Kirk Hammett is the greatest guitarist of all time - no question. He is awesome.

Take his wha pedal away, and he'd begging for a lesson from Randy Rhoads. Sad.

I’m a longtime Metallica fan and I have to say that Kirk is the perfect guitarist for Metallica. His style is engrained in the band and they simply wouldn’t be the same without him. That being said, calling Kirk the best guitarist ever is a monumental overstatement. He simply is not that good. I’m a musician and I listen to music, especially soloists, from a musician’s and a soloist’s perspective. I’ve seen Metallica more times than I can count over the years and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve listened to Kirk play a solo live, starting with the stock riff from the studio recording and then about halfway through he’ll lose it and fall back on the same psudo-blues wah-wha licks that he always plays. Now, this might not be a bad thing per se but the kicker is that no matter what key the band is playing (and being a metal band there aren’t that many), he plays the lick in the one key that he always does. Consequently he ends his solo out of key with the rest of the band. He also seems to fill up a good deal of space with the ever popular didilly didilly diddliy wheee… didilly didilly diddliy wheee…technique which really is not that impressive no matter how fast you play it. There are plenty of better guitarists in the metal genera let alone other styles of music. Wes Montgomery anyone? Pat Metheny anyone? Check him out and keep in mind that his solos are improvised often over extremely complex rhythmic and harmonic structures that most people don’t even understand.

I like his music but he's OVERRATED!!!

overrated as hell

Unforgiven Solo Sold it for me, in the top 5 no doubt for me.

Kirk Hammett is one of the greatest guitarists of all time, if not the greatest. His wicked guitar solos in Ride the Lightning, One, Fade to Black, etc. etc. etc. should, I think make him the best ever. I don't know why people don't like him. Maybe because the metal music, but still, the award is greatest guitarist, not best music genre.

P U!!!  his playing stinks!

I think Hammett lacks a sense of what fits together and what is tasteful. He has dexterity but I can't think of many solos or riffs that blow me away.

like many have said. Kirk Hammett is good but not close to the best,Dimebag Darrell you cant forget,Dave Mustaine,Angus Young the list is almost endless, he uses to much Wah, hes a good guitarist hes better than me by a long shot but im only 13,ill get better thats not the point
just think about it, there are more guitarists in the world and Kirk isnt one of them

super speed

To tell you the truth, hes good but Mustaine rules him with a mighty fist

who the crap is natasha? kirk is overrated anyway

Kirk Hammett owns. I must say. But like some said, he's not at the leading top for me though. I love Joe, and David Gilmore, and Eric Clapton..among other greats.

Note selection, phrasing, timing, you can't tell me that metal is not completely different because of this guy.  If James changed how people chug at the rythm section of music, Kirk changed how and when you solo.  He played exactly what you are supposed to play for the music Metallica wrote.  You couldn't change a note and not notice it.  He played all the right notes.  Not too fast, not too slow. Just right.

Good, but by no means the best. Anyone taught by Joe Satriani is going to be good, but he isn't in the same league as the top players. He had a few pretty impressive moments though, and some of his tone is nice.

Great guitarist. One of the most underrated.

way overrated

yea noones better than him except Marty Friedman, George Lynch, Dave Mustaine, Vito Bratta, Glenn Tipton, James Hetfield, Jake E. Lee, Jimmy Page, Randy Rhoads. Kirk's good but he uses E minor too much and waaay too much wah.

blaah, sloppy

Better than great, the best guitarist besides Eric Clapton. No one has matched his solos, and no one is better.

wank-o-rama

Kirk is probably my favorite guitarrist and musician. His leads sound great and are fairly technical. I haven't heard any lead better than "fade to black" or "one". One was also the 7th best guitar solo according to rolling stones. Kirk is The Man!

kirk is wayyy better than mustaine and whoever says that he just plays fast to cover up his shittiness is a retard cuz u can hear how his insanely fast solos correspond with the rhythm that james is keepin

Kirk is overrated.  He just uses his Wah pedal to compensate for his shitty playing.  He's just speed and patterns.  Hetfield is way better than Hammet.

hes the best

You forgot "Nothing Else Matters," Mad Hatter.  I'll also bring up "One" as another fine example of his work.

