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Famous Like Me > Composer > H > Kirk Hammett

Profile of Kirk Hammett on Famous Like Me

 
Name: Kirk Hammett  
   
Also Know As:
   
Date of Birth: 18th November 1962
   
Place of Birth: San Francisco, California, USA
   
Profession: Composer
 
 
From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia
Photo of Kirk Hammett from a live performance of Metallica in the late 90's.
Kirk Hammett
Birth Name Kirk Lee Hammett
Birth Date November 18, 1962
Place of Birth San Francisco, California
Marital Status Married
Eyes Brown
Hair Brown
Height 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)

Kirk Lee Hammett (born November 18, 1962 in San Francisco, California, USA) is the lead guitarist in heavy metal group Metallica.

Biography

Hammett was born to a Filipino mother and a Merchant Seaman father. He first took up guitar at age fifteen and became sufficiently skilled to study under guitar legend Joe Satriani. Hammett achieved his first musical success as the lead guitarist for Oakland thrash metal band Exodus. He gained an interest in music from his brother Rick's extensive record collection, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and UFO. It all led to him properly picking up the guitar when he was fifteen, his first being a Montgomery Ward catalog special accompanied by a shoe box with four inch speaker for an amp.

After picking up a 1978 Fender Stratocaster, Kirk experimented by mixing and matching guitar parts to find his perfect sound before falling for a 1974 Gibson Flying V. In a determined (and successful) effort to upgrade his equipment, Kirk even took a shift at Burger King to get the cash together for his first Marshall amp. Around that time, Kirk also co-founded Exodus with Paul Baloff, and the East Bay thrashers crossed paths with Metallica twice, in late 1982 and early 1983, as a support act.

Hammett was invited to join Metallica after the dismissal of Dave Mustaine for substance abuse. His playing style is widely imitated in all forms of heavy metal. In 2002, he was the first inductee into Guitar World magazine's "Hall of Fame". He has toured with Metallica for more than twenty years and is a role model for many modern guitarists.

Hammett has written riffs for Metallica songs since the mid-1980s. One of these riffs, "Enter Sandman", was written in a hotel room at 3:00 am, and became Metallica's most recognized song. It was the first track and single on Metallica's self-titled breakout album and was ranked 399th on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.

Kirk continues to bring not only a dazzling array of lead guitar parts to Metallica's music but also some savage rifferey, having started sharing 6-string duties with James during the 'Load' era. Kirk wanted to have guitar solos on Metallica's latest album, St Anger, but drummer Lars Ulrich and producer Bob Rock thought that the guitar solos didn't sound right in the songs. He is happily married to Lani, and lives in San Francisco along with a large collection of old Hollywood movie memorabilia, his two dogs Darla and Hoku, plus a few cats.

Equipment

Guitars

  • ESP Flying V
  • ESP Mummy
  • ESP Ouija
  • ESP Skull
  • ESP Spider
  • ESP Wavecaster (Only 3 in existence)
  • Gibson Les Paul
  • Jackson Randy Rhoads Model
  • ESP KH-2 (Main touring guitar) Kirk's signature model guitar is based upon the modifications he made to his M-II. (Kirk's Favorite guitar, nicknamed "Skully" because of the skull and crossbone inlays)

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 Amps

Cabinets

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

Accessories

  • Dunlop Tortex 0.88mm Custom Picks
  • Ernie Ball "Skinny Top Heavy Bottom" Strings (.10 - .52)
  • He also uses Dean Markley Strings

Trivia

  • Kirk Hammett's signature model guitar is available for sale
  • Hammett was friends with Primus bassist and vocalist Les Claypool as a child.
  • He is a vegetarian

See Also

  • Rolling Stone's List of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time
Kirk Hammett]]

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Kirk Hammett