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Kirk Lee Hammett (born on November 18 , 1962 ) is the Lead Guitar ist in the band Metallica . Hammett is one of the better-known students of guitarist and instructor Joe Satriani . In 2003, he was ranked 11th in the '' Rolling Stone '' BIOGRAPHY Early life Born in San Francisco to a Filipino mother and an Irish Merchant Marine father, he later attended De Anza High School in El Sobrante, California when his family moved to the East Bay which is 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 even took a job at Burger King to raise funds for a Marshall amplifier. Pre-Metallica Hammett's musical interests eventually drew him into the fledgling thrash metal genre. In 1982, 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 Hammett was invited to join Metallica after the 1983 dismissal of the band's original lead guitarist Dave Mustaine for substance abuse, just before Metallica was to record its first album, 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". He has recorded and toured with Metallica for 24 years. Though he is primarily Metallica's lead guitarist, Hammett has written and contributed riffs for Metallica songs since the mid-1980s (particularly in the in his solos (particularly on more recent albums), 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." He usually adds harmonies to his solos, as seen on Welcome Home (Sanitarium) , Disposable Heroes and The Thing That Should Not Be . 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". 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. Other appearances 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") At Mid-January 2007, ESP Guitar Company has announced the release of a 20 piece 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 40 guitars made and the price has been set at $9,999. Picture EQUIPMENT Guitars
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Kirk Hammett's first guitar was a cheap Montgomery Strat copy. The pickups had gold aluminum foil on them, and there wasn't even a name on the headstock. 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". Amplifiers
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Pickups, effects and other equipment
DISCOGRAPHY Exodus
Metallica (see Metallica Discography ) REFERENCES SEE ALSO REFERENCES |
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