How would you rate Kirk Hammett as a guitarist?

How would you rate Kirk Hammett as a guitarist?

  • Total voters
    14
Skills are average, but he's played more memorable solos on much better songs than loads of guitarists who are way better than him have ever managed. Plus, he has a distinctive tone and trademark wah sound, which again a lot of guitarists who spend half their lives practicing never manage to get such a basic requirement.
 
Azas said:
On first five albums he was good/great.
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I echo that sentiment.

Starting with the black album, I felt that the band (especially Lars), started to get lazy with their playing to "fit in" with the transiton to heavy metal. Then, with load and reload, they got even lazier. It's a shame, because Lars showed great potential in AJFA.

Kirk Hammett is a pretty solid guitarist, but especially with recent releases, he is missing the effort and passion that was shown on the first five Metallica records.
 
The most overrated guitarist in metal. He's a super nice guy and I love the energy he brings to Metallica but I could count on one hand the solos I actually like from him. Definitely the weakest link in Metallica especially as the band has progressed.
 
Diesel 11 said:
The most overrated guitarist in metal. He's a super nice guy and I love the energy he brings to Metallica but I could count on one hand the solos I actually like from him. Definitely the weakest link in Metallica especially as the band has progressed.
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I feel that Lars is the weakest link, especially after AJFA. He was great on that album and was heightening his potential, but on the albums after, he got lazy and started to be a prick.
 
Lars is a key component in the writing process, though. Kirk usually just shows up and does the solos, with some contributions. Lars's drumming can be annoying sometimes but usually it's not flat-out bad. 72 Seasons was the first time where it was straight-up unbearable and that's mostly down to the production IMO. And say what you want about The Black Album but his drum sound is such an integral part of the album and adds a lot of power that works in a pretty unique way to offset the quieter moments in songs like "The Unforgiven" and "Nothing Else Matters" and amps up the intensity in bangers like "Enter Sandman" and "Sad But True". Also a big influence on the genre as a whole going forward. He's definitely far from perfect and he's definitely a bit lazy but he can usually put together a solid enough performance that suits the songs. Even on St. Anger.
 
Worse than many guitarists I know and like, but a lot better than the metal public makes him out to be. I'd go with "good".
 
Diesel 11 said:
Lars is a key component in the writing process, though. Kirk usually just shows up and does the solos, with some contributions. Lars's drumming can be annoying sometimes but usually it's not flat-out bad. 72 Seasons was the first time where it was straight-up unbearable and that's mostly down to the production IMO. And say what you want about The Black Album but his drum sound is such an integral part of the album and adds a lot of power that works in a pretty unique way to offset the quieter moments in songs like "The Unforgiven" and "Nothing Else Matters" and amps up the intensity in bangers like "Enter Sandman" and "Sad But True". Also a big influence on the genre as a whole going forward. He's definitely far from perfect and he's definitely a bit lazy but he can usually put together a solid enough performance that suits the songs. Even on St. Anger.
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True, he does contribute a lot to the songwriting process.

I think his drumming on the black album is still good, but just not as much as on the previous albums (even on Kill Em All where he was just banging on the drums like a monkey). However, on songs like Nothing Else Matters and The Unforgiven, his drumming is way to loud/hard, which is a bit distracting on softer tracks like those.

Maybe I'm hating on Lars more due to recency bias of the bland and bad 72 Seasons album
 
Good skills but one of the worst guitar tones in Metal. The fact that how he uses his tone trough the Peter Green and Gary Moore guitar makes me cry.
 
Riggatoni said:
Maybe I'm hating on Lars more due to recency bias of the bland and bad 72 Seasons album
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Yeah the drum sound was ridiculously bad, hi-hat sounded like fucking "Jingle Bells". It wouldn't have been the end of the world if the mix was better but that was more water than a Bud Light.
 
Diesel 11 said:
Yeah the drum sound was ridiculously bad, hi-hat sounded like fucking "Jingle Bells". It wouldn't have been the end of the world if the mix was better but that was more water than a Bud Light.
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And I bet the mixers/producer used pro tools or AI to fix his playing on every track. But those drums are so annoying and awfully mixed.
 
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