Metallica’s Load came after a period of intense reflection for the metal icons.

Following years of heavy touring between 1991 and 1993, all members broke off to explore influences outside heavy metal and the music realm, with the dynamic guitar duo of James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett taking a deep dive into hunting (for Hetfield) – and film, jazz, and Asian arts (for Hammett).

When they returned to the band, they took a fresh approach to the instrument. Hammett, who had only handled lead guitar on record up to this point, would now join Hetfield on rhythm duties across the album that would define this new phase of Metallica.

Yet Hammett's transition to rhythm guitarist was never planned. It came about quite naturally.

“It was never really something that we spoke about,” Hammett told Guitar World's Tom Beaujour in a 1996 interview. “The first mention of it came while we were recording the drum tracks.

“When we do that, we all play the songs together in a single room, but the only thing that goes onto the multi-track is the drums – everything else just gets taped. Some of the songs were sounding so good on those tapes that James was like, ‘Well, maybe Kirk should play on the final version of some of these.’”

“Later on, on a day when James happened to be away on a hunting trip, I was laying down a couple of solos, and when I finished the lead on one of the tunes our producer, Bob Rock, said, ‘Okay, tune up, and we'll do the rhythm for this song now.’ I was like, ‘What?’”

As Hetfield adds, “By the time I came back, Kirk had put down rhythm tracks on four songs.”

Hammett specifically went out of his way to come up with a second guitar part that would complement Hetfield’s, and not, as he put it, “ape it”.

“Not that the riffs weren't interesting,” he clarified. “The riffs are the riffs – they're the most important part of the song. Our parts have a really good sense of interplay. And you can actually separate the two guitars and tell who's playing what. James is on the left side, and I'm on the right.”

Was it ever a point of contention that Hammett didn't get to play rhythm guitar up until that point?

“Not really,” he replied. “In fact, on this album we argued more about the solos than anything else. But we're always arguing about something, so it was just par for the course.

“I often have a pretty specific idea of what the solo to a particular song should sound like, so it throws me for a loop when Kirk comes in with something else,” Hetfield added. “But then everyone sits down, we talk it out and work out a middle ground that everyone can be happy with.”

While the album proved controversial among Metallica fans for straying from the band's thrash metal roots – complete with a revamped, leather-jacket-clad look and (gasp) short hair – it was nevertheless a commercial success, topping the charts in more than 15 countries.

Kirk Hammett certainly didn’t benefit from the luck of the Irish over the weekend as he slipped and fell into the audience while playing in Dublin.

Metallica’s wah pedal enthusiast laughed off the incident as the band, touring with Gojira, Pantera and Knocked Loose in tow, headlined the 40,000-capacity Aviva Stadium on Friday, June 19.

He’d just launched into Seek & Destroy, from the band's 1983 debut album, Kill ‘Em All, with the roar from the crowd still audible as he failed to keep his footing and went tumbling in the gap between the band’s massive center stage and the front row of a surprised and slightly amused crowd.

Thankfully, Hammett and his Ouija Board ESP came away from the incident unscathed, with the band closing the show with Master of Puppets.

On the whole, Metallica’s latest trip to Ireland wasn’t a banana skin, with the band playing a snippet of Thin Lizzy’s Black Rose during a jam between Hammett and Trujillo. The pair visited the Phil Lynott statue the following day.

Trujillo assumed vocal duties for the spot as they paid homage to Irish rock icons, with Greeny the obvious guitar for the job. The Irish Examiner, though, called it “ropey at best,” which likely hurt Hammett more than the fall.

Metallica will next play shows in Glasgow, Scotland; Cardiff, Wales; and London, England, as they move across the British Isles before returning to the US for their Sphere residency in October.

Metallica's third proper bass player after Cliff Burton and Jason Newsted deserves all of our praise. First, he's been in the world's biggest metal band since 2003, making him their longest-serving bassist.

Second, he's an absolute monster bass player, powering through funk, rock and metal styles with ease and panache. Third, he produced a documentary, Jaco, in 2012, telling the tragic story of Jaco Pastorius. Finally, he bought Jaco's famous ‘Bass Of Doom’ and restored it to the Pastorius family.

Robert Trujillo's story is one that began not long before the arrival of Metallica's self-titled 1991 album – in the very same city, in fact – when he joined skate-thrash mob Suicidal Tendencies near the end of the '80s.

In 1996, came an even bigger break – and quite possibly the ultimate dream for anyone who grew up listening to Black Sabbath. While Suicidal Tendencies certainly brought him success, joining Ozzy Osbourne's band was the move that enabled him to perform at the top level.

All of these influences and experiences brought Trujillo to the moment famously documented on Metallica's Some Kind Of Monster film, where he auditioned for the band, annihilated the competition and was given a cool million-dollar advance as a “welcome to the family.”

“One thing about being in Metallica is I've always felt challenged,” Trujillo told Bass Player. “It's a lot easier now than it used to be: when I first joined Metallica, I was kinda struggling! I had to learn over 20 years of catalog, plus the 12 songs from St. Anger which had never really been performed as a unit.

“Then there was that magnitude of press and everything else that goes with being in Metallica. I was juggling all of it.”

In this clip from the Beneath the Bassline documentary, Trujillo spoke about his 2003 audition to replace bassist Jason Newsted, as captured in the 2004 band documentary Some Kind of Monster.

“It was a two-day audition, but the first day was more fly-on-the-wall,” says Trujillo. “Bob Rock had already recorded bass guitar and he was also producing St Anger, so I’m just there at the studio watching guitar tracks go down.

“The evening rolls around and Lars says, ‘Hey, let’s go get a drink.’ I could hold my own with a few beers, but we end up drinking until 5 in the morning. I wake up with the worst hangover of my life, and now I’ve got to play with Metallica.”

“James is sober. He’s gone through rehab. So I decided I would connect with my bass tech and decide what bass I was going to use, and what amp.

“What I was really trying to do was get away from Hetfield because I didn’t want him to smell the alcohol on me. Lars was probably just testing me to see how much I could handle, but I just felt like a loser.”

Bassists Pepper Keenan, Jeordie White, Scott Reeder, Eric Avery, Danny Lohner and Chris Wyse – among others – also tried out for the role, but after three months of auditions, Trujillo was officially declared the new bassist.

Instead of squandering his advance on a blur of decadence, as – let's face it – many of us would be tempted to do, Trujillo chose to lock himself in a room, armed to the teeth with nothing but Metallica tablature books. He was the new guy, and in his eyes, he had everything to prove.

“Everyone else had the music figured out because they wrote or recorded it, but the new guy needs to do his homework. Any time a band has an archive, it's almost guaranteed that at some point they're going to play an obscure song. The fans are going to call for it, so once I was caught up, it felt easier to adapt.”

For every wildly successful Metallica, there are countless metal bands that never grabbed the brass ring. In the ‘80s, extreme metal was breaking through, and there was a plethora of great bands to choose from.

While most never reached the heights of the Big Four, many of them are still slugging it out, and they’ve stuck around long enough for new generations of fans to discover them.

When the New Wave of British Heavy Metal hit in 1979, it encompassed a wide variety of bands – from Iron Maiden to Def Leppard. Raven and Venom were both three-piece outfits from Newcastle, England.

Raven’s sound was more upbeat than the Satanic darkness of Venom – and Raven singer/bassist John Gallagher jokingly described the other band’s sound as “Motörhead, on the wrong speed, in a cement mixer!”

Both bands were on the indie label Neat Records, whose owner, Dave Wood, told Gallagher that a guy with the biggest independent record store on the East Coast wanted to work with Raven. “America was a huge thing,” Gallagher recalls. “I never knew anyone who’d been there.”

The guy was the late Jonny Zazula, who signed Metallica and Anthrax to his Megaforce label, and added Raven too. “Jonny Z changed our lives,” Gallagher confirms.

“He was the next really seismic event for us. He was a larger-than-life character – one man against the world, definitely a David against Goliath. He was like a preacher, coming down from the mountain with the metal gospel and spreading it around the world.”

Metallica and Raven went on tour together. KJ Doughton, who ran Metallica’s first fan club, recalls: “Raven’s debut album, Rock Until You Drop, was the first NWOBHM album I’d ever purchased.” The band were featured on a lot of compilation albums, “and they were often the best band featured.” He went to three shows on the tour and argues: “Raven rivaled Metallica as a live band.”

Exodus came out of the legendary Bay Area thrash scene as San Francisco became a crucial area for the development of thrash metal. While it may seem odd that such violent, aggressive music could come from an area so mellow, it was a place where movements – beat poets, hippies, bikers, or the gay community – thrived.

Thrash was even new territory for the musicians who played it. Guitarist Rick Hunolt joined Exodus in 1984, not long before they recorded Bonded By Blood. He’d grown up with Zeppelin, Bad Company, and Thin Lizzy, and Exodus was the first time he’d heard thrash.

“It was all so new back then; no one was doing it,” he says. “I thought, ‘Dude, this shit is crazy – this music is insane!’” Of course, Bonded By Blood is widely considered one of the great classics of the genre. Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian said of it: “Best debut album of the Big 5? I think so.”

In the beginning, most artists didn’t think of success. “Nobody had any idea it was gonna be this huge,” says Hunolt. “It wasn’t about money for a very long time.”

Jeff Becerra, lead singer of Possessed, says: “We felt like we were part of a movement, like a revolution.” But he recalls that bands had to be unique. “If you came out as an Exodus clone band, that shit would not fly. Copying a band was instant suicide. You had to be original or you didn’t get a place in line.”

One of the most underrated bands on the SF scene was Blind Illusion, who had a trippy hippie vibe and weren’t afraid to bring new elements into their music. “Anything good we’d hear, we’d put it into the music,” says singer/guitarist Mark Biderman. “The diversity in the scene was really good. You had to stick to your guns and be what you were.”

Les Claypool was their original bassist. He first joined in 1978 as he was learning to play. “By ’80-81, he was already amazing,” Biderman says. “He was a natural, doing some really great stuff.”

When Possessed wrote the song Death Metal, Becerra says they wanted it to be, “an anthem to brand it. We wanted people to say, ‘Oh, that death metal band!’ That would make us musically different in the Bay Area underground and elsewhere.”

Still, it took time for people to catch on to what Possessed were doing – especially the deep, guttural vocals which are now common place in extreme metal. “I wanted the signing to match the music,” Becerra says.

