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.