Wall of Mouths

Title: agreed

I concur… yes his guitar work on the black album contains some of the greatest solos in metal history.
Dont know why anybody would not like him…

Derivative of which artist? Have you heard any of his playing with Exodus. I still think that without Kirk Hammett, Metallica would be in big trouble. He writes a lot of their stuff too.
Lazy with the wah pedal? Do you mean he’s using the wah pedal more than ever? Oh so you think that when guitarists use the wah wah pedal a lot it’s a cheating way to sound good right? Help me out here Im learning this stuff.

FNYANKEZ wrote:

He’s okay. His stuff is pretty derivative…but then again who’s isn’t? (EVH & Jimi Hendrix being a few exceptions).

I think his older stuff is much better, it’s more diverse and aggresive. Those first four albums really influenced me.

Since the Black Album, I feel he’s gotten lazy with the wah pedal. I think part of the problem now a days though is he doesn’t have the spots to really let loose. He’s been confined to shorter solos because Metallica has stuck more to the 4 minute radio friendly song format.

His best stuff in the past 10 years was on Garage Inc, that ought to tell you something.

You’re right he’s not allowed to play solos anymore, at least on St. Anger. On Load and Reload he’s got some nice solos I think, but not so good as he used too play them off course. Live he still remains one of the best guitar players for me, so he still has the gift to play them. But I’ve heard that he’s gonna play solos again on their next album so I’m looking forward to that!

His solo’s are boring. Only 1 makeS me go ‘Fuck yeah’!
The Thing That Should Not Be is great!

Too gay for my liking.

zipless wrote:

Too gay for my liking.

Ha ha, him or his guitar playing?

Duca wrote:

You’re right he’s not allowed to play solos anymore, at least on St. Anger.

If you’d seen the SKOM documentary, you would have seen that Kirk was the one who was campaiging for no solos.

Tubthumper wrote:

If you’d seen the SKOM documentary, you would have seen that Kirk was the one who was campaiging for no solos.

They should get him a comfy chair then he doesn’t have to stand up on stage.

mr self destruct wrote:

Ha ha, him or his guitar playing?

We-ell, him! I mean look at that thing… Man or woman, gay or straight or bi. Jesus, these people should play folk music or be doing the rap thang but - God forbid - not RockandRoll. I do like the ‘tache though…

And for his guitar playing… rather boring. But hey, I never liked Metallica anyway. So I might be a wee bit biased.

matthew wrote:

Derivative of which artist? Have you heard any of his playing with Exodus. I still think that without Kirk Hammett, Metallica would be in big trouble. He writes a lot of their stuff too.
Lazy with the wah pedal? Do you mean he’s using the wah pedal more than ever? Oh so you think that when guitarists use the wah wah pedal a lot it’s a cheating way to sound good right? Help me out here Im learning this stuff.

He plays a pretty generic set of bends and runs. He’s a fine guitarist, don’t get me wrong but he didn’t revolutionize the instrument or anything.

And in terms of writing, Dave Mustaine contributed just as much (if not more) to Metallica’s success than Kirk (Four Horseman, Jump in the Fire, etc..) Most of the early stuff was James and Lars. And really it was the rhythms and arrangements which set them so far apart, not the solos.

Kirks earlier stuff had a big impact because it fit perfectly with what Metallica was doing, and at the time Metallica were way ahead of the curve in terms of originality.

Around/After the Black Album Metallica was following trends, not setting then, and Kirk was pretty much reined in (on album at least). His solos now are more blues based. Which in and of itself is not a bad thing. But he’s not the greatest.

Compare him to a great blues player (Hendrix or Clapton) he’s not too original. Compare him technically to other thrash guitarists like Alex Skolnick or Marty Friedman and his stuff is pretty pedestrian.

As for my “lazy with the Wah pedal”, he’s come to rely on it too much. It’s an easy habit to get into, where, instead of getting really creative you simply, throw in a bunch of repeat full-step bends and quick minor scale down the neck while rocking heavy on the wah and call it a solo.

I’m not bashing the guy. He’s a great player.
I just never buy into any of the “Greatest Ever” arguments. And I happend to think his older stuff (as well as Metallica music as a whole) was better and more original than the latter stuff.

Kirk is the 80s-90s generations version of Ace Frehley (even though Kirk’s a much better player). Ask anyone who grew up with Kiss, and Ace could do no wrong. But if you take an objective look at his playing, he’s not blazing any trails. He just happens to be the lead guitarist for a popular high-profile band. And some people will defend them to the end. I’m just not one of them.

Dennis wrote:

Erm, no he wasn’t! He was saying they shouldn’t have a rule either way, that the song should decide whether a solo is appropriate or not.

I think it’s clear from the film that Kirk’s opinions are both expressed far too timidly and ignored by James and Lars.

” if we dont put ONE solo on this album - it automatically cements it to a trend that is going on in music right now - and i think its totally trendy ” - Kirk Hammett SKOM

Erm, Yes he was !

I think that he didn’t decide for not playing them, He also said a month ago that he misses the solos so I choose the meaning of Dennis, he didn’t had a choice, James and Lars decide the fact that their are solos or not, not Kirk. But hey that’s my vision

Thank Fuck he didn’t - they would prob have sounded as boring as the ones on the Black album!!! :cool:

who’s decision was it to lose the mullets? THAT was the turning point.

Thank Fuck he didn’t - they would prob have sounded as boring as the ones on the Black album!!!

How can you say that?? The Black album is solo heaven and they only improve the songs and give them more substance!

As far as getting lazy with the wah wah, I never thought of that because all most of his solos on load and reload are really tasty in my opinion. They are really melodic and I think to listeners that don’t know how to play a guitar they just sound cool. Fuck analysing solos and asking whether it is hard enough to play to receieve applause, if it’s a good solo that compliments the song and sounds great I shout hell yeah!

Why the hell do you guys think he is in guitar magazines all the time and giving people all that advice? Yes, it helps that they have sold millions of album,which is partly because of kirk’s solos I might add, but the main reason he is seen in constantly in guitar mags is because the riffs and solos just fucking rock!

I’m not a huge Metallica fan or anything but I think a lot of people just rip off Metallica these days just because they went more blues. Because metalheads are so fucking ignorant and cant understand melody half the time they disrespect Metallica now saying that they sold out. I say fuck that! They wanted to try more bluesy stuff and that in itself within the metal world was brave and they damn well knew that it probably would’ve reduced sales. They dont care because they want to play what they want and I personally dont wanyt rock nads to act like Britney Spears and try do stuff that is easily understood and easily sold! Fuck that! I thought we listen to rock music for christ sakes!

If they choose not to play any solos because it’s what they want to do the let them do it! I would only hate it if they stopped the solos because it seems trendy at the time to do it, which sadly seems so. But I think they did it to try something new maybe?