Many thrash bands had to make do with whatever gear they could afford. While some had metal tools of the trade like BC Rich and Jackson guitars, James Hetfield famously had a cheapo Flying V copy as his main instrument for years.

Exodus’ Gary Holt had to record Bonded By Blood with a borrowed Hiwatt amp when his Marshall went down. He used a distortion pedal with the gain all the way off, and the rest of the knobs on full, turning it into a booster. That was also the key to Ian’s rhythm sound with Anthrax. (Randy Rhoads did it too.)

For Dark Angel’s Darkness Descends – one of the most brutal thrash albums ever recorded – Eric Meyer and the late Jim Durkin used the same stock 50-watt Marshall, and Meyer used a delay pedal to add more gain to his tone. In the case of Holy Terror’s massively underrated Mind Wars, the brutal tone was crafted by playing around with an EQ pedal until they got the right level of crunch.

Metallica entered the top 30 with Master Of Puppets in 1986, and went on tour opening for Ozzy Osbourne. The future of metal was pointing to them, and suddenly a very uncommercial genre looked like it had more potential than many had thought.

“When Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer, and Megadeth all got big, that’s where we all went, ‘So you’re sayin’ there’s a chance?’” recalls Forbidden guitarist Craig Locicero. “Very few of us made it through the keyhole – there wasn’t a lot of room in there.”

That year marked the peak of thrash, with the arrival of Metallica’s Master, Megadeth’s Peace Sells, and Slayer’s Reign in Blood. The latter is often considered the big daddy of the genre, while Dark Angel’s Darkness would become a big influence on death metal and grindcore.

But a second wave followed in 1987 as Testament, Death Angel, and Sacred Reich stormed out of the gate with excellent debut albums. Anthrax released their masterpiece, Among the Living, while the scene started to go deranged via Death’s Scream Bloody Gore and Napalm Death’s Scum.

Sacred Reich, who took a nod from the punk scene, were one of many thrash bands with a social conscience. Vocalist/bassist Phil Rind says: “I always felt that the lyrics were the nail and the music was the hammer. If you have the opportunity to say something, you should.

“Every band has to figure out who they are, what they want to talk about. I felt if we could help turn somebody on to something, open their minds a little bit and show them how things are, there was a benefit to that.”

While Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer all did well on major labels, others weren’t so lucky. Bands tended to fall into the same traps. Some faltered because the label had no idea what to do with them. Some suffered when the A&R executive who’d signed them moved on or got fired. Many succumbed to label pressure to be more commercial, and alienated their hardcore fanbase.

“There was a lot of interference and push to be more commercial,” says Gallagher of Raven’s nightmare experience. “We went along for the ride – and got left in the middle of nowhere. It took a long, long time to rebuild the damage done by Atlantic, and by ourselves.”

By the end of the decade thrash was preparing to jump the shark, as many fans turned to much heavier music. “The thrash movement, which used to be dangerous, became safe,” Forbidden’s Locicero says. “Thrash lost it edge, but bands like Sepultura, Pantera and Death had a new edge.”

When the hair bands went down in the ‘90s, a lot of heavier outfits nearly went down with them. But metal came back the following decade, arguably bigger than ever. And for the bands that deserved another chance, a new generation of fans were ready to discover them.

Gallagher says Raven aren’t bitter about not being bigger: “There’s nothing to complain about being a cult band. We have a following where we can tour and play live pretty much anywhere. For a couple of kids from Newcastle it’s pretty amazing.”

Doughton argues: “Raven are still in the fight – kicking ass for over 40 years without the creature comforts afforded bigger bands. They’re more deserving of respect than any other band alive, in my opinion.”

“If I wanted to get big, I’d tone down Possessed’s music,” Becerra says. “I’m happy with my cult status. When people were pushing us to get bigger, I didn’t play the game as much as I should have. But I still just want to play my music the way I want to.”

Rind comments: “It’s funny to see parents bringing their kids to our shows and turning them on to Sacred Reich. I appreciate that people still show up. Metal comes from the underground and it never goes away – it just goes back underground and percolates. It always comes back. And the fans are loyal; they’re the best.

“The fans thought we should have been bigger, but I always thought, ‘We’re exactly where we’re supposed to be.’ The fact that we got as far as we did is beyond my comprehension. We’re very fortunate.”

The following feature first appeared in the November 2011 issue of Guitar World.

When Guitar World travelled to Milan, Italy, on July 6, to pull together the Big 4 cover shoot with Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax, we narrowly managed to corral everyone together for the cover photo.

But due to transportation delays, Metallica six-stringers James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett were unable to participate in the roundtable interview with Slayer's Kerry King, Megadeth's Dave Mustaine and Anthrax's Scott Ian that occurred earlier that day.

When we eventually caught up with Hetfield and Hammett after the show, they treated us to a lively discussion on the legacy of the Big 4, how drummer Lars Ulrich's nervousness helped create the fastest right hands in the business, and why Dave Mustaine should watch his back during the Yankee Stadium Big 4 show.

When I spoke earlier to Kerry King, Dave Mustaine, and Scott Ian, the consensus was clear: they never expected a "Big 4" tour to actually happen.

James Hetfield: We never expected it either!

Kirk Hammett: Definitely not. At a certain point in the Eighties, it was like we were all running neck and neck to see who could outdo each other. For me, that lasted into the Nineties. Then somehow that attitude became less important, and a certain amount of maturity set in. I think when you get older your priorities change. We started to pay more attention to the musical side of things instead of the more superficial side of things.

Hetfield: We've reached 30 years of being a band. We've hit some milestones and we're at a place where we want to celebrate those things instead of running from them. We felt that it was also important to really put this scene on the map. You always hear about the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, but what about the Bay Area thrash scene and the Big 4? Hopefully these shows will help us make an even deeper mark in history.

James, when I spoke with the other guys, Scott and Kerry said Lars first suggested the Big 4 tour idea, but Dave thought you had. Can you clarify who first had the idea?

Hetfield: I believe it was me. But my memory is pretty horrible, so Lars may claim a few different things. [laughs]

But it doesn't really matter, because it's happened. It probably came out of us talking like, "Hey, let's do a Bay Area show with all the bands we grew up with." Then, "What about the Big 4?" Obviously the business and logistical side of things is Lars' deal, but it doesn't matter. It came from the Metallica camp.

Dave said he had reservations about joining the tour. Mainly, he wanted to make sure all four bands weren't scattered across different stages or interspersed with other acts. Did you feel the same way?

Hetfield: When the idea first came into our minds, we were thinking of it as just the four of us. The first European dates already had bands on them, but they were great festivals and everyone was able to play them. So it was like, "This is a great, established festival and lots of people are gonna show up. Let's get the Big 4 in there." I mean, you can't really just throw off bands that are already booked. But for the later shows, in Indio and this last European run, it was just the Big 4 and possibly one opener.

Hammett: There were certain situations where the promoter had to put more bands on the bill to break even. I understand the economics of the situation. To me it didn't matter; it was just important that all four of us were together on the same bill.

Obviously for a New York native like Scott Ian, playing at Yankee Stadium is huge. Does that venue hold any particular sentiment for you?

Hammett: Nope. [laughs] I had no idea of the significance until Scott called me and was hyperventilating. He was more hoarse than he's ever been, going – [in a rough voice] – "You don't understand! Yankee Stadium!"

Hetfield: I think the obvious connection for us is with [Yankee pitcher Mariano] Mo [Rivera]. For the past 10 years, he's used Enter Sandman as the music that's played before he comes out on the field. He's helped keep that song alive, especially in that stadium.

And even though they're in a new building now [across the street from the location of the original Yankee Stadium, which closed in 2008], it's still great to have that connection. That's actually how we first announced the Big 4 show at Yankee Stadium. During one game, right as the song started, they cut to this video I did where I said, "Stop, stop!" and then announced the show. It was pretty cool.

Dave mentioned that he's turning 50 the day before the Yankee Stadium show. Do you have anything up your sleeves?

Hetfield: [laughs] It'll be great, and Dave better beware. [laughs] I'm not releasing any ideas at this point, but it'll be fun. What better place to celebrate than Yankee Stadium?

The press first applied the Big 4 label to you guys in the Eighties. Back then, did you feel the same solidarity with the other bands as you do now?

Hetfield: No, that definitely developed over time. Back in the Eighties there were thousands and thousands of bands, but there's not too many that have survived 30 years. The Big 4 moniker didn't mean as much then as it does today.

Hammett: Back then, Scott [Ian] and [Anthrax drummer] Charlie [Benante] were the only people I had relationships with. I had no relationship with anyone from Slayer or Megadeth. But over the years that's changed. Now these guys are my peers, and I'm really proud of all our accomplishments.

I also love that, because of the Big 4, there's a bunch of little kids out there now that think Slayer is the shit. And they'll tell their friends, and the legacy will spread even farther. It doesn't start and stop with one band. Until you see all four bands together you won't get a picture about what this is really all about.

In the early days, did you look to the other bands for inspiration when it came to guitar playing?

Hetfield: Oh yeah. There's a huge competitive vein that runs through my body. Competition has always been a very healthy thing for us. At first it started out as basically pure hatred for pop music and "heavy" radio rock. From that hatred it went on to, "Ah, Slayer released that song... We're gonna do this!" And that's still happening onstage at these Big 4 gigs, too. You go out there and see how good they're doing and how well the crowd is reacting to them, and you think, Okay, "I gotta step it up."

Scott was talking about how the four of you basically invented that signature right-hand rhythmic downpicking approach. James, is that something you and Dave developed together during the early days of Metallica?

Hetfield: It's pretty interesting that someone is trying to define the origin of downpicking. It's silly. It's like, who invented music? There's plenty of punk rock bands doing that technique.

The first time I remember seeing an extremely fast right hand was Johnny Ramone, except he was doing a more acoustic-style thing and not muting and punching it like we ended up doing. That was one main inspiration, and the other one was probably the competition between Dave and I. Like, "Here's a riff... Wait, you can't play that. Hahaha!" And then he'd come back with an even faster riff. So at that time the competition was not only between bands but within them, as well.

Hammett: Actually, I'd say Scott Ian is the king of alternate-picking rhythm playing. He can do that like no one else. He's super tight and doesn't get the credit he deserves.

But as far as downpicking goes, I was always aware of it. I remember the first time I heard [Black Sabbath's] Paranoid back in 1978, I thought, "Wow, that guy is picking all downstrokes." Then I heard Symptom of the Universe and thought, "There it is, he's hitting all those downstrokes." Then I heard the Ramones, and there it was again.

