Kirk Hammett Talks Vintage Guitars, Musical Legacy And The Power Of Inspiration

As far as iconic heavy metal guitarists go, Kirk Hammett needs little to no introduction. Hammett has composed some of the most popular riffs and solos in the entire heavy metal genre, and he’s played thousands of shows across the globe touring with Metallica for now over 40 years. There are very few guitarists these days that are in the same echelon as Kirk Hammett, furthermore there’s even fewer who’ve been performing at the his level for as long.

Suffice it to say, Hammett’s playing has continued to reach new audiences over recent years, whether it’s new guitarists just discovering the iconic solos of “Fade to Black” and “One,” or viewers of Netflix’s Stranger Things becoming infatuated with the ripping guitar riffs of Metallica’s “Master of Puppets.” It’s truly astonishing how Metallica has consistently maintained their relevance for over 40 years – sonically and aesthetically, the band’s brand always finds a way to connect with the current zeitgeist.

With multiple decades’ worth of shows and album-tour cycles under their belts, like any tenured band, Metallica has gone through plenty of changes, whether it was chopping their hair off in the ‘90s or tuning down their guitars on 2003’s St. Anger. However, one constant throughout Metallica’s career has been their use of Gibson guitars. Kirk Hammett has been a longtime Gibson player since he first joined Metallica – Hammett earned a formidable reputation in the early ’80s thrashing on his now-iconic 1979 Gibson Black Flying V.

These days, Metallica’s Kirk Hammett and James Hetfield continue to melt faces with a number of unique Gibson and ESP guitars. More recently Hammett’s guitar collection has drawn attention with a number of rare vintage guitars, specifically his one-of-a-kind 1959 Gibson Les Paul, aka “Greeny.” The guitar once owned by Fleetwood Mac founder Peter Green before he sold it to Thin Lizzy’s Gary Moore, has been a staple of Kirk Hammett’s live guitars for over a decade now.

However, Greeny is one of several unique guitars Hammett has been known for over the years. In collaboration with Gibson Publishing, Hammett’s recently has just announced his very own The Collection: Kirk Hammett guitar book, which showcases not only the rare and unique guitars in his collection but some of the prized guitars that he’s ripped on over the last four decades with Metallica.

Speaking on all things guitar and Metallica related, Kirk Hammett discusses his vintage guitar collection, musical legacy, and why he still holds great value to the power of inspiration.

These days, which guitars in your collection do you find yourself picking up most often for jamming and practicing?

Kirk Hammett: Well man, I can’t stop playing Greeny because Greeny is my best sounding guitar, and as a guitar player you kinda gravitate to what sounds best. And it’s just crazy because hands down, Greeny is the best sounding guitar I have and I’m constantly A-Bing guitars because I’m a little ‘OCD’ about it. I have yet to find a guitar that that sounds remotely similar to Greeny.

Having said that, you know, I find myself playing late sixties maple capped Stratocasters. And particularly 1967 maple capped Strats are really unusual in that they’re rare because in 1967 Fender was going to cancel the Stratocaster because it wasn’t selling. But then Are You Experienced [by Jimi Hendrix] came out, and that album changed history for Fender guitars to this day. But because they were about to be canceled in 1967, the batch that got out in 1967 were amazing. First of all, they put maple caps on a lot of the guitars from that period, which is a custom thing. And then the pickups seem to be hotter. It’s really amazing, they just seem to be hotter.

And, if you kind of do some investigating, it’s interesting because Jimi Hendrix played a ’67 Strat, Ritchie Blackmore played a ’67 Strat, and David Gilmour played a ’67 Strat. There’s a lot of ’67 Strat players out there and they have a unique sound, the ’67 and ’68 Strats. And so if I’m not playing Greeny I’m playing the 67 Strat I have. When I’m not playing that, I’m playing a a black ES-335, a ’59, that’s in [The Collection] book.

And if I’m not playing that, I’m playing a newly acquired 1955 Esquire. And it’s the very first Esquire I’ve ever had, and I love it to death. It’s a really amazing sounding guitar and a lot more versatile than I realized.

As it relates to one of your most cherished guitars, the 1959 Gibson Les Paul “Greeny,” you’ve described yourself as a ‘caretaker’ rather than an owner of this guitar given its rich history. Is this relationship with Greeny exclusive to that guitar, or is this similar to how you feel about a number of the vintage guitars in your collection?

