For 40 years, the team of Tipton and band co-founder KK Downing led the heavy metal brigade, introducing a twin-guitar attack to the genre, defining a sound rooted in power chords, palm muting and back-and-forth lead breaks that inspired generations of groups, from Iron Maiden to Slayer.

Three wineglasses are lifted high in the candlelit ambience of a tony Hollywood restaurant. Like some latter-day version of the three musketeers, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Yngwie Malmsteen are toasting the beginning of this year's G3 Tour, which kicks off in Phoenix on October 9.

“Okay, Zakk, it’s time!” As the morning sun begins to break over the Texas hills, Dimebag Darrell thrusts the keys to a waiting sports utility vehicle in Zakk Wylde’s enormous hand. All through the night, over countless shots of Blacktooth Grin -- the particularly potent and tasty mixture of Crown Royal and Coca Cola that flows like water at Dime’s Arlington-area compound -- the Pantera guitarist has been psyching up Ozzy Osbourne’s right-hand man for this very moment.

As anyone who's followed Metallica's career can tell you, the group's members are rarely at a loss for words. But when Kirk Hammett recently learned that he'd become the first inductee into the Guitar World Hall of Fame, he was rendered speechless for a solid minute or two. "It totally took me by surprise," he says. "Especially since our profile has been so weird lately. It's been very non-musical, you know?"