When I was in Exodus with Gary Holt, we had some songs that had that early fast downpicking. Back in the early days, a lot of the Bay Area bands were doing it. It was really integrated into that style of playing. So it was nothing new to me.

You guys just kicked it up a notch.

Hammett: Well, that was because of Lars. Back then he was very energetic and way into Motörhead and Diamond Head. So his goal was always to play fast.

But I also think that during those first few years Lars was just nervous. And when he's nervous, his tempos speed up, so I think trying to keep up with Lars' nerves was as big an influence as anything on our fast downpicking technique. [laughs]

Speaking of Gary Holt, he's been sitting in with Slayer while Jeff Hanneman is recovering from his infection. Kirk, what's it like reconnecting with Gary on a tour like this?

Hammett: It is great to finally tour with Gary Holt. We totally rekindled our friendship and started hanging out a lot and speaking the old language we used to speak to each other in high school. It's very cool and one of the best things that came out of these recent Big 4 dates.

Touring back in the early days was filled with a lot of youthful, drunken troublemaking. There's the classic story of Scott Ian and Cliff Burton pissing down laundry chutes in London...

Hetfield: [laughs] Yeah, now it's shitting down laundry chutes. [laughs]. There was certainly some childish behavior that happened on the road. There was a lot of pent-up energy back then. And I can only speak for myself, but now I'm able to channel that energy a lot better and focus it on the music.

But I will say watching my kid piss off the balcony is still pretty funny. I wasn't even the instigator, but the wife still busted me. But she's supposed to. So I have to tell my son, "Hey, don't do that again!" But it was so funny. [laughs]

Hammett: For these Big 4 shows a lot of the guys have their families out with them. So you don't get that crazy debauched rock-and-roll party scene you might have gotten 15 years ago. I hate to say it but now it's all about dealing with the family and being tired from hanging with the family. But take away all the responsibility and it would be one great party scene at every show.

Kerry was saying that the party still follows him pretty closely. James, are you still not drinking?

Hetfield: Yeah, I've got over 10 years [sober], which is great. For me, there's plenty of ways to party without getting hangovers. I'm grateful to have all my days and not feel like crap.

But it doesn't stop anyone around me from doing it. They gotta do what they gotta do. I know there's also a part of me that celebrates being a loner. So when they go out hanging and partying, I'd just rather not do that. People annoy me a lot of the time. [laughs]

The Metallica machine has grown significantly over the years. Ever get nostalgic for piling in a van and hauling your own gear?

Hammett: Heck no. [laughs] I have neck, back, shoulder and knee problems. But I do get nostalgic for the old days, when things were very simple. To play a show nowadays it means you have to alert everyone and crank up the machine. I wish we were a lot more stealthy and quick on our feet. But we're an established band that's been around for a long time. What are you gonna do? We're brontosauruses.

Hetfield: [laughs] Usually we'll hop in some vehicle together, take a little ride and realize that's good enough. There's just so much other stuff in life that is fun for us and inspires us. And you know what? Heading out on tour is still one of those things. It's hard to say goodbye and leave the family, but once you get out there you realize you really crave this guy hang time, whether that's jamming and writing together or just hanging out at HQ. We're all still a bunch of guys that need the guy hang.

The circle is just a lot smaller than it used to be, and the word party means something a little different now. We do get nostalgic about the old days, and what they meant to us. But we're making "old days" right now. Ten years from now we'll look back and wonder why we were wasting our time looking back at the previous 10 years. We're making history now, and enjoying it while we do it.

James, I noticed that you were having a good time on the side of the stage watching Megadeth's set. Is that a regular part of the hang, too?

Hetfield: Oh, definitely. I love to see what's going on if I have time. It's real nice to get up there early and see what's up. It's annoying that I don't get to stand there the whole time and watch the show. But there are a lot of other parts of touring for us, with the fan club, interviews, and actually grabbing a bite of dinner.

It's nice to see how the crowd's reacting, and it's a good sign when the crowd's up for it. Because, really, we want everyone to do well and feel the vibe. And when a crowd is anti one of the Big 4, that's no fun. We're all moving forward in the same direction, so you gotta put that stuff aside. Sure, you might like one band better than the other, but hey, you're seeing some history.

What are your pre-show rituals before hitting the stage for one of these Big 4 shows?

Hammett: I usually try to see a chiropractor, then I do yoga to get centered, and then I sit and do guitar warm-ups. I have all sorts of different exercises that I do, but basically I run through different scales. The process takes a long time, mostly because of the yoga thing. I have to unwind and center myself and make sure my thoughts are grounded.

I find that when I do yoga before going onstage my show is much better, both mentally and physically. It used to be like, "Let's do a shot of vodka and go!" But after a while that stops working. Now it's like, "Let's do a shot of espresso!" [laughs]

Hetfield: The first part of getting the vibe up for me is the meet-and-greet. Such a good vibe is created from talking with people and hearing what songs they want to hear and how music's affected their lives. Whether people are introducing me to their kids, who they've turned on to our music, or I'm meeting a Make-A-Wish kid, there's always something in the meet-and-greet that's very inspirational.

Then there's the regular stuff, like grabbing some grub, stretching, and getting our warrior gear on, which is basically putting on a different black shirt than the one you already had on. Then we go into the tuning room. I'll go through my vocal warm-up tape, which helps me get prepared. Then we go in the jam room and knock some rust off. We all trickle in at different times and find out how each other is doing.

[Bassist] Rob [Trujillo] is always there first. He's a bass player's bass player. He loves to play. Sometimes I'll sit behind the drums and we'll goof around on some tunes. It's always a good vibe and we come out pretty sweaty. Then it's right to the stage.

During the Clint Eastwood tape [Ecstasy of Gold from Ennio Morricone's soundtrack to The Good, the Bad and the Ugly] we do a little huddle and someone steps up to be the inspirational speaker of the evening [laughs], whether it's telling jokes or memories of the last time we played that city. Dude, we're human and sometimes people need a little help and a push. And when someone's not feeling it, the other guys rally around them.

These Big 4 dates are clearly significant for everyone. Can you recall a specific gig in your early career that was a similar benchmark?

Hetfield: I'd say our first time playing Day on the Green [in 1985 in Oakland, California]. I can't even tell you who else was there, maybe Yngwie Malmsteen and Y&T? All I know is that we were there, [original bassist] Cliff [Burton] was in the band, and it was a big deal, especially for Kirk and Cliff, because it was their hometown show.

Hammett: Definitely. Those Day on the Green shows had been going on since the early Seventies, and I'd seen so many bands play there. One of my all-time-favorite shows that I've ever seen was Day on the Green in 1978. Listen to this bill: AC/DC, Van Halen, Pat Travers, Foreigner, and Aerosmith.

It was so amazing. I remember coming back feeling so inspired that I played my guitar for days. So going from seeing those shows to playing on that stage was amazing. After I found out we were playing it, I was walking on clouds for months. It really felt like we hit a milestone.

Hetfield: Another memorable show was opening for Ozzy [in 1986]. Also playing in Moscow with AC/DC and Pantera [in 1991] after the coup attempt [against the Soviet Union leadership] was unbelievable.

And then there's our second gig ever, which was opening for Saxon. That was definitely a "We've made it" moment... after which we got our $19 pay, hopped back into our Pacer that constantly broke down, and drove home. [laughs]

But these moments are still happening. Playing the Big 4 in Germany was the biggest show we've done in 30 years. It's crazy to think that after 30 years we're still playing before bigger crowds.

Right now, Yankee Stadium is the last scheduled Big 4 show. Are there any plans to add more dates?

Hammett: Well, there's a lot of surf spots I've yet to hit in the world. [laughs] I think we should bring the Big 4 to Indonesia, Tahiti, the Maldives, and Tavarua. [laughs]

But seriously, the vibe at these shows is genuinely good. We'll do a slew of Big 4 shows, go do our own things for a few months, and when we come back everyone is glad to see each other. It's a super-cool thing for us, and I'm sure there are a lot of fans still out there that would love to see the show. I won't say yes, but I won't say no, either.

Hetfield: We don't know what's gonna happen. We're trying to cover the U.S. coasts, at least. Then we gotta get in and start focusing on writing a new record. But more Big 4 shows? We never say never, because obviously, this was never gonna happen in the first place.

Former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted has looked back on his exit from Metallica, revealing the role his addiction struggles played in his decision to leave.

The bassist was chosen as the heir to Cliff Burton's throne following his passing in 1986, and departed in 2001 after making significant contributions to the band's most commercially successful era. Appearing on Dean Delray's YouTube channel, he explained the circumstances that led to his departure from the group.

“The reason I left Metallica is because I was a horrible addict,” he admits (via the PRP). “I was way up against myself, and if I didn’t get some kind of help, I was going to die. And so I just said, ‘You guys, can I have a minute? Please give me a minute.’ And they said, ‘No.’”

There are small parallels here with the original Korn bassist, Fieldy, who has recently addressed his exit from the band. Bob Rock famously depped for Newsted on the much-maligned St. Anger album, with Robert Trujillo since filling the void, playing on their last three records.

Ultimately, Newsted says Metallica’s response prompted him to step away.

“I said, ‘I would rather live than be in your band,’” he recounts. “‘I love being in your band. I think it’s kind of obvious.’”

He then goes into a passionate tirade regarding his commitment to the Metallica cause, saying, “I wear your shirt every night. I meet every person who wants to meet and represent us for all the fans every night. Don’t tell me I’m not committed. Don’t tell me I’m not loyal. I’m always the first one in and last one out. I’m not saying the words. It’s fucking history.”

Returning to his request for time, he says, “[If] you can’t give me that minute to get my head straight again, then I have to go. [It’s] not that I don’t love you, and certainly not that I’m not committed to this band.”

In a 2001 interview, James Hetfield pinned Newsted's leaving on his side project, Echobrain, which he reportedly wanted to focus on during the hiatus he proposed the band take at the turn of the century. The guitarist did later play down those claims, saying he was “choking” his “brother” in doing so, but it's clear there were tensions at play either way. Newsted's latest comments lay some responsibility at his own feet.

Interestingly, Ozzy Osbourne, who has welcomed both Newsted and Trujillo into his band at different points, said Newsted had “the edge” over his counterpart. Newsted briefly toured with Ozzy after his Metallica days – ironically, replacing Trujillo – and says the band had a higher “respect factor” than the thrash metal giants.

