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The Latest Breaking News from Kirk Hammett

“Freddie was a good riffmeister! He was a devotee of Jimi Hendrix. People think he was just concerned with the lighter stuff but it’s not true. He did enjoy the heavy stuff”: Brian May reveals the inside stories behind 13 classic Queen tracks

In a world-exclusive interview, Brian May takes you behind the scenes of the making of 13 iconic Queen cuts, and reveals what inspired his magical guitar playing in Bohemian Rhapsody, Killer Queen, Don’t Stop Me Now and many more

Guitar World

“This is one of the most requested models in Epiphone’s history”: Foo Fighters fans rejoice – the Dave Grohl DG-335 is finally here and it’s got Gibson USA pickups

Pelham Blue with bound diamond soundholes and the Trini Lopez headstock... The colour and the shape of this Epiphone x Gibson Custom Shop collaboration looks the part

MusicRadar

“It was a real awkward time”: The story of the abandoned Metallica album

In 2001, Metallica hired an old army barracks in California to try and record album eight. The songs were scrapped when James Hetfield entered rehab, but countless fans still want to hear them finished.

Metal Hammer

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“Lääz Rockit were headliners, and the band in the middle was Metallica.” The story of Lääz Rockit: the unsung thrash heroes who changed the future of metal’s biggest band

With a pioneering sound, packed-out San Francisco shows and a kinship with Metallica, Lääz Rockit could have been the fifth part of the Big Four. So why did they call it quits as early as 1992?

Metal Hammer

‘When they cleared the wreckage, it was all that survived’: 10 of history’s most irreplaceable guitars

As Paul McCartney is reunited with his violin-shaped Hofner bass, we look at equally iconic guitars, from Prince’s phallic symbol to Jimmy Page’s double-necked beast

The Guardian - UK

"When you can simplify what it is you want to say it's easier for more people to connect to": How Metallica stripped away the complexity to take their music to the masses

With a little help from astrophysics, Ice-T and Heart, Metallica came up with Enter Sandman, their best-known song and a heavy metal classic

Metal Hammer

"We are here to play. We don't let our friends down": Watch pro-shot 4K footage of the night Joey Jordison saved Metallica when Lars Ulrich went AWOL

Original broadcast footage of For Whom The Bell Tolls, Wherever I May Roam and Enter Sandman from Metallica's historic Download 2004 set has surfaced online

Metal Hammer

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“We need guitar music that makes those people feel something”: Marty Friedman wishes “slow and painful death” upon the traditional guitar solo and has some ideas on what should replace it

The former Megadeth lead guitarist is the latest high-profile player to declare war on solos, arguing eight bars of “stupid licks” are not moving the audience anymore

MusicRadar

“What Ace Frehley and Joe Perry do isn’t precise, there’s some sloppiness, but they know how to create a wide sound... it’s unlike anyone else”: Low-end veteran Chris Wyse on his Metallica audition and his love of the Gibson Ripper L-9 and Tech 21 SansAmp

With the ability to create seemingly unending deep pockets, Wyse has landed gigs with Ozzy Osbourne, Ace Frehley, Tal Bachman, The Cult, and, most recently, the Hollywood Vampires

Guitar World

“Artfully aged by the Murphy Lab to match the look and feel of Kirk’s original”: Gibson’s Custom Shop takes on Kirk Hammett’s mod-heavy, “blacked-out” 1989 Les Paul Custom – and it’s safe to say it’s nothing like Greeny...

The Metallica guitar god debuts his latest signature Les Paul – and it’s a little different to his other recent custom shop build...

Guitar World

NAMM 2024: “A fitting tribute to a metal guitar master and one of his favourite instruments”: Gibson unveils meticulous Murphy Lab replica of Kirk Hammett’s 1989 Les Paul Custom

Heavily modded, equipped with black hardware, uncovered T-type humbuckers and a piezo, Hammett's “blacked-out” Custom is one of the coolest guitars in Metallica history

MusicRadar

“He just showed up and didn’t sit with us or anything”: The inside story of Jason Newsted’s final Metallica show

Bassist Jason Newsted left Metallica on January 17, 2001. Six weeks earlier, he’d played his last show with the thrash metal titans, where he very literally waved goodbye.

