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" The concept of clearing one's mind before performing a task so that it is consumed by nothing but that task, yet is open at the same time to anything that might happen - that concept can be applied to playing guitar, and it's enormously helpful for improvising. "

Kirk Hammett

Open

Nothing

Mind

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" I was really, really wild in my early twenties and a bit self-destructive. "

" I feel like I've matured more musically than I have personally. But I totally embrace what becoming older has to offer. I find the wisdom that comes with each passing year is a trip. "

" When I see my kids totally into their Legos, it brings me back to the days I was hanging out and playing with my monster models. It brings me there in a second. "

Kirk Hammett

Days

Hanging

" On 'Metallica,' I recorded six or seven different guitar solos for almost every song, took the best aspects of each solo, mapped out a master solo and made a composite. Then I learned how to play the composite solo, tightened it up and replayed it for the final version. "

" It really shocked me just to hear of the fans' response to 'St. Anger' not having guitar solos. "

" Although I'm a lead guitarist, I'd say that a good 95 percent of my time onstage is spent playing rhythm. "

" When people are confronted with something they've never seen before, they really don't know how to react. "

" 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. "

" Guitar playing is both extremely easy for me and extremely difficult for me at the same time. "

" I think it goes without saying that a lot of big horror fans are just nerds and geeks. "

" A life lived unexplored is a life not worth living. "

" It's definitely true that Stevie Ray Vaughan is one of my all-time favorite guitarists. "

" The same sensations that you get in heavy metal are in horror movies. Heavy metal sounds evil and horror movies are evil, ha ha! "

" Technology has given us convenience, but at the same time it's making musicians work harder in that if you really want to make money making music and selling albums, you have to go out there and perform. And hope you sell stuff like merch, and get on YouTube, and all the other ancillary sort of things that go along with that. "

" A good horror movie should have peaks and valleys, a good horror movie should move you emotionally; a good horror movie should be exciting to watch and energizing in a weird kind of way. "

" My musical tastes change every week. "

" I love horror movies in space. I love it when the genre switches over and what was sci-fi becomes horror. "

" Guitar players in the nineties seem to be reacting against the technique oriented eighties. "

" Just because you know umpteen billion scales, it doesn't mean you have to use them all in a solo. "

" I've been into horror movies ever since I was five years old. "

" I've learned that there's a signature Metallica sound, and if we stray too far from that, our fans get impatient, or they just don't understand, or they miss the point. And I'm not saying that's a good thing or a bad thing; it's just something we have to contend with. "

" There's something about a wah pedal that really gets my gut going! People will probably say, 'He's just hiding behind the wah.' But that isn't the case. It's just that those frequencies really bring out a lot of aggression in my approach. "

" I feel really fortunate that, in playing guitar and surfing, I've found two things that mean so much to me, and which really complement each other. There's definitely a spiritual thing to both of them; they totally connect you to a higher realm. "

Kirk Hammett

Guitar

Mean

" I love this pedal to death. The only way you could keep me from playing one is by chopping off my legs! "

Kirk Hammett

Way

You

" 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. "

" 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. "

" One thing I've noticed over the years is that young players - I mean 10- and 12-year-olds - really like my guitar style. There's something in my guitar style that they totally can latch onto and learn quickly, and then go from there to your Yngwie Malmsteens or your Steve Vais or whatever. "

" 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. "

" I would have to say I'm bored with the standard rock, guitar solos, but I've done it for five albums now, and this time I wanted to go in a completely different direction. I wasn't interested in showing off any more. "

" 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. "