His solo's are some of the best I have heard. Particularly on "Call of Ktulu", "Master of Puppets", and the opening of "Fade to Black".

woww!!! Speed is his style, and his solos are blisteringly fast and filled with wah-wah induced noises

you are the best, kirk!!!!!!

kirk solo it's the best!!!

the great one!!

it's the best

Kirk Hammet is one of the greatest players of any genre, there is no denying his ability.

hahahahaha

Whose the greatest Metal guitarist ever? Kirk Hammett. Speed is his style, and his solos are blisteringly fast and filled with wah-wah induced noises. Few people play as fast as he does.

Greatest Song- One

kirk hammett is the guitarist number one!!
yeah the number one \m/

I love it !!!

KIIIIIRK !!!

kirk hammett CREATED hard rock, thrash metal, and rock

BEST METAL GUITARIST OF ALL TIME!!!!!!!!

If kirk had never joined Metallica, and they were still stuck with mustaine, the band would be nowhere nere as successful as they are today. I'm Not saying he carried Metallica, they're great enough on their own. Also kirk dosn't like to be judged on his guitar playing skills, he just wants to have fun doing what he loves and all you bastards get on his case saying he's no good. when you can play all his solos perfectly and all his riffs perfectly, then, maybe than, you can you shoot your big mouth off.Last out not least he made most of the solos, and some of the riffs for "Master of Puppets" which is the best heavy album of all time.
Kirk Hammett is god, Metallica for life

Take away his cry baby wah pedal and he's nothing!

wtf u guys on about, u only think his solos sound same cos in kill em all Dave mustaine was lead guitarist at the time... seriously guys Kirk = Best guitarist in the world and as for tit man saying he just finger taps lmao his plectrum moves faster then ure mums ass when im fucking her, seriously Best guitarist in world without a doubt not just for speed but his technique is unrivalled and have u heard him play his solo's live? yeah fucking pwned tbh s&m (Battery) gr8 use of wah wah dude he fucking ownz u, ure family, ure house, all ure worldly possesions and ure GF :P

Kirk is definetly an amazing guitarist and he's also the one how influenced me as a guitarist! Obviously he's not the greatest ever, but is definetly incredible!

Kirk Hammett is an awsome guitarist. he plays some of the best solos ive heard in my life time, to me, he plays them so fast but it really sounds slow to me like a sweet melody. He is one of the greatest guitarist of all times.

Allof you who think he is overrateddon't knwwhat you are talking about can listen to the albums and check out livemetallica.com download belgrade serbia '04 hamilton , ontario '04

Kirk Hammett Some of you think that he is over rated. Some of you think that he should play faster. Some of you think they could do better. Not many could play anything like him 25 years ago when Trash was a new genre. Kirk made history, and had the same influence over millions of people as Hendrix before him and the great shredders after him. Before running him down and call yourselves more worthy, please achieve the following: 1_ invente a new genre 2_ sell 200,000,000 albums 3_ play all his riffs perfectly (All of them) 4_ learn to be humble Because he has done all of that. Kirk is a Metal icon. Niky

VERY overrated metal guitarist. He suffers from 'the Boston syndrome'. That is, all his playing sounds pretty much the same. He is an excellent metal guitarist though. Great chops. His style just doesn't do much for me as compared to the hard rock/metal all time artistic greats like Akira Takasaki, Glenn Tipton, Uli Roth, Michael Schenker, Dave Murray, Tony Iommi, Randy Rhoads, Jake E. Lee, George Lynch, Yngwie Malmsteen, etc.

Some people written about Steve Vai and classical, Kirk also very good in classic. He plays with Santana played on his album. Played with Joe Satriani also with Steve Vai: "Like Kirk Hammett, when he was taking lessons, he'd just gotten into Metallica and some of the chord progressions nobody had ever soloed before." So when you write these things you just only know him from Metallica, not in full aspect.

good some solos are a littler similar however

Two words... insane solos.