Elsewhere, EMG is celebrating its 50th anniversary with special edition pickups for each of Metallica's string hitters.

Dave Mustaine has divulged that he believes that he’s had a massive influence on his fellow Big Four of thrash metal, namely, Slayer, Metallica, and Anthrax.

In an interview with São Paulo, Brazil's 89 FM A Rádio Rock radio station [via Blabbermouth], Mustaine shares his honest thoughts on the metal community and his overarching legacy.

“I’ve been very invested in the metal community,” he says. “Kerry [King, Slayer guitarist] and I played together [during the early days of both bands], and I showed him how to play Megadeth songs, which was before [Slayer] started having all their pivotal records. Kerry and I had a really great time together.”

As for Metallica, the band he was the lead guitarist for between 1982 and 1983, he asserts, “I wrote music in Metallica, and I wrote music in Megadeth. So I’ve been very influential with the guitar with these three bands.”

He also believes he had an influence on Anthrax’s Scott Ian, stating that the band started crafting a different sound after they met Mustaine-era Metallica.

“When I met Scott and the guys in Anthrax out in New York, same thing happened. Their first record was very different from the record they made after they met me and the guys in Metallica. So I think that's great.”

Ultimately, though, Mustaine is quick to clarify that, “I love all those bands.”

Megadeth recently released their seventeenth and final album, and Mustaine gave Guitar World an exclusive track-by-track rundown of his swan song.

Down and Corrosion of Conformity guitarist Pepper Keenan may now count James Hetfield and Tony Iommi as fans, but, as the metal lifer reveals in a recent interview, his humble rock ’n’ roll beginnings stem from a tragic accident.

“I started playing around 14. I had a friend named Pat The Rat,” he tells Kerrang! “He was a fucking complete red-haired hooligan. He got killed on a motorcycle trying to outrun the police on his shitty dirt bike. He went over this thing on the levee by the Mississippi River, and there was a cable going across it, and he didn't see the cable, and went straight through it.”

He continues, “Anyway, he played guitar, and after his funeral and all that kind of stuff, me and my buddy snuck into his house and took the guitar. I’m sure his mother wasn't going to do anything with it, and I'm sure Pat The Rat would have wanted us to have it.”

Fast-forward to the early aughts, and his rock-solid reputation in metal circles led to an audition with Metallica, documented in the movie Metallica: Some Kind of Monster.

“It was intense,” he says matter-of-factly. “I’d played with those guys before, I’d done backing vocals on their cover of Tuesday’s Gone by [Lynyrd] Skynyrd. But this was crazy."

As for how he landed the audition, Keenan recalls Hetfield calling him one day, saying he wanted somebody who wasn't "necessarily the best player."

"Even at the time, I was looking at Metallica from a fan's point of view, what I would want Metallica to do? First things first, I would’ve brought back the OG logo, got back in that world and started on some Master of Puppets shit! Get back in the garage. I remember going in, we rehearsed, and it was killer.”

Robert Trujillo eventually ended up landing the highly-coveted gig, but as Keenan assures there's no bad blood between the metal brothers, “It's all good. It was super-fun.”

Keenan spoke more at length about the Metallica audition with Guitar World – and mused on what the band would’ve sounded like had he joined the lineup.

Pepper Keenan has looked back on his failed Metallica audition, which took place when he tried out to become Jason Newsted’s replacement back in the early 2000s.

The Corrosion of Conformity guitarist was famously up for the Metallica bass guitar gig, after Newsted left in 2001 following a 14-year stint with the metal legends. He was one of many players in the running, auditioning alongside the likes of Scott Reeder, Eric Avery, Danny Lohner, Jeordie White and more.

It was a rather exposing audition process – Keenan’s jam with the band was filmed and included in the Some Kind of Monster documentary, which charted Metallica’s turbulent period between ’01 and ’03.

He’d been invited to the studio, and although he had a good rapport with James Hetfield and co, Metallica eventually decided it wasn’t a good fit. The gig ultimately went to Robert Trujillo.

Speaking in a new interview with Guitar World, Keenan says he can pinpoint the moment he’d lost the gig – and it happened while they were jamming a new song.

When asked what Metallica would’ve sounded like had he joined the band, Keenan reflects, “I think James Hetfield knows the answer to this, because he would have heard it himself when I was playing with them.

“There was one part in the movie where they made me play bass on a new song,” he continues. “I guess they were trying to stump me with something I’d never heard before… St. Anger or some shit like that. It was a drop-tuned song and I hit the blower knob on my bass and just blasted through.

“They were like ‘What the fuck are you doing?’ It sounded as heavy as lead to me, totally ripping from all the overdrive on my short-scale SG bass set to the front pickup.

“It was some Cream-sounding shit... actually, it sounded more like Fudge Tunnel. I can still see them shaking their heads. I knew I’d lost the gig right there. [laughs]”

He might not have got the bass player spot, but he did get to jam with Metallica – an experience that was filled with plenty of highlights.

Keenan remembers, “Sad But True was fun as shit. I loved Nothing Else Matters as well, plus the older shit like Master of Puppets. But who doesn’t want to play that massive mid-tempo riff from Sad But True? Man, that was right up my alley!”

The Keenan/Metallica link-up had potential. Hetfield knew they were bringing in a guy who, at least on paper, could fit the bill. It just didn’t quite work out.

"[Pepper]'s a good player and a solid guy," Hetfield once told Kerrang! magazine (via Blabbermouth). "I had such high hopes for him. But when it came to jamming with the band, I knew that it wasn't going to work. It just didn't feel right."

Keenan and Hetfield remained close after the audition, having been friends long before. In fact, Keenan once told Guitar World that it was Hetfield who convinced him to switch from Gibson SGs to ESPs.

Les Claypool may be lauded as one of the bass’ undisputed virtuosos and most influential innovators.

However, according to the man himself, this wasn’t enough to earn him a spot in Metallica when he auditioned back in late 1986, following the death of Cliff Burton.

“I didn’t know how popular they were,” Claypool admits in a new interview with The Guardian, explaining he totally misread the room.

“We played a song or two and I said, ‘Hey, you guys want to jam on some Isley Brothers?’ Nobody laughed.”

Claypool was high school classmates with Kirk Hammett but suggests a personality clash was the reason why he never ended up in Metallica. Later, in Behind the Music, James Hetfield diplomatically disagreed, stating: “He was too good.”

In a 2005 Bass Player interview, Claypool spoke more on the experience. “I can't really remember what songs we played, but I didn’t fit in, that was really obvious,” he said.

“I believe Lars said. ‘You're not really used to this kind of music, are you?’ My first response was, goddamn, this is loud!”

As for his response to Hetfield’s reasoning on Behind the Music, Claypool has since scoffed at the suggestion.

“No, it wasn't that – I just didn’t fit in,” he later told Kerrang! “I had a blonde Mohawk and baggy skater pants and two different coloured tennis shoes – and this was back when they had long hair long hair and tight pants.

“I told him he was full of it, and thought I was a freak! That was why he didn't want me! And he [Hetfield] just laughed, because it was true. I wouldn’t have fit. They’re not dumb.”

As it turns out, the rejection set the bassist onto his true path, as the classic Primus lineup of Claypool, Ler LaLonde on guitar and drummer Tim Alexander led to 1989’s Suck On This and 1990’s Frizzle Fry – and their success landed them a major label deal with Interscope in 1991.

Seattle rock outfit Candlebox might never have hit the dizzying heights of Metallica and Aerosmith, but when they toured with the two bands in 1994, Peter Klett's guitar talents converted a number of his peers into admirers.

Candlebox's self-titled debut album, released the year before, shifted four million copies, breaking into the Billboard Top 200 top 10 in August 1994. Soon, they found themselves on the road with two of America’s biggest bands.

“Aerosmith was a short two-week run, which was great, and they were super cool,” Klett recalls while in conversation with Guitar World. “But we didn’t really spend a whole lot of time with them.

“Metallica, on the other hand, was on a long tour. We got to hang out, and they were super cool.”

However, the Shit Hits the Sheds tour, which also featured Suicidal Tendencies and future Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo on the bill, wasn't without its challenges.

“It was quite a challenge with their audience,” Klett admits. “But by the end of our set, the audience went from giving us the finger and throwing things at us to giving us the metal sign and letting us know that we rocked.

“One of the coolest things about that whole tour was that all of the guys in Metallica, individually at separate times, except for the guitar player, told me what a great guitar player I was.”

One would guess, then, that it was Kirk Hammett who failed to extend his compliments to Klett, but he at least received praise from James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, and Jason Newsted. That’s not a bad innings.

Guitar World's full interview with Pete Klett will be published online in the coming weeks.

In related news, System of a Down’s Daron Malakian recently recalled his impromptu stint as a stand-in for Hetfield in Metallica, while the band has teamed up with EMG to help celebrate its 50th anniversary in style.

Metallica is helping EMG celebrate its 50th anniversary by dropping new special edition finish options for each of their signature pickup sets.

The thrash metal giants have been powered by the firm's high-output passive and active pickups since basically day one. Their relationship predates their 1983 debut album, Kill ‘Em All, with Kirk Hammett first loading three of its single-coils into his purple Fernandes.

Hetfield was quick to follow suit, and EMG founder Rob Turner has recently said that making Hetfield's signature pickups was his most challenging and exhausting build.

And so here, Hetfield's signature JH ‘Het’ humbuckers get a special Sandblasted finish, while Hammett's KH-BB set gets a purple Spectrum colorway, and bass player Robert Trujillo's RT ‘Rip Tide’ pickups get a gilded redressing.

The limited edition sets – which, under the hood, are the same pickups that have been fuelling Metallica’s riffwork over the past few decades – are available during 2026 only.

Hetfield's set, which went through a tireless prototyping process, is unique in its use of ceramic poles, which are taller and thinner than usual. Hammett's Bone Breakers, by comparison, utilize Alnico 5 magnets, while Trujillo's take on the EMG J bass pickups are now “truly metal” thanks to their fresh new look.

“The thing I love about EMGs is that they're so consistent,” Hetfield says. “I can put EMGs in every guitar, and it's gonna sound exactly like I need it to.”

In other Metallica news, the band has just announced a residency at the Las Vegas Sphere, and their existing gig rig means they won’t need to go to the lengths John Mayer did to work around the venue’s sound restrictions.

