2 M-II - Boris Karloff Mummy II graphic. Same as the Mummy I but with hieroglyph inlays.[9][10]
- ESP KH-2 M-II "Fuck You" KH-4. 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.[11]
- ESP ESP MII Skully 7 String. Though it belongs to Kirk, James mainly used it in the studio for St. Anger, as Kirk does not tour with it[12]
- 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.[13]
- Gibson Les Paul Custom from 1968. Kirk also uses regular Les Pauls at some performances[14]
- Jackson Randy Rhoads Model RR1T custom made specifically for Kirk. It is usually tuned one step down from standard tuning, and used for the song "Sad But True".[15]
- ESP KH-1 Flying V[16]
- 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.)[17]
- Fender Stratocaster 1998 - American black and green Stratocaster
- 1974 Gibson Flying V (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.[18]
Kirk Hammett's first guitar was a Montgomery Ward brand guitar, with a shoebox and small speaker for an amplifier.[19]
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[20]
[edit] Amplifiers
- Randall RM100KH signature model (modified version of the MTS series RM100)
- Various models of Marshall and Mesa Boogie
- Fender Twin
[edit] Cabinets
- RS412KHX
- RS412KH100
[edit] Pickups, effects and other equipment
- EMG 81 pickups at bridge and neck positions
- rack-mounted Dunlop Cry Baby with expression pedals
- Ibanez Tube Screamer TS-9
- Native Instruments Guitar Rig 3 Kontrol edition
- Line 6 MM4 modulation & DL4 delay effect stompboxes
- Lovetone Meatball pedal (used on I Disappear)
- Jim Dunlop Tortex 0.88mm custom picks (green)
- Ernie Ball Skinny Top Heavy Bottom (.10-.52) strings
- custom Levy's strap
- Radial Tonebone Hot British distortion pedal
- Hammett also puts white masking tape around his knuckles when he plays live because he sometimes cuts his fingers while playing because of palm muting.[citation needed].
[edit] Discography
[edit] Exodus
[edit] Metallica
- Kill 'Em All
- Ride the Lightning
- Master of Puppets
- ...And Justice for All
- Metallica
- Load
- ReLoad
- St. Anger
- Metallica's ninth studio album
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time", Rolling Stone, August 27, 2003.
- ^ http://www.metallica.com/ivergence/image/03mar14_pic04.jpg
- ^ Randall Amplifiers Announces Partnership With Kirk Hammett of Metallica
- ^ http://filepit.freewebs.com/montyjay/kirkguitars/zorlac/kirkzorlac.jpg
- ^ http://filepit.freewebs.com/montyjay/kirkguitars/zorlac/zorlackh2.jpg
- ^ http://filepit.freewebs.com/montyjay/kirkguitars/Skully/skully1.jpg
- ^ http://filepit.freewebs.com/montyjay/kirkguitars/mummy1/mummy.jpg
- ^ http://filepit.freewebs.com/montyjay/kirkguitars/ouija/ouija1.jpg
- ^ http://img7.photobucket.com/albums/v18/mjf1982/kirkguitars/Mummy2/2ndmummy2.jpg
- ^ http://filepit.freewebs.com/montyjay/kirkguitars/Mummy2/2ndmummy1.jpg
- ^ http://filepit.freewebs.com/montyjay/kirkguitars/Fyou/fyou1.jpg
- ^ http://filepit.freewebs.com/montyjay/metallica/james7string.jpg
- ^ http://www.guitarraonline.com.ar/set-ups/metallica/KIRKfotoD.jpg
- ^ http://dararasmi.com/Images/lp68black.jpg
- ^ http://filepit.freewebs.com/montyjay/kirkguitars/RhoadsV/kirkjacksonrhoads2.jpg
- ^ http://www.guitarraonline.com.ar/set-ups/metallica/KIRKfotoC.jpg
- ^ http://www.metallicaworld.co.uk/images/equipment/khwave.jpg
- ^ http://filepit.freewebs.com/montyjay/kirkguitars/BlackGibsonV/gibv2hum.jpg
- ^ Metallica.com
- ^ Guitar World - Covers Archive
[edit] External links
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