KH: Pretty much. A long time ago, I just got over the concept of of what ownership really means when I was collecting movie posters. And when you really think hard about it we can’t really own anything because of the cycle of our lives. And what we think we own, we just kinda have. You know? Because we’re not immortal. And we cannot own something really. You can really only own something if you’re around forever to have authority over it, but that’s just not the case.

Sooner or later, you know, I’m gonna have to pass on every single guitar I have. So I grappled for about a year over what ownership means and what it means to be an owner, and I came to the conclusion that no one ever owns anything in the world except their own consciousness, their soul, their awareness. That’s the only thing that human beings really own. And so, having said that, I just saw myself as a caretaker for everything that’s in my possession.

And that kind of attitude takes a lot of responsibility and stress just off the whole situation, just knowing that I’m a caretaker and I’d be blessed to have these guitars in my possession. I’ve paid to have them in my possession, and sooner or later I’ll move on from all of this, all these guitars. So, I mean, yeah, absolutely, that sense of being a caretaker is pretty strong with me. And I totally completely accept it and embrace that.

It’s not that I’m bummed that I don’t truly own anything. Not at all. Because I get to spend real quality time with all these amazing guitars and use them as tools for my creativity and music and expression. So I feel very very fortunate.

But at the end of the day man I’m just a guy getting all this stuff together and putting it in one place and saying, ‘hey, instead of having to look 80 different places to see 88 different guitars, you can just come here and just see this collection of guitars that I built’. And there’s a running thread through all these guitars in that they’re pretty rare and they’re all very unique. And, that’s pretty much where I stand in terms of seeing myself as a collector or caretaker more than anything else. And I’m glad to do it, man. I feel blessed and I feel lucky.

There’s a number of different guitars that you play with Metallica and that you’ve played throughout your career. Among the guitars in your collection, if you had to choose, are there one or two guitars that you feel best represents your career and sound as a guitarist?

KH: You know, there’s two or three definitely. I mean, the [ESP] Mummy guitar is very important to me because it was one of those guitars right when I got it, it looked great, it played great, and it sounded great. Just, like, right out of the gate. And I was just like, wow this is a perfect guitar. And when I started playing it in 1995 or 1996 or something, I never stopped playing it. And it is probably my most played guitar other than Greeny.

And so, you know, the Mummy guitar means a lot to me. Also, the ESP Ouija Board guitars mean a lot to me too because I love the graphics. And over the years I’ve had so many different permutations and different permutations that sound different to other permutations, but when it comes to the Ouija guitar the very first Ouija Board guitars were great.

But about ten years ago, I started making metallic finish Ouija Board guitars, and there’s something about that metallic finish that just really made these Ouija Board guitars sound better. So the purple metallic Ouija Board guitar that I have is undoubtedly one of my best sounding ESPs, hands down, and then it’s the Mummy guitar and then I have a natural, I guess it’s mahogany finish ESP Ouija Board guitar that just has so many riffs in it. Every time I pick up that guitar, it just composes music automatically just by me holding it, or that’s what it sounds like. These guitars just mean so much to me, and I think people can gather that.

From a songwriting standpoint, do you attribute certain guitars in your collection to riffs or songs you wrote with them?

KH: Oh yeah, well, me and my original Flying V, my ’79 Gibson Black Flying V, that guitar just had a lot of music in it. And I was just like when I got that guitar, it was just like riff upon riff upon riff, because it had the sound that I was looking for. Again, humbucker pickups into a Marshall and it’s just as long as I wasn’t traveling and I dialed my sound in, I was happy. But I believe that riffs exist in guitars and they just need to be coaxed out. James [Hetfield] is the same way, and we talk about it all the time – “Oh, man, that guitar has so many riffs in it,” or “it’s trying to get them out. And, you know,” I shake in agreement, “yeah I know what you mean, man.”

There’s certain guitars that are just screaming to be just expressive. Greeny is one of them. Greeny does not wanna retire. Greeny refuses to retire. Greenie demands to be heard, and Greeny demands attention. I mean, I give Greeny all the attention and all the opportunity and in return, Greeny gives me music, man. Greeny continues to inspire me and gives me music. And I tell you one thing, after doing this forty, fifty years or so, I refuse to really work hard on music anymore, and I refused to about ten years ago. Spontaneity is the key to the best ideas. The best ideas are the ideas you don’t think about. They just come to you.

