In a recent conversation during an episode of The Metallica Report podcast, Kirk Hammett opened up about the technical demands of playing Metallica‘s music, providing an unexpected perspective for those who have followed the band’s 40+ years of career.
“I gotta tell you. I know that people are going to kill me but Metallica‘s music isn’t that difficult for me to play!” Hammett stated. “It’s difficult for me to play bebop – now that’s difficult shit to play, okay? There are jazz progressions out there where there’s a chord change every beat, that’s difficult bro! That’s mind-bending, learning how to solo over that. That’s where my head is at – or looking at great classic solos from great soloists and trying to get deep into the theory side of things and looking at it musically and seeing what their approach was.”
Reflecting on his four-decade career with Metallica, and how the music is somehow ingrained in him, Hammett explained: “Metallica‘s music, I’ve been playing it for the last 40 years. Of course, it’s going to be easy for me. It’s because I’m a guitar player.”
In another section of the episode, Hammett touched on his formative years studying under guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani. Satriani, renowned for his technical prowess and innovative approach to guitar playing, has mentored numerous influential musicians throughout his career. His roster of students reads like a who’s who of rock guitar, including Steve Vai, Primus‘ Larry LaLonde, and Testament‘s Alex Skolnick, among others.
The conversation took an interesting turn when the host mentioned Satriani‘s rendition of Metallica’s hit song “Enter Sandman” during his most recent tour and his praise for the solo. Hammett responded with evident enthusiasm, expressing his admiration for Satriani‘s work and reiterating the mentor’s significance in his life (transcribed by Guitar): “That’s absolutely, totally, completely wonderful. I love so many of his solos. He’s Yoda, he’s my Yoda, okay? Every time Yoda says ‘Luke, Luke, you’re doing it!’, that’s how I kind of feel.”
Satriani‘s teaching philosophy, as he himself recently explained, focuses on guiding students to discover their own musical voice rather than imposing strict rules. He recounted his experience teaching Hammett: “Kirk would come in and say, ‘This is a rehearsal tape, we’re working on the song. What key is this in?’ And it was brand-new music! I mean, it was different from what other musicians had been doing for the last hundred years. And I’d say, ‘Well, I’m not going to tell you what to play. But here, I’ll tell you how to figure it out. And these are the choices. And then you just go do Kirk Hammett once you learn this stuff.'”
