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The Latest Breaking News from Kirk Hammett

"It did surprise us. People started calling us sell-outs." How Metallica wrote the metal power ballad that saved Miley Cyrus - and that Elton John called 'one of the best songs ever written'

James Hetfield wasn't sure about letting his Metallica bandmates hear Nothing Else Matters. Thank goodness he did

Metal Hammer

“Kirk Hammett’s in front of me with a guitar trying to teach me stuff. They’re like, ‘Get your stuff. You’re flying on the private jet with us’”: Daron Malakian on the time he saved a Metallica gig – and ended up filling in for an injured James Hetfield

Malakian stepped up to sub for Hetfield at the last minute while on tour – and stuck around until he was fully recovered

Guitar World

"I'll never forget it. It still brings goosebumps." System Of A Down's Daron Malakian on being asked to fill in for injured James Hetfield on Metallica's Summer Sanitarium tour in 2000

System Of A Down had yet to make their breakthrough – but guitarist Malakian was thrust onto the stage with metal royalty

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“The first thing I said to him was, ‘You bought Greeny.’ He goes, ‘Yeah, I’ve got it. You want to play it?’” Iron Maiden’s Adrian Smith had a chance encounter with Kirk Hammett – and ended up babysitting his iconic Les Paul

The fabled Gibson has been making plenty of big-name players weak at the knees recently

Guitar World

“I was trying to write something heavier than the bands I was listening to, and that felt like the first time that I’d done it”: How Metallica broke the thrash metal mould with biblical barnstormer Creeping Death

Pinching a riff from Kirk Hammett’s former band and inspired by a Charlton Heston film, Metallica reached a new level with their 1984 single

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“The teacher would say, ‘OK, get out your health books,’ and I would have to leave. My parents told me a little speech to say about our religion and why, and I didn’t believe it”: How Metallica turned childhood trauma into a decades-spanning trilogy

Inspired by James Hetfield’s isolated upbringing (and a little bit of Chris Isaak), Metallica made an honest, inverted ballad and kicked off a 27-year-long series

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Kirk Hammett's guitar far exceeds selling expectations

A guitar Kirk Hammett played during Black Sabbath‘s final gig has sold for a staggering $76,800 - more than 12 times the predicted sale price.

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“Our manager basically kicked us out of his house. We were supposed to go to Europe for the first time, and our gear had gotten stolen”: How Metallica turned tragedy into Fade To Black – the acoustic epic that put the elitists in their place

Inspired by the time Metallica’s gear was pinched, Fade To Black threw the metal scene into an uproar – but the band had the last laugh

Metal Hammer

“It was the perfect guitar for him to pay tribute to Tony”: Kirk Hammett’s guitar auction shatters expectations – with his mystery Back to the Beginning SG fetching $70,000 more than anticipated

Around 150 of Hammett’s guitars were part of Julien’s latest Played, Worn & Torn auction

Guitar World

“I’ve picked up others… they were like a piece of plywood. But not this one”: Gary Moore’s iconic red Stratocaster sells at auction for more than $330,000

This was the Strat that Moore played during his legendary 2004 performance of Red House – when people dared say it was better than Hendrix

Guitar World

“When I finished, I sent Kirk Hammett a picture and said, ‘Do you want to use it?’ He replied in all caps, ‘YES!’” Gibson CEO Cesar Gueikian has spent 4 years learning how to build guitars – and his prized SG was played at metal’s most historic concert

Gueikian has juggled the demands of his CEO role with learning the art of guitar making, and his builds already have some high-profile admirers – including Jason Momoa, Kirk Hammett and Tony Iommi

Guitar World

"I let my father know there were no bad feelings. I sorted out a lot of my anger in his departure." A death, Nirvana, U2 and a crucifixion: the surprising story behind Metallica's most successful single (and no, it isn't Enter Sandman)

With a new look, a new attitude and a dizzying new set of musical influences, Metallica crafted one of their most controversial singles. It was also their best-selling

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“I’m nervousof that guitar because it’s so expensive. I can barely look at it”: Biffy Clyro’s Simon Neil on how you can shake the Earth with one finger, and why he fell in love with Kirk Hammett’s Greeny – even if he’s still Team Strat

