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I don't think success has changed us as people at all. We are the same lunatics that we were when this band first got going. We never see ourselves as being on a higher level than our fans.

Kirk Hammett

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Kirk Hammett
Age: 62
Born: 1962
Born: November 18
Guitarist
Songwriter
San Francisco County
California
Kirk Lee Hammett
Firsts
Metallica
First
Band
Going
Level
Never
Higher
Think
Fans
Thinking
Levels
People
Changed
Success
Lunatics

More quotes by Kirk Hammett

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Musically, there's a movement called the flatted fifth that's really evil-sounding. It was outlawed by the Catholic Church during the Middle Ages. That movement is what gives you a real evil sound that conjures up dark, fantastic images. It's like an audio horror movie. It personifies what a horror movie is about.
Kirk Hammett
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After months of playing air guitar to 'Free Bird', what really got me into guitar was watching a documentary about Jimi Hendrix and picking up the Woodstock soundtrack. Listening to his version of 'Star Spangled Banner' and 'Purple Haze.' My brother played acoustic guitar and, idolising him, I thought, 'I'm going to get a guitar.'
Kirk Hammett
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I'm death obsessed. You know, I have death all over my house. I have a stuffed two headed sheep!
Kirk Hammett
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Guitar playing is both extremely easy for me and extremely difficult for me at the same time.
Kirk Hammett
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If I had unlimited funds, wall space and storage, I would collect a lot more things, like 'Planet of the Apes,' 'Star Wars,' science fiction stuff, autographs, and prop guns and weapons. I have to draw the line somewhere.
Kirk Hammett
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Although I'm a lead guitarist, I'd say that a good 95 percent of my time onstage is spent playing rhythm.
Kirk Hammett
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I'm not into that whole Satanic thing. It's just something to fall back on if you don't have much imagination. Singing you fiftieth song about having lunch with Satan--I'm not into it. It's silly.
Kirk Hammett
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Much of my playing is rhythmic and choppy I use a lot of double stops. The wah just accents all those stops and chops and brings out the rhythmic aspect that much more.
Kirk Hammett
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When I got my first Marshall amp, it was so empowering. No one ever forgets their first Marshall amp if you're a guitar player pursuing a big powerful sound. I mean, no one ever forgets their first Marshall amp.
Kirk Hammett
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Ampeg made incredible guitar heads in the early Nineties and then stopped. And I don't know why. The one we used had a nice clean, warm sound, and it blended well with the other amps that were in the studio.
Kirk Hammett
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If a guitar is too easy for me to play, it makes me too laid back. I like to battle with my guitar.
Kirk Hammett
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Basically I just had to say, 'Screw everyone around me - from now on I'm just gonna play what I think is important to me and our music.' So I gave the big finger to all the current trends in technical wizardry, and just went off and did what I felt was best for the songs.
Kirk Hammett
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Horror movies started to wane around the onset of World War II, and after World War II, when all the troops came home, people weren't really interested in seeing horror movies, because they had the real horror right on their front doorsteps.
Kirk Hammett
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Guitar players in the nineties seem to be reacting against the technique oriented eighties.
Kirk Hammett
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My guitars are my umbilical cord. They're directly wired into my head.
Kirk Hammett
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For a while I was collecting Satan and devil stuff - you know, anything that had to do with old Beelzebub or Lucifer. But I had to put the brakes on it, because there's a lot of stuff out there, and the collection was just growing too quickly.
Kirk Hammett
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Metallica is a very complicated, fragile thing. On the outside, it's all metal, but on the inside it's very delicate.
Kirk Hammett
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The movie 'Black Cat,' from 1934, is one of my favorite movies.
Kirk Hammett
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I think it's morally wrong to keep someone away from what keeps him happy.
Kirk Hammett
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For the 'Load' album, I was experimenting so much with tone that I had to keep journals on what equipment I was using. For 'Hero of the Day', I know I used a 1958 Les Paul Standard with a Matchless Chieftain, some Boogie amps and a Vox amp - again, they're all blended.
Kirk Hammett