So literally, like, every day, I just sit and I go, ‘what do you got for me?’ And then something comes out. Literally every day. And it’s a problem because, you know, I get to a point where I have all this music, and then I have to do something with it, which is part of the deal. You gotta do something with this music that comes to you. You gotta formulate it and make it relevant or make it mean something, or else the music is gonna stop coming.

So, I mean, that’s kind of how I see it. And, you know, it’s bordering on the metaphysical, but I don’t know how else to describe it. I can’t put it in scientific terms. I can’t put it in layman’s terms. I can’t put it in musical terms. I can only say that things come and I feel like a vessel, and it is the muse, and the muse is whispering music in my ear. And I respond, I don’t question it at all. I just follow it through and make sure that it’s heard in some way or another.

It’s a pretty weird thing, but this is a conclusion I’ve come to after freaking playing guitar for almost fifty years. It’s crazy. But, you know, at the same time I love it. I embrace it, and I hope other people feel the same way. I hope people recognize what I’m talking about in them and in their music and in their playing. I really hope that.

Apart from your unique style of playing, one thing that has always separated you from other iconic guitarist has been your consistent enthusiasm and love for the guitar as an instrument. How have you maintained such a healthy relationship with the guitar and guitar playing after all these years?

KH: I’ve been this way ever since the very beginning. Ever since I first saw a guitar it looked like a hot rod or a rocket ship or something. It looked like something that had momentum and speed, and it was some sort of vehicle. And, I don’t know what it is, but I’ve always just loved my guitar and my amp. And I love music, and I love playing, and I love learning things. I love playing with people, I love discoveries. I’m inspired a lot. I’m inspired almost every day and just like my whole world is wrapped up in music. And ever since I could remember, you know, I’ve had music in my head. I’ve had a jukebox in my head.

I can recall songs and listen to them completely in my head, which I think a lot of musicians can do. Music is constantly playing in my head. And, you know, when I want to, I can just daze off and just listen to the music in my head for it seems like forever. And so when a guitar came into my immediate orbit, it made sense. It made perfect sense because ever since I can remember there was music in my house, whether it’s classical music, bossa nova, jazz, you know, freaking opera, which I cannot sit through even to this day.

But, I’ve always had music around me and in my head. And even today, I woke up and there’s f**ing, like, three riffs in my head. I had to grab my guitar and just pound them out. Like it’s who I am. And I have so many goddamn guitars, I have to tell myself, don’t look at guitars, don’t buy any more guitars.

But for me, I’ve done a lot of investigating and research. Music is ancient. There’s no point where anyone can pinpoint the beginning of music. It’s freaking ancient, and the guitar is almost as ancient as music itself. You know, people say the first guitars were rabbit traps. They’d put a carrot in a box with strings over the hole, and the rabbit would squeeze through the strings but wouldn’t be able to get back out.

The guitar and the kithara have always been around ever since the gods. And the gods are depicted holding lyres and kitharas, and those two instruments were the precedent for guitars. Those little instruments that Pythagoras split into, he took the tension of the string and split it and created the octave, and then he split it three more times to create the first, the second, and the third, and then he split it more to create arpeggios and scales.

So my point being is that I’m just a part of a freaking long legacy of people who just love music and just feel like their whole life revolves around music from beginning to end. And we can get even deeper metaphysically and I could say, you know, it feels like I’ve always been a musician through all these countless lifetimes I’ve been through.

It just feels like I’m always returning back to the guitar and that sense of familiarity when I hear music. It’s crazy and it’s insane and I don’t really know what to say about all these feelings other than it’s what I feel, and those are the thoughts that pop into my brain.

I believe in the power of inspiration and that’s because the power of inspiration hit me so hard when I was 15 years old, whether it’s Hendrix or Michael Shanker or Jeff Beck or Richie Blackmore. That power of inspiration hit me like a brick, and it still motivates me to this day. And I hope and I hope that if I have just 10 percent of that inspiring sort of ability in other people, I’m gonna freaking pass from this earth a happy happy man. Because I’ve contributed a lot in the world of music, in the world of art and expression, but man the real ace in the hole is inspiring other people to make music and the music of the future.