Metal Hammer

“The most accurate recreations of the legendary Patent Applied For humbucker pickups ever made”: Gibson has brought back its “holy grail” ‘59 PAF set – but it’s going to cost you $999

The 1959 Humbucker Collector’s Edition Series 1 was created using Gibson archive schematics and an army of modern engineering processes that analysed original examples from the late ’50s

Guitar World

“It was a huge risk – to this day I’m wondering if I pulled it off or not. But it was how I felt inside. I didn’t want picture-perfect solos”: Kirk Hammett reflects on his all-improv lead approach – and explains why he doesn’t sweat onstage mistakes

Kirk Hammett looks back on a landmark year in Metallica, reveals how Joe Bonamassa helped him snag one of the rarest Les Pauls ever made, and explains what caused him to mess up the intro to Nothing Else Matters – and why it doesn’t matter

Guitar World

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Metal Hammer

The history of Metallica as told in 10 groundbreaking gigs

From San Francisco clubs to stadiums worldwide, these are the shows that marked the ascent of metal’s biggest band

Guitar World

“Joe Bonamassa texted me and said, ‘I know you love that black Les Paul. It’s at Carter Vintage right now. Call them ASAP!’”: Kirk Hammett says he only got his ultra-rare Factory Black ’59 Les Paul thanks to the help of his collector friend

The Metallica guitarist also reveals he had “30 guitars stolen” in a previous attempt to buy the unicorn electric guitar

Guitar World

News of the (guitar) world: the biggest, baddest, weirdest and saddest guitar news of 2023

We track the year’s biggest six-string stories – from landmark gear developments to devastating departures and 2023’s most headline-grabbing players

Guitar World

“Big jets moving, bombers, people in battle, distress, crying – the Vietnam War added a lot of darkness to his playing”: Kirk Hammett on how Jimi Hendrix’s guitar style helped birth metal and psychedelia

The Metallica man and Hendrix fan argues that the guitar icon's influence on metal is under-appreciated

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Guitar World

Inside the new issue of Total Guitar: The best of 2023!

Also in issue 379! Interviews: Kirk Hammett, Nuno Bettencourt, Cory Wong, Yvette Young, Nita Strauss and more. Reviews: New gear from Epiphone, Fender, Guild, Jackson and more. Learn songs by Led Zeppelin, Phoebe Bridgers and Blink-182

Guitar World

“I wouldn't be here right now if it wasn't for Master of Puppets”: Mark Tremonti on how Metallica's classic record changed his life – and how James Hetfield's right hand shaped his picking style

The metal trailblazers had an immeasurable impact on the Alter Bridge axeman – here, he discusses what makes Hetfield and Kirk Hammett such a potent duo

Metal Hammer

Metallica snuck the Batman theme song into one of their riffs, Kirk Hammett admits

Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett has said that 2023 song Shadows Follow contains a nod to the ’60s Batman theme

Guitar World

“We called that riff ‘The Batman Riff’”: Kirk Hammett admits Metallica lifted the Batman theme on 72 Seasons

Thought that riff in Shadows Follow sounded awfully similar to a certain classic superhero theme? Turns out Metallica knew exactly what they were doing

MusicRadar

Do guitar solos matter? Kirk Hammett says non-musicians won’t remember your solos – but “they are gonna helluva remember a great melody and they’re really gonna remember a great song”

As Metallica's lead guitarist, Hammett has written and performed some of metal's most iconic guitar solos but maintains that the majority of people will forget them

Guitar World

“I hate to say it, but non-musicians – who are the majority of the listening world – are not going to remember guitar solos”: Kirk Hammett says it doesn’t matter how good or flashy a solo is – most people are going to forget them anyway

According to the Metallica maestro, the average music listener doesn't share a guitar player's enthusiasm for a ripping solo

Guitar World

Epiphone Kirk Hammett 'Greeny' 1959 Les Paul Standard review – it may be $1.5k, but this is the best-quality Epiphone we've ever played… and better than some Gibson USA builds

It's one of the most talked about builds of 2023, but how does the latest Greeny model fare when it's put under the microscope?

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