With their 10th album, Futique, Biffy Clyro remind us exactly why they are one of the most important rock bands of the modern age

Guitar World

"I went to a party in San Francisco...there were all these freaks shooting up and this girl was real sick." How Metallica wrote their most iconic anthem - and how Stranger Things made it relevant to a whole new generation over three decades later

Metallica's most celebrated song helped define a generation of thrash metal and found new meaning decades later with a certain TV show

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Guitar World

“We built 19 different models. He more or less changed what we were doing”: EMG founder on why this Metallica guitarist’s pickup set was the most challenging he’s ever made

The band first started working with the pickup builder before they scored their first record deal

MusicRadar

“I put the headstock on the buffing wheel. It threw it out of my hands. That day I learned how to fix a broken headstock”: Cesar Gueikian on building the SG Kirk Hammett played to honour Black Sabbath and how his designs might shape future Gibson releases

The Gibson CEO on his guitar-making journey, from early missteps to making the SG Hammett rocked at Back To The Beginning, and the Ghost Burst finish that's coming soon to the Gibson lineup

Guitar World

“If that's not done properly, then the guitar won’t be playable”: The hardest part of building a Gibson guitar from scratch, according to CEO Cesar Gueikian

Gueikian has spent around three years learning and building guitars under the CEO Series – and one of his most recent builds was played by Kirk Hammett at Back to the Beginning

MusicRadar

“The guitar I built in Kirk’s hands… paying tribute to Tony, Ozzy and Black Sabbath, it was amazing and strange, humbling and epic”: The unique SG built by Gibson CEO Cesar Gueikian and played by Kirk Hammett at Back to the Beginning heads to auction

Gibson teams up with Julien's Auctions for Gibson Gives fundraiser, with two of Gueikian's custom builds going under the hammer, plus a heap of signed and stage-played electrics

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“Even though Dave might claim that he wrote Leper Messiah, he didn’t”: The story of every song Dave Mustaine co-wrote for Metallica – and what Megadeth did with those riffs

From The Four Horsemen to The Call Of Ktulu, this is everything you need to know about the six (maybe seven) Metallica songs with Dave Mustaine’s name on them

Guitar World

“Let’s hop to it”: James Hetfield wins Halloween by donning inflatable kangaroo costume to rip through a thrash classic – and he doesn’t miss a beat

Two Metallica members didn’t get the Halloween memo for the gig

Guitar World

“It was about completing the circle and us showing what James and I as guitar players did to change the world”: Dave Mustaine reveals why Megadeth are covering Metallica on their final album

Megadeth's new album will find Mustaine and co playing a Metallica classic, co-written by Mustaine in the early days, and MegaDave promises us we've never heard Ride the Lightning like this before

Guitar World

“Instruments that shaped metal forever”: The mystery Gibson SG Kirk Hammett played at Ozzy Osbourne’s last show is heading to auction – along with more than 150 other guitars from his collection

The SG was used to play a Black Sabbath cover at Back to the Beginning, and it’s headed to the auction block alongside some other choice picks from Hammett's collection

Guitar World

“A counterpart to the legendary Hummingbird”: Kirk Hammett and Gibson have released the Raven – putting a horror-themed twist on the classic dreadnought design

The Edgar Allen Poe-themed acoustic has been dressed up for Halloween, and only 100 are being made

MusicRadar

“It’s like the Hummingbird only evil”: Kirk Hammett’s new Custom Shop signature Raven dresses up the classic Gibson acoustic for Halloween

This collector's item is limited to 100 units worldwide, has a soundhole label signed by Metallica guitarist, and has aesthetic updates that just the thing for the horror superfan

Guitar World

“ESP asked me to pyrograph James Hetfield’s Explorer. I wasn’t sure who James was, but I said yes”: Meet Dino Muradian, the pyrographer who makes a living burning artwork into stars’ guitars

Defecting from his home country by flying himself over the border, the Romanian pilot wound up making guitar art for Metallica, B.B. King and the ESP Custom Shop

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