Billy Corgan doesn’t often get a chance to talk guitar tone. But capturing that elusive sound in his head has driven him throughout his career. He’s spent his life in pursuit of it. “I don’t know if I ever have found my sound,” he says. “That’s the funny part. I’m always chasing something.”

The Smashing Pumpkins leader has never suffered fools and never been afraid to speak his mind. Accordingly, we’ve heard plenty about the band’s ’90s heyday and the interpersonal dramas that ensued. When I mention that I sent off an audition for the band, Corgan laughs. “Oh, wow. You might have dodged a bullet there!”

His quest for tonal refinement is as much a part of the Pumpkins story as the combative studio sessions and era-defining songwriting. It was Corgan’s discovery of the op amp Big Muff that propelled Siamese Dream to new high-gain planes. The explosive riffs of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness were shaped by his tireless preamp and power amp matching, tube swapping, Lace Sensor pickup switching.

And he hasn’t stopped – not just to satisfy his own desires, but also to be part of the changing face of guitars in modern rock.

“The midrange became the focus for guitar music in the 21st century,” he says. “I grew up listening to Hetfield and the scooped tone, and I love that sound. But listen to Metallica’s 2025 guitar sound. The scoop is gone. I don’t love a lot of midrange on guitar, but I’ve had to adjust my ear to make it happen.”

Which brings us to the Supergrace, his pedal amp with British veterans Laney. The two-channel 60W amp in a stompbox was born from his desire to revamp the company’s ubiquitous Supergroup for the 21st century. He suggested they link up with Brian Carstens, builder of Corgan’s signature Grace head, and possessor of “a savant-level understanding of gain and power.”

The resultant Supergrace delivers precision-engineered high-gain sounds alongside woodier vintage tones, essentially bottling Corgan’s live tone in one pedal. He was so confident in the sound that its first road test was in front of 60,000 people in a headline-grabbing guest spot with My Chemical Romance.

“With My Chem, they’re all playing modelers, and they sound great. Having a full rig was complicated. I think that extols the virtue of the pedal.”

This could be just the beginning of a signature relationship with Laney. There’s talk of full-blown tube head collaborations with Carstens down the line. It’s a passion point for the guitarist, who hails the legacy of the family-run company.

“As someone who grew up listening to and being so inspired by this amp, and the man who played it, Tony Iommi, is there anything I can do out of loyalty to help them?”

Testament to his commitment to the brand, Corgan is very giving with his time. We discuss the changing role of tone in rock music, his memories of Ozzy Osbourne’s final show, and why he’s the most excited to make a guitar record in decades.

Like your Reverend and Fender signature guitars, the Supergrace is reasonably priced. Why is making gear affordable to guitar players important to you?

Pretty simple: the guitar that changed my life. I walked into a Guitar Center one day and off the wall I bought an Eric Clapton model ’57 reissue Strat with Lace Sensor pickups. It was affordable enough for me as a touring musician, and that became the main guitar for Siamese and Mellon Collie, and launched 1,000 ships of people chasing that sound.

[Editor’s note: The Lace Sensor pickups on that guitar, which became known as the Bat Strat, were not stock on ’57 reissues of the day. It may have been pre-modded in store. As Corgan recalls, Guitar Center was using Clapton, who used Lace Sensors at the time, to promote the model.]

I didn’t go out and buy some $4,500 boutique guitar. I bought a production-model guitar, and it became super-valuable in my life. So every time I work with a guitar or amp manufacturer, I always say the same thing: I don’t want this to be out of the price range of anybody.

And in that spirit, the Reverends I play on stage are all production models. I don’t have a special one only for Billy – you know, special neck, special pickup – nothing. They are literally off-the-wall Reverends.

You’ve been meticulous about your tone over the years, and it shows. Can you remember the moment you felt you’d found your sound?

The first revelatory moment was when Jimmy Chamberlin sold me what became known as the Gish Strat, the one that was stolen and later returned. And it wasn’t until I played a Strat through a Marshall that I thought, “Okay, I’m in the neighborhood.” That was the first time I thought, “The way I play, expressed through this instrument and this amp, is close to what I’m chasing – what I want to feel like when I play.”

But as soon as I got there, because I was using a JCM800, there was not enough gain. And that started this whole other thing that led to multiple gain stages and jacking the signal in through the low input and KT88 tubes, and this cabinet and this wiring, and anything to just get more gain, including using shorter cabling.

How important is tone when it comes to guitar playing?

The most important thing with any guitar player is how they attack the guitar, physically. Tony Iommi’s attack vector on a guitar is far different than, say, Eddie Van Halen’s or Brian May’s, but that’s what makes them them. Only they play like that. You can imitate, but you’re never going to replicate.

And then tone: even Eddie went from that “brown sound,” that Marshall Plexi. When I was in 5150 I asked him about it, and there in the corner was the amp. There was the amp I spent thousands of hours in my bedroom trying to replicate – not realizing I’m not Eddie Van Halen! It’s never going to work.

But even he had to update his sound. And every time he would do a new amp collab, it got more modern in terms of gain. I was recently watching a YouTube clip of when Van Halen last toured Japan. I saw some fan was complaining about the sound, saying it’s not what it used to be.

And I thought, “Yes, but I don’t think you understand that Ed was under the same pressure we all were, which is, ‘I can play my old shit, but it sounds old.’

You get put in this weird spot where somebody might sound more exciting with tone, even though you’re a better guitar player. And I think that’s always been the case. Clapton used line drivers. Ritchie Blackmore used line drivers. Tony did. They had to brighten up those dark British amps.

Last time I saw the Pumpkins, I was struck by the fact you were using more modulation on your guitar leads. Does that play into your tonal evolution?

Well, I like the way things animate against each other. I can’t say I love it. I just don’t have a better solution to get that movement behind the notes, especially for lead playing. I don’t play that many leads live anymore, so if I’m only going to play two or three leads live, I’ve got to make my point fairly quickly.

I’m 58 years old, and the kineticism of a lead is what I’m interested in. The notes are less important to me. And that might sound strange, but that’s just the way I feel.

In essence, if you’re going to play a lead in an alternative rock band in 2026, what are you trying to say? No-one’s going to care that you can play good, because there are 50 10-year-olds playing Eruption on YouTube.

There’s nothing actually that impressive about somebody being able to play the guitar at a decently high level anymore. So I think it’s the expressive quality that makes it interesting. I’m more interested in creating a feeling than showing off.

We’re talking about Laney, founded in Birmingham, where Ozzy Osbourne’s farewell show took place. What did it mean to you to perform at that show?

It was honestly one of the greatest experiences I’ve had. The music, and being there in support of the band and Ozzy, meant a lot to me as a fan and as somebody who knows the Osbournes a bit personally.

I think it’ll go down as one of the great days in rock history. Just to be part of that lineup was insane, but it was that incredible moment where so many people pulled together in a common cause to celebrate the band and Oz, and everybody was so graceful about it, the vibe, the performances, the generosity.

I noticed when you got up with your fellow Chicago “metal Yardbirds”, Adam Jones and Tom Morello, you didn’t play guitar. Why not?

[Laughs] Well, originally I was going to play guitar, and then Tom wrote me and said, “Are you cool with us having K.K. up?” And I was like, “I’m getting out of the way on that one!”

I’m a huge K.K. Downing fan. In fact, I own his old number one amp and his pedalboard from the ’70s and ’80s. He put them up for auction. I saw him play that amp and that pedalboard and that V at a racetrack here in Chicago in 1982 when they were on the Screaming for Vengeance tour.

I’m not sure K.K. knows who I am at this point. I tried to talk to him about the gear, and he seemed a bit bewildered, like, “Who’s the fan that wandered in off the street?” But to stand there in Birmingham and play, not only with that great lineup on stage, but also with K.K.

It was deafening on stage. I do prize my hearing, but when he was soloing during Snowblind, I went out of my way to stand in front of that cabinet to just listen to pure K.K. with the wah and the V. And it was like an out-of-body experience.

We’ve spoken about keeping up with guitar trends. When Kiki Wong joined Smashing Pumpkins, you said you were already familiar with her on Instagram. Are there any other social media guitarists you’re a fan of?

I burned out on it, I think. And I don’t mean this as criticism – there are some unbelievable guitar players on social media. Where I get a little lost is I don’t see where a lot of that great playing is converting into popular music, whether it’s in popular metal bands or popular alternative rock bands.

Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe there are guitar players that I wouldn’t know that got super-popular on Instagram and now they’re in the biggest metal band in Finland or something.

I guess I’m old-school. I want to see those people on stage. I want to see them making the Metallica songs of tomorrow, or Megadeth or Slayer or something. I want to see that crowd of guitar players convert those incredible abilities into the popular culture.

What if Clapton had just been a guitar influencer and hadn’t been in John Mayall and Cream and Derek and the Dominos? The reason everybody knows Eric Clapton’s name is not because he’s a great guitar player. It’s because he made some of the most popular music of the 20th century – and, oh, by the way, it has incredible guitar.

The last Smashing Pumpkins record, Aghori Mhori Mei, had a great reception. Do you see yourself continuing down a heavier path on your next release?

I’m working on music, and I’m very focused on guitar music. It’s the most motivated I have been to make a guitar record in 20-25 years. Part of that is shoegaze music has really come back in the culture, which we’re commonly associated with.

There came a point in the mid-2000s where it seemed like guitar was totally out of vogue. I’m not a Luddite – if people are not interested in guitar, that’s cool by me, and I’ll try to come at it a different way. But guitar is the thing I understand the most, and where I’ve had the most influence.

So I’m excited to once more dive into the sea of pedals and amps and guitars and see if I can come up with something new to say. And I think, in a good way, the bar is very high right now.

There’s a lot of very interesting guitar bands coming on the scene, and they’re saying lots of new things. Some are familiar – I think, “Well, you’ve definitely listened to me and Swervedriver,” but that’s cool, because we stole from everybody.

It’s just that young people are listening to guitar music, and the young guitar players of today have something new to say. It inspires me to get back on the horse one more time.

What will you change about your playing and your sounds to say something new with the instrument?

That’s a really good question, because I just did the operatic interpretation of Mellon Collie in Chicago at the Lyric Opera. And a lot of the parts that the orchestra was playing were the guitar parts, and they translated quite beautifully. In the band – and I’m not making this up – we used to call it orchestral arranging.

