How bad is Kirk Hammett - let's be honest.

geetarmikey

geetarmikey

Active member
Every video I've seen him featured in, whether it's on Live Shit '92 where his solo spot is unlistenable, Live Shit -Seattle where he butchers Little Wing, playing that horrendous first solo he planned out over the Unforgiven where Lars is in the background cringing his face off in Year in the Life..., trying out guitars in a guitar shop in the same vid playing shocking "blues licks", not being able to keep up with a riff Hetfield shows him in Some Kind of Monster and of course his awful vibrato and intonation.

I know it's easy to take the piss out of him, but he really has stolen a career in Metallica, I just can't see how they thought he was a great replacement for Mustaine and I'm not a Metallica fan-boy by any means!

Please link me a video of him doing something really great so I can be proved wrong... and no, the riff to Sandman doesn't count as that's probably the only great thing he's really come up with (And what a riff of course, so props for that).

Rant over!
 
spanny":xgyidgm0 said:
Shebazz":xgyidgm0 said:
He's no Synyster Gates
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We can just combine old threads?
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Sure
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The thing with Kirk, IMO, is that he's gotten worse as a professional guitarist. He had fire and played some greats stuff on the first few albums. I'll go so far as to say he was good up until after the Black Album. He's been on a steady decline since then. I think he got so much success and money, that he never picks up the guitar to practice or move forward as a player. He'd rather spend his time and money surfing and collecting monster stuff. Also, all the accolades he received back in his younger days served up everything he needed to boost his ego as a player. And yes, I think he stole a career Metallica.
 
Well as I always say in any thread Hammett related, "He may not be the best lead player in the world, but he is the best one in Metallica"

There is SOME reason they keep him around. None of us may ever know the answer to that question. Kind of like Maiden keeping "that other guy" around. At least Janik can play. Kirk is the luckiest guitar player in rock/metal. Was in the right place at the right time. I guess their bonds of friendship go farther than needing Rusty Cooley on leads.
 
If I could trade playing skill with him, I would.


He's come up with some good stuff over the years, especially the earlier albums. But lets be honest, the whole band has gone down hill. Hetfield's singing is far worse than it once was, and their music on the last 3-4 albums just plain sucks. They sound like a garage band.

I laughed out loud when I read about that they went days and days listening to their own old stuff trying to get back into that "mindset and style" before they started recording their last album. Same crap, different album cover IMHO.
 
JerEvil":1sg3nyj7 said:
..Kind of like Maiden keeping "that other guy" around. At least Janik can play...
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Play what? yo-yo? LOL

I agree that Kirk's playing has gone downhill, while at the same time (especially in the last 10 years) younger bands have lifted the bar of playing standards so he seems to doubly struggle. IMO Kirk is playing better now that he was a decade ago, but yeah, his time has gone. Likewise the rest of them - the fire that gave them energy and excitement, and gave them the drive to better themselves as musicians has long since turned to a flicker..
 
Kirk is better than most give him credit it for. I agree his playing has gone downhill over the years, but he is still a talented albeit currently lazy guitarist. I will admit I am not a fan of tearing other musicians down, what purpose does it serve?
 
Some the solos on the last disc are excellent, some suck. I blame anyone in the control room nodding their head yes
As for live, he was good the few times I saw them...probably lost some chops surfing and living the big life

Synster can cut his head for sure
 
He is good/lucky enough to be wealthy and doing what he wants while people talk shit about his lack of skills. :LOL: :LOL:

I can't stand the band :scared:
 
JerEvil":tze16gvx said:
Well as I always say in any thread Hammett related, "He may not be the best lead player in the world, but he is the best one in Metallica"

There is SOME reason they keep him around. None of us may ever know the answer to that question. Kind of like Maiden keeping "that other guy" around. At least Janik can play. Kirk is the luckiest guitar player in rock/metal. Was in the right place at the right time. I guess their bonds of friendship go farther than needing Rusty Cooley on leads.
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While agree he is there for a reason, I think Hetfield is a better lead player. Especially, if you believe that AJFA was all Hetfield and Lars...which who knows on that one lol.
 
maybe the guys hating could throw up a clip of the solo to dyers eve or something....should be pretty easy right?
you want to talk luck how about mike mccready and kim thaiyl lol
 
i might be one of the only people that likes kirks playing.
i think his solos on master of puppets,orion and sanitarium are awesome, i love creeping death, fade to black, ktulu, ajfa, and pretty much the first 5 albums. growing up and listening to kirk actully helped make me wanna play guitar, on those albums he sounds pretty good. i think play live hes no so great and i can understand how alot of people find him overrated. his playing in the later years has not been very good.
i listen to metallica just about everyday and rarely is it live stuff, its usually the stuff on the albums recorded in the studio and to my ears his solos sound pretty good. i think master of puppets is a perfect song, but i am a fan and to people who arent fans it isnt so special.
 
His vibrato has always been total shit BUT let's give him some credit, those first few albums were pretty solid and his lead playing through most of them were pretty damned good. Speed was there even if he mostly abused the pentatonic scale. Also for Kirk Hammett, it sounds like he actually used to compose his solos. The stuff on And Justice is probably his best work but after that, laziness, even more shrill vibrato , and zero inspiration kicked in. It's been a mess since 92' and that is probably being generous. He's horrible.
 
He and James Hetfield are the reason I started getting into playing guitar. I used to watch the live shit vhs like every day.
 
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