The best guitarist ever

[Broni]

Obviously, I said at the beginning, the list is never ending.
If I have few free minutes, I may update it with the names you mentioned.

[JJ 3000]

It took Kirk Hammett a long time to get where he is now artistically. Extremely talented, yes. But he is a James Hetfield protege...

What??
Hammet is Joe Satriani's protege.
He was already an accomplished guitarist before he joined Metallica.
James and Lars had gotten rid of Dave Mustaine on their way to New York to record Kill 'Em All. The record company (Megaforce) flew Kirk in to take Dave's place.

[evilfantasy]

Trust me, I know the history of Metallica

Hetfield wrote and recorded (almost) all of both lead and rhythm guitar parts up until The Black Album. It wasn't until then that James and Lars started giving him creative freedom. Kirk is extremely talented and might have done as good a job as James but that we will never know. That's also a big reason Jason Newsted left the band. He wanted to do small side projects during their down time but James wouldn't allow him to do anything other than be the Metallica bassist. James and Lars both are a couple of control freaks.

On one of their TV specials Kirk vents about how hard it was for him because when he did get to record both James and Lars would be over his shoulder wagging their fingers at him if he wasn't doing exactly as they wanted.

[JJ 3000]

Are you saying that James played all of the solos on all of those albums?

He may have technically written the guitar parts, but I find it hard to believe that he actually performed them. He isn't nearly fast enough to pull that off. If he was that technically proficient - there would be no "lead guitarist" in the band. James would just be the only guitar player.

On one of their TV specials Kirk vents about how hard it was for him because when he did get to record both James and Lars would be over his shoulder wagging their fingers at him if he wasn't doing exactly as they wanted.

Which is to say, that neither of them could do it themselves. 

Besides, if you listen to "No Life Till Leather" and "Kill 'Em All", back to back. You can tell a huge difference in the solos. Hammet brought his own style to the band. And when you get into "Ride The Lightning" you can definitely hear Kirk's influence on the music.

[evilfantasy]

Are you saying that James played all of the solos on all of those albums

Yes he wrote and recorded most of it. In the recording studio he can do it all. But he can't do it all on stage...

Metallica (1981-present) - http://www.answers.com/topic/james-hetfield

Until the mid-1990s, Hetfield recorded all rhythm tracks and most harmony tracks. Since the recording of Load, Kirk Hammett is recording rhythm guitars as well. James occasionally plays guitar solos, too, such as "Nothing Else Matters", the outro solo on "The Outlaw Torn", the second solo on "To Live Is to Die", the second solo on "Orion" and the first interlude solo on "Master of Puppets". He also writes the majority of the guitar harmonies, as well as writing the lyrics, vocal melodies, and co-arranging the songs with Ulrich.

If he was that technically proficient - there would be no "lead guitarist" in the band. James would just be the only guitar player.

That was Dave Mustane. He plays lead and sings. Nobody can play lead and rhythm guitar live!

Besides, if you listen to "No Life Till Leather" and "Kill 'Em All", back to back. You can tell a huge difference in the solos.

That's because both Mustane and Hetfield were writing music on that album. Remember Mustane never got to record with Metallica but he did write some of the music they used.

[Aegis]

Nobody can play lead and rhythm guitar live!

Oh, I don't know about that...some players get amazing sounds just playing solo.

[patio]

Al DiMeola can...i've seen it many times...

[evilfantasy]

OK maybe Nobody is too broad of a statement. Nobody can do Metallica songs playing both lead and backup live

[patio]

Now i see what you meant...

   

[JJ 3000]

Until the mid-1990s, Hetfield recorded all rhythm tracks and most harmony tracks. Since the recording of Load, Kirk Hammett is recording rhythm guitars as well. James occasionally plays guitar solos, too, such as "Nothing Else Matters", the outro solo on "The Outlaw Torn", the second solo on "To Live Is to Die", the second solo on "Orion" and the first interlude solo on "Master of Puppets". He also writes the majority of the guitar harmonies, as well as writing the lyrics, vocal melodies, and co-arranging the songs with Ulrich.

Yes, I know that. James does not play the good solos. You can definitely tell a Hetfeild solo. They suck! Like the solos on Nothing Else Matters and Breadfan. They are slow and sloppy. That article that you cited doesn't say the James plays all of the solos, it says that he "occasionally" plays some solos (the crappy ones).

What I'm saying is, Kirk does play almost all of the solos on the studio recordings of almost every one of those songs.

He may have technically written the guitar parts, but I find it hard to believe that he actually performed them. He isn't nearly fast enough to pull that off. If he was that technically proficient - there would be no "lead guitarist" in the band. James would just be the only guitar player.

What I was saying there is that if James could play those parts, there would not be any rhythm parts of the songs. He is so egotistical that he would not let someone else show him up. The band would just be a four piece, with no rhythm guitar during the solos.

[evilfantasy]

Not trying to argue but the quote pretty much sums it up.

Until the mid-1990s, Hetfield recorded all rhythm tracks and most harmony tracks.

I sometimes wish they would have never done the TV special where James was having issues with being a rock star. I would rather not know how much of an a-hole he can be. I like the aggressive rockstar he was he liked being a rock star....

[BatchFileBasics]

Jimi Hendrix - the craziness
Kurt Cobain - the attitude
Carlos Santana - the passion
John Frusciante - idk, hes just kickass   

[computeruler]

I wanna change my vote 

[hot dog]

Dic* Dale!    "King of the Surf guitar"


I don't see my guy up there, but if I have to choose one of them, it would be Hendrix.
I like the psychedelic stuff


edit: and it looks like Hendrix is winning

[hot dog]

I wanna change my vote 

lol