We would look at the wall of guitars as if, “This is the oboe and this is the violin.” So, I’m inspired to go back and once more operatically arrange the way I hear the music, and then use new technology and new approaches to guitar to achieve the polyphony that I would be interested in.

Mellon Collie was the peak of a lot of years of experimentation. But we also made that album thinking, “OK, that’s the end of this. There’s no chapter beyond this. We’ve taken this as far as we can go.” Hence, 46 guitars on Thru the Eyes of Ruby, Jelly Belly – all those crazy overdubs.

So I would like to come at it now down the road, because if Mellon Collie was the summit, Machina [/The Machines of God] was the deconstruction of that approach.

I haven’t really done that Siamese guitar stacking since Oceania in 2012. But I did it knowing I wasn’t that into it. It was like, “I’m getting all this pressure to do this again.” So rather than run away from it or shut my ears, I’ll approach it from the standpoint of, “I’m not sure I have anything new to say, but I’ll try.”

How has your relationship with the guitar changed from the ’90s to now?

I’ve always been fairly rewarded for my guitar playing. But it was not the main thrust of my thing. And I think this is the reason a lot of the guitar magazines went off me in the 2000s – because I was being critical of the guitar. I wasn’t doing like, “The guitar is great and I love my guitar.” I was actually saying something more artistic, which is: “Look, the guitar needs to innovate.”

The guitar needs to be moved forward in terms of technical and mechanical innovation. If you look at the major companies, the Fenders and the Gibsons, they’re basically running museums half the time; their main focus is not innovation. This is why I’m in a relationship with Reverend, because the focus is innovation.

I used to write guitar advice columns for Guitar World. I was totally in that community, and then they just booted me out, because I wasn’t saying the right kind of political things anymore. And what’s even weirder is because of that, those 15-20 years where I wasn’t part of “guitar world,” a lot of young guitar players don’t even know I’m the one playing the guitar! They think it’s James [Iha], because they assume I’m the singer and James is the guitar player.

So even just getting back into the conversation about guitars is a relatively recent thing, and obviously part of it is me making guitar music again. But also I think it’s just I’ve always come at it from a different perspective.

By the time I was 17/18, I could play lightning-fast. And for whatever reason, I just hit the wall. I focused more on innovation and bringing something new to the table, and getting out of the gunslinger wars, and realizing I was never going to be better than Steve Vai or Zakk Wylde – and that was OK.

I feel like I’ve come full circle, where people now understand what I did, what I’ve actually contributed, and I don’t need to play any game about it. I can talk about what I love: the guitar. And I think you can see my passion for the instrument.

• The Laney Supergrace Loudpedal is out now. Head to Laney for more info.

Long before she became the Smashing Pumpkins’ latest guitarist and started trading riffs with Billy Corgan, Kiki Wong began her musical journey as a pianist – until a guitar from Costco piqued her interest and completely changed her musical trajectory.

“I started playing piano. I was about six years old,” she says in a new masterclass with Guitar Center, hosted by Guitar World's Paul Riario.

“My dad played the guitar, but I didn't know much about guitar [as I] was very, very piano-driven. And one day, my mom went to Costco, and she's like, ‘Oh, they've got these guitars on sale.’ A Yamaha Eterna, it was called, and [my mum was] like, ‘Let's get it for your dad.’ I was maybe 12 years old.

“My dad played a little bit, and then it went in the closet. [Later], I was like, ‘What is this mysterious thing in the box? Somebody unlock this for me!’” Wong went on to ask her dad for guitar lessons, but he could only teach her so much.

“He's like, ‘Okay, I've got three chords for you, and then you're on your own,’ because that's about as much as he really knew about the guitar,” Wong persevered. “I was like, ‘Well, can I take lessons?’ And they're like, ‘You're already doing piano, so that's it.’ I was like, ‘Shoot, I got to figure it out.’”

What she deems the “biggest inspiration” – and one that completely redefined her music taste and cemented her playing style – is discovering Metallica and going down the metal rabbit hole.

“I went from just like basic rock, and then [my brother] was like, 'Here's Metallica.' I was like, ‘What the f is this?’ And he's like, ‘Here's Master of Puppets.’ I was like, ‘I have to learn this. That didn't go so well.

“But eventually I got there, and I just became completely, utterly obsessed with metal. It kind of made me a one-trick pony for a long time, but I have this undying love for disgusting tones and metal in general, but I'll never forget Masters of Puppets,” she divulges.

“The first time I heard it and saw the album cover, I was like, ‘Holy crap. This is a level that I couldn't have ever imagined.’ It was like diving into a movie that you couldn't even imagine could have been created. So that feeling still lives on.”

In more recent news, Kiki Wong gave Guitarist the lowdown on her Smashing Pumpkins live rig and how a humble Line 6 amp made her the player she is today.

Metallica have announced an upcoming residency at the Las Vegas Sphere.

The news comes after months of speculation surrounding the band, with many fans theorizing that Metallica would continue their M72 World Tour with a stint at the world’s most advanced live music venue.

As such, the Life Burns Faster residency is set to kick off in October later this year, and will continue the ‘No Repeat Weekend’ tradition that the M72 tour established. In other words, no songs will be repeated on each Thursday and Saturday through the course of the run.

Unsurprisingly, the eight-date residency is promising to expand Metallica’s live set and push it in all-new directions. In fact, it’s being dubbed as “a wholly unique and entirely new Metallica experience for all who attend – including James, Lars, Kirk and Robert”.

What presumably won’t be new to the band, though, will be the live rigs they take to the Sphere. After all, the Sphere is notorious for its rig requirements, owing to the way the venue has been physically designed. Loud stages with actual tube amps simply don’t work.

It’s proven to be quite the obstacle for guitarists in the past. It prompted Bob Weir to ditch his tube amps for an amp modeler, forced John Mayer to find a workaround to run his regular amp setup, and famously led The Edge to run through Universal Audio UAFX pedals.

Heck, Trey Anastasio – who also had to bury his amps off-stage for Phish's residency at the venue – once said it was impossible to play with onstage amps at the Sphere.

Metallica won’t face such issues, though. As a band that has already been converted to an all-digital live setup (they switched to Axe-Fx around 2013), they should have no problem with inserting their existing live setup into the Sphere’s notoriously quiet stage.

Whatever the case, Life Burns Faster has become a long time coming, and the seeds of the residency were sown during the venue’s opening night.

“About 12 seconds into the opening night of Sphere with U2 back in ’23, I thought, ‘We have to do this, it’s completely uncharted territory!’” ’Tallica drummer Lars Ulrich says.

“This residency gives us another chance to reinvent how we interact with our fans in a live setting. We are beyond excited to share this with the world in six months’ time, and way fuckin’ psyched to go next level!”

Life Burns Faster kicks off on October 1, with further dates slated for 3, 15, 17, 22, 24, 29 and 31 of that month. Tickets will go on sale on March 6 at 10am PT.

To register for tickets and for more info in the meantime, head over to Metallica’s website.

Dave Mustaine’s wild heavy metal journey is ending via a final Megadeth album – January’s self-titled release – and a globetrotting tour.

He tells Guitar World, “We have a lot of territories we need to play before we stop. We’ve got a lot of stops to get to so that we can see everybody. It’s more than just weekend-warrior stuff here in the States. We’re not just here traveling in a Winnebago.” [Laughs]

It’s hard to imagine the metal landscape without Mustaine, a man whose playing is as fiery as his personality. Thankfully, those traits come across throughout Megadeth. Mustaine is going out with a massive bang.

Below, he discusses the new album, track by track. As is the case with any Megadeth offering, the themes run a wide gamut, but it’s the album's final track, The Last Note, that seems the most symbolic.

“It’s like we’re playing to carry on forever,” Mustaine says of the song. “For people who know my music, it’ll carry on. I know it will.”

1. Tipping Point

This song came along in the middle of the recording process; the songs were numbered, and Tipping Point was Number 9, so we had gotten through a good portion of the record by the time we started working on it. As far as performing in the studio, we had some crude racks from Lowe's or Home Depot, and we had all of our amps stacked up there.

We had our Marshalls and a bunch of other amps I've never seen before, all the stompboxes and stuff. This song came together pretty easily. The hardest part was knowing when to stop, because Megadeth songs reveal themselves – if that makes sense.

The first time you listen to it, it sounds like something, and then you listen again, and you hear so many things you didn’t hear before. The easiest way to say it is that it's like peeling an onion, and every time you listen to it, you hear a little something more. Teemu [Mäntysaari] is definitely going to be a star. The guitar work he did on this record was just amazing.

2. I Don’t Care

It’s song Number 2, but it was song Number 4 in the list of songs. That was the order the songs were penned – not as far as their importance. I Don’t Care is really a super-punk track I had been hanging onto in my head for a long time and thinking about, you know, how aggressive it would be to do a really great skating video, or any of those extreme sports. It just kept fueling the song.

When it was time to sing the lyrics, I don't know what I was thinking, but I went up and just spat out these lyrics – and all that stuff came out the second time I sang it.

The first time I sang it, it reminded me a lot of Nirvana and then Fear. I was in one of those little obnoxious Dave Mustaine moods, and I got through the first pass. Then the producer, Chris [Rakestraw], goes, “You need to just go ‘da da da da da’ during that middle part there.” I kind of tilted my head, went in there and just said the most obnoxious things I could say – and there you go! [Laughs]

The fun part about doing the guitar layering was, when we started with the main riff, we added another, which was all down-picking the same chords. Then we had another layer that went on top that was like when you do the first note and then an octave higher – that jazzy kind of chord, where you can slide it, like a George Benson chord. At the very end, there was one more layer that’s a cross between a percussive sound and a little bit of a pinch sound.

3. Hey God?!

When we started this one, it had different lyrics. We went through numerous ideations where the song stayed the same, but the lyrics were really hard to come down on.

I spent so much time getting this lyric right that I lost it, and I just wrote down what ended up becoming the final lyrics. A lot of the thought process for the retirement stuff was swirling around in my head around that period. The thoughts would come and go, but that's when I zeroed in on those lyrics.

The song – the music – was written; it was the second musical track we were working on, but the lyrics took forever. But when we finally got to that place, about how we’re nearing the end here, that’s when these lyrics came up.

It's funny because there’s a lot of those, I don’t know if “slogans” is the right word, but they’re like wives’ tales and limericks and stuff like that about footprints in the sand, looking back. And there was only one set of footprints. And you say to God, “Where were you?” And God says, “Well, those footprints were mine, when I was carrying you.” I thought, “That’s a really cool concept.”

It’s like the old poem that says something like, “It’s better to live your life like there is a God, and when you get to Heaven, find out there is none, than to live your life like there’s no God and go to Heaven and find out that there is.” I thought, “That’s pretty heavy.”

4. Let There Be Shred

Let There Be Shred has nothing to do with AC/DC’s Let There Be Rock, although I’m a huge AC/DC fan and I love that song. Teemu is such an exceptional talent that he really lit a fire in me for my playing. We were joking around and constantly talking about how we have to make this record absolutely shred and that we needed to put a lot of solos in it. I think we accomplished that.

We didn’t write songs like [we used to in former] periods of Megadeth’s lifetime. We had songs that were great songs, but were fit for a time, like the Countdown to Extinction years. Those songs are classic, but they’re not fast by today’s standards. The songs people like are like those on the new record, but, you know, different songs for different times.

A pretty unique thing about Let There Be Shred – in terms of the guitar duels Teemu and I were doing – is that he would do all the shred stuff, and I’d do all the hippie stuff. I thought that was really fun, based on what the lyrics were about, because it was supposed to be a guitar challenge.

I think if we did a video, it'd be really great to get a bunch of super-amazing young guitar players in there just going for it, and then the song ends and it’s me standing out in front of the audition place with my guitar case like, “Wait a minute, I’m, I’m here…” [Laughs] It's kind of like a David Lee Roth video.

5. Puppet Parade

When we wrote this song, we knew the melody was really catchy. As for the guitar parts, the rhythm is close to several songs we have, but it isn't the same. We didn’t want to borrow anything from ourselves, but the simplicity of the riff makes it really catchy. Sometimes you want it to be super-explosive, but the riff doesn't call for that; the riff calls for a simpler performance. Maybe you take out one or two rhythm notes; maybe that's the difference between good and great.

With Puppet Parade, the rhythm in the beginning is really cool and hooky. The chorus is from when I dug into trying to sing again, you know – really sing along with the song. Believe it or not, the chorus was one of the hardest parts on this song. Not the lyrics, but the music. When we got that done, we knew it was going to be a catchy song. And Teemu did a great guitar solo; we both did.

6. Another Bad Day

This was fun to write. I’m inspired by things from my past and from when I was growing up – especially videos and movies. Another Bad Day reminds me of that Madness video for Our House [1982], where everything’s fucked, and you can cross that with that 1993 Michael Douglas movie, Falling Down. There’s a whole meltdown – he’s got a baseball bat, his car breaks down. That’s my visual for this song. [Laughs]

He wakes up and has no idea what’s going on. He’s losing everything, and his normal routine is gone. The song discusses the hardships in life. I’ve had a lot of experiences like that; these things happen to everyone. Singing about it sometimes makes it a little bit easier for people who are struggling with stuff like this.

7. Made to Kill

This was one of those songs where the first half is like the second half, but it’s telling a story. There’s the first half, and then it goes back to the beginning, and I think there’s some really cool riffs in there.

The lyric ideas talk about the state of affairs in our country right now, where people are so agitated that they start organizing. I'm not saying one side’s right or one side’s wrong; I'm saying this is what’s coming next if things don’t change.

8. Obey the Call

This was the second-to-last song we wrote. We had some pretty good soloing and trading off, if I remember right. Teemu had the majority of the solos, and it was kind of a follow-up to [the cover art of 2018’s] Dystopia, that kind of bombed-out city, where everything’s all fucked up. I’ve written about this a lot of times.

The first time I really got into something like this was when I saw the Jean-Claude Van Damme movie Timecop [1994] and we were finishing up Rust in Peace.

We had just finished Poison Was the Cure, and we needed a little bit more for the record, and David Ellefson had written this part, which we ended up using as the beginning of Poison Was the Cure. I watched Timecop, and I had this dream where I had my own vision of what it would look like. The lyrics were me dipping my toe into full-on apocalypse stuff.

9. I Am War

It’s simple, but the lyrics are deep. I’m a big fan of Sun Tzu and The Art of War – it’s something every band leader should read. It’s not generally made for musicians, but the credo throughout the book – the “not taking shit from anybody and knowing how to defeat your enemies and how to be a warrior” part – really inspired me when I first started getting into martial arts.

When I heard businessmen were reading it, I figured, “Shit, I'm gonna read this for sure now.” So I did, and it’s very difficult to understand, but I got through it and read it a second time. It’s like our records, where it reveals itself as time goes on. That’s important when you're trying to learn something; you learn it like you're gonna teach it.

When you learn something and somebody makes it too fucking difficult, you're not gonna learn it. It’s the same with martial arts – and with guitar. I thought this was really cool. The song shows the dichotomy between these two approaches to war. One is the leader going to war and trying to win; the other person tries to win and then goes to war. He is somebody who will plan out his attack, like a reaction to a response.

10. The Last Note

This started out as a very sad song. It was actually called “Jumpers,” because it was about the dilemma on the Golden Gate Bridge – the tragic problem they have there with people ending their lives on the bridge so often that they’ve got a police force just for the bridge. There’s a clip that shows several people jumping off the bridge and what happens when someone jumps.

They hit the ground with such velocity that their bones turn into splinters, which go upward, piercing every organ in their body. As soon as the rescue team gets there, they go to where the person jumped and throw this flare off the side of the bridge. It goes into the water and floats along with the current so that you can see the body trail. It's gnarly stuff when you think about it.

I wrote a song about it, but when it was time to sing it, I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. There was no way I could get any emotion behind it. I mean, I sang it well, but it just didn’t sound good. There was no way I could make that something somebody could sing, so we changed it to The Last Note.

I was out last month [October] during our European/U.K. tour, and some of the first interviews we did there were with some really rugged guys – strapping guys from Scandinavia. A couple of them said to my face, “When I listened to The Last Note, it brought a tear to my eye.” And I went, “What?” – because this was the first time we’d done any press on this record.

Imagine that I haven’t spoken to anybody since we shut the record down, and this was one of the first times I heard from anybody about the record, and certainly about that song.

When these two guys, in two separate interviews, said the same thing – one said it brought tears to his eyes and the other said it almost made him weep – I was like, “Mission accomplished.”

11. Ride the Lightning (Bonus Track)

The main reason I chose to do this was to close the circle and pay my respects to my partners. I thought this was a really great way to do that. Whenever we select any other band’s music to go on our albums, sometimes there’s a lot of thought behind it and sometimes there’s not.

This was one of the ones that we thought long and hard about, because all I wanted to do was play the song I wrote with the guys in Metallica. I wanted to pay my respects to James Hetfield, who I think is an amazing guitar player, and Lars Ulrich, who was an excellent songwriter. I remember when I was there and we were putting these songs together, Lars didn’t just sit there; he was very instrumental in making these songs.

Of course, when we got into making demos of these songs, it was fun to do the recordings, but we were never really able to do a full-on produced version of Ride the Lightning, and I would have loved to have heard that.

I gotta tell you – listening back to James’ original vocal performance, it was really tremendous. Anyway, there’s no big strategy; I have respect for the guys, and I just wanted to show that. And it’s a hell of a song!

• Megadeth is out now via Frontiers.
• This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.

A 10-year-old guitarist has shared the life-changing moment he met Metallica's down-picking extraordinaire, James Hetfield, who signed his guitar and offered some important advice to the young prodigy.

The pre-teen shredder, Jacob K, has amassed several thousand followers on Instagram thanks to his Metallica-propelled busking videos. Last summer, he got to meet the man responsible for his favorite riffs, and his reaction was nothing short of heartwarming.

The meeting took place in Tampa in June 2025, with the band in town as part of their M72 world tour – one Hetfield had nightmares about before on the eve of the run. In the clip, Hetfield can be heard asking, “Is this yours?” of the white-and-black ESP LTD Iron Cross SW, before scrawling his signature on it.

Jacob had attended a pop-up store the day after the concert, when Hetfield flipped his world upside down.

“Met my favorite person,” he writes on Instagram. “The best musician/guitarist and the reason I play guitar. He was so amazing, cool, and so kind to me. It was the best day ever. I will never forget it.”

Jacob was set to be in attendance for night two of the band’s Tampa trip, with his parents reflecting on what the meet-up meant to their son.

“What meant the most wasn’t just meeting the GOAT. It was how humble, kind, and genuine James was with our son,” they write. “He stopped. He talked with him. He encouraged him. He told him to keep playing and never stop.

“Up until that moment, Jacob’s world was countless hours of watching interviews, concerts, performances, learning Metallica riffs, and listening daily. This wasn’t just meeting an idol, it was meeting the person who inspired it all.

“As parents, watching that brief moment of kindness changed us, too. Seeing a legend take time for a kid who looks up to him so deeply is something we’ll never forget. Talent is incredible, but character is everything. He’s the real deal. Forever grateful. Forever inspired.”

Indeed, as Yungblud once said, “you ain't ever gonna see James Hetfield slag off a young rock star.”

The accompanying video clip was originally filmed for personal use, with the family then opting to share it on social media to showcase Hetfield’s humility, and what was a truly ‘pinch-me’ moment for the young guitarist.

In related news, Gorjia's Joe Duplantier has revealed Hetfield introduced him to ESP guitars, resulting in a killer signature offset after leaving Charvel.

As Dave Mustaine gears up for his and Megadeth’s final album, questions remain about why the relationship between Mustaine – a former Metallica guitarist – and James Hetfield remains strained to this day.

Turns out, one of the core reasons goes back to the early days of Metallica. While the band has reissued every studio album – from Kill 'Em All through to Load – their early and now legendary No Life 'Til Leather demo, which includes key Mustaine contributions, has notably been omitted.

“I wrote all the music on Phantom Lord, all the music on Metal Militia, all the music on Jump In The Fire and The Mechanix,” Mustaine asserts in an new interview with Classic Rock.

“And I wrote the lyrics for Jump In The Fire and The Mechanix. So do the math: if I wrote the music and James [Hetfield] wrote the lyrics, then the credit is 50 per cent me, and 50 per cent James. Well, that's not what went down when I left. James and Lars figured out that they were going to give Lars some percentage of the songs he didn't write anything on, and that happened on all four songs.”

Mustaine reveals that writing credits were a “bone of contention” for him going forward with Metallica on anything.

He adds, “It just wasn't fair. You guys got more money than God, why do you have to take my money?”

Speaking about the reissue that never happened, Mustaine reveals, “So James called me up, ‘Hey, man, we want to release this No Life 'Til Leather thing, and we want to get all this publishing stuff straight, and, you know, we really don't remember what went down.

“I said, ‘Well, that's good, because I do. I remember what went down, and I can help with that.’

“And then the conversation took a turn,” he continues. “James goes, ‘Well, that's not the way that we remember it.’ And I went, ‘Well, James, honestly, there's three ways to look at this: there's your way, my way, and the truth, which is some combination of the two.’

“That was the end of the conversation. He took offense to that, and we hung up, and I don't remember speaking to him since then.”

Ahead of the band’s final album and tour, Mustaine sat down with Guitar World to recount the hiring and firing of every Megadeth guitarist.

What is it?

The image of James Hetfield donning his all-white Explorer, carved with the words ‘So what’, is an iconic one in metal history. Despite this, there’s never actually been an official Gibson Explorer made bearing Papa Het’s moniker, and that remains the case with this Epiphone Explorer 80s EMG. Some may feel this is a Hetfield Explorer in all but name, however, Hetfield is not a Gibson signature artist like his bandmate Kirk Hammett. This is more of a firm nod fans will very much appreciate. Myself included.

Hetfield originally began playing a white Electra Flying Wedge, which was sold to him as a Gibson Flying V. After the neck of that guitar snapped in 1984, he then switched to a white Gibson Explorer, which had no pickguard and a three-knob control layout, now commonly referred to as an 83 or 84 Explorer, depending on who you ask.

This was the model largely used to record Metallica's second album, Ride The Lightning and was a favorite of Hetfield’s until he got his ESP endorsement in 1987. It was equipped with Gibson Dirty Fingers humbuckers.

The Explorer 80s EMG is not to be confused with the Epiphone 1984 Explorer EX, which gained massive popularity and value on the used market when Epiphone pulled it around 2019. This updated model is much closer to the form factor of Hetfield's original guitar, sans any lewd graffiti.

It features a rosewood fingerboard and all mahogany body and neck construction with the usual set neck, and a SlimTaper 60s neck profile. Mini die-cast tuners adorn a hockey stick-style headstock with a LockTone tune-o-matic bridge with LockTone stop bar at the opposing end.

The control layout is different from your typical Explorer guitar, giving you a master volume for each pickup and a single master tone knob. The 3-way pickup selector is also next to the tone knobs, whereas typically on Explorers it’s located at the upper bout, giving you control over a pair of EMG 81/60s humbuckers.

Priced at $899, it’s potentially great value for a guitar that’s essentially a James Hetfield signature in all but name. If it delivers the goods…

Specs

• Launch price: $899 | £849 | €1,099
• Made: China
• Type: Six-string electric guitar
• Body: Mahogany
• Neck: Mahogany
• Fingerboard: Rosewood
• Scale length: 24.75” / 628.65mm
• Nut/width: Graph Tech / 1.69” (43mm)
• Frets: 22
• Hardware: Mini die-cast tuners, LockTone tune-o-matic bridge with LockTone stop bar
• String spacing at bridge: 51.2mm
• Electrics: EMG 60 (10k), EMG 81 (10k), 2 volume, master tone
• Weight: 4.7kg
• Left-handed options: No
• Finishes: Classic White
• Cases: Epiphone premium soft case
• Contact: Epiphone

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★½

Taking the Explorer 80s EMG out of the Epiphone premium softcase, it’s a nice weight at just shy of 5kg. It’s solid feeling but not overly heavy to my arm, and although the Classic White finish isn’t quite as yellow as Hetfield’s original guitar (which is fair enough considering this is not a signature model), there are no immediately obvious blemishes or bits of dirt in it.

I do spot a very faint crack in the finish where the cutaway meets the neck, which is a common issue with Explorer-style guitars and others with set necks. It’s absolutely tiny though, and you’d be hard-pressed to spot it unless you were going over it with a fine toothcomb like I did. One of the volume knobs is sitting slightly higher than the others, but a firm push down sorts that out.

Flipping the guitar around, I open up the battery compartment and can spot nothing awry here. It’s a very close fit for the 9V battery, with a small, blue piece of fabric that wraps around it so you can easily pull it out when the time comes to change it. When buying the guitar new, it won’t come with a battery already installed, so you’ll need to use one of your own or purchase a fresh one; otherwise you won’t get any sound out of the guitar.

Playability

Playability rating: ★★★★½

Excitedly sitting down with it to start immediately downpicking palm muted power chord riffs, it feels absolutely huge on my lap compared to my usual Telecaster. It’s pleasingly balanced on my knee though, and I don’t feel like I have to fight to keep it upright. On my guitar strap there's no neck dive, which can plague this particular guitar shape. It balances nicely when I take both hands off and let it hang, which I wasn’t expecting.

The '60s Slim Taper neck still feels quite chunky in my hand, certainly not what you’d expect to find on any shred guitar, but I don’t mind it at all. The 24.75” scale makes it feel decidedly quick in hand though, with no time passing before I’m renditioning James’ solo part from Master of Puppets.

The profile gives me a nice bit of chunk to dig in with, which gives me plenty of confidence running pentatonic licks wherever I am on the fretboard. The bridge is positioned quite close to the neck side of the body, which keeps my picking hand out of the way of the large horn on the lower bout.

One thing I do notice is that when I try to go for that 22-fret bend at the end of Kirk’s solo section from Master of Puppets, my hand hits the cutaway of the guitar. It’s actually pretty awkward to get to, and I end up having to adjust the angle of my fretting hand to reach over further when going for it. That said, every other note can be accessed without doing this.

Tuning stability feels rock solid once it’s settled, and despite abusing it with some hefty bends, I find I seldom have to retune after the first half an hour or so. I do find the stock 10-46 strings are a bit light for my heavy-handed playing style, and I can imagine a lot of metal players would swap these for something a bit heavier that you can dig into. I used it to track in the studio, and it held up take after take, which is certainly reassuring.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★☆

Plugging the Explorer into a Neural DSP Quad Cortex, I feel obliged to start with a JCM800 model, and boy does it sound good! The EMG active humbuckers – the classic Hetfield preference of a standard 81 model in the bridge and 60 in the neck before they were refined further with his signature set – are an iconic metal tone, and their surgical precision is perfect for chugging power chords. I find there’s a much lighter touch required than the passive pickups I’m used to, and the sustain is absolutely incredible.

Adding some delay and a Tube Screamer-style overdrive pedal model to the signal path, and I’m in lead guitar heaven, with the precise, cutting tone of the pickups making scale runs and legato feel like an absolute breeze. I feel immediately able to speed my way through a variety of metal classics, and there’s something very satisfying about chugging on an open E power chord here.

There’s a downside to the precise nature of the pickups though, as when I switch to a Fender Twin model, the clinical nature of the EMGs makes them feel very inorganic. The decreased dynamic range makes things like arpeggios of open chords quite nice, as everything is very even with the naturally compressed tone, but when trying to play more dynamic pieces, I find there’s a lack of subtlety with them.

Verdict

For James Hetfield fans, this guitar is a no-brainer. It delivers the look, playability, and all for a very good price. Whether you want to carve your own lewd slogans into it or just pick up a distinctive-looking guitar for rocking out on the stage, it’s a great choice for players of classic metal. It does a great job for more modern styles, and for the live guitar player, you’ll certainly stand out on stage with this bad boy strapped on.

It’s a large guitar however, it doesn’t sit in a traditional guitar stand, and I can appreciate that not everyone will love the nonconformist looks of it. The EMG pickups also limit it to being a metal guitar, so don’t expect to be playing dynamic blues licks or jazz. If you’re all about precision metal tones though, you can’t go wrong with such iconic humbuckers.

Guitar World verdict: If you want a guitar to play all kinds of heavy music, the Epiphone Explorer 80s EMG is one that will let you do it with aplomb. From the eye-catching looks to the super playable neck, it’s a great guitar for laying down precision metal rhythms and searing lead licks. It’s not subtle, but it’s not trying to be.

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Guitar Guitar

NAMM 2026: Aria Guitars has announced a commemorative signature bass for the late Cliff Burton to mark 40 years since his passing.

The instrument, a reissue of the Aria Pro II Cliff Burton – which launched in 2013 with the approval of his family and Metallica – “honors Cliff Burton’s groundbreaking tone and legacy.” But isn’t purely sentimental, with Aria saying it has been “created for a new generation of players.”

Metallica’s golden-era bassist was a pivotal songwriting force in the band’s early successes, with tracks like (Anesthesia) – Pulling Teeth quickly embedding themselves into the instrument’s folklore. And while his death in 1986, aged just 24, cut the musician’s life tragically short, the impact of his work still lives on.

Though Burton’s talents never earned him a signature guitar in his lifetime, the 2013 release saw his go-to bass and unsung brand celebrating his legacy, with that recipe now revived and refreshed 13 years later.

Currently, details about the bass are scarce. It remains to be seen whether the same alder body, seven-piece maple/walnut through neck, and 24-fret rosewood fingerboard recipe has been altered. The 2013 model also rocked a solid brass tailpiece with 24K gold-plated saddles and a single Aria MB-V passive pickup.

It will be interesting to see how much of this has been tweaked to cater to modern bass rigs. Judging by the image Aria has posted on Instagram, it certainly looks to be a faithful recreation of the instrument that Burton made so iconic and lusted-over. It doesn’t look any less gold-plated either. Fancy.

Thankfully, with its unveiling set to take place at NAMM 2026, the wait won’t be long, at least.

Other Cliff Burto-themed posthumous releases have included a reissue of his Morley fuzz wah and a limited-edition beer, which raised money for the late Metallica bassist's scholarship foundation to support young musicians.

As Dave Mustaine gears up for the 17th and final Megadeth release – the aptly-titled Megadeth – he's taking the opportunity to reflect on the philosophy and guitar style that not only carried him throughout his career, but defines his legacy as a thrash metal pioneer.

“The term ‘rhythm guitar player’ seems a little diminishing for me,” he tells Premier Guitar. “I love the riff.”

It’s precisely the riff-centric approach that landed him his gig with his pre-Megadeth band, Metallica, and one that would bring more eyeballs (and ears) to his playing.

“When I went to Norwalk [California] the day that I met James Hetfield and [original Metallica bassist] Ron McGovney, I didn’t know what was gonna happen,” he admits. “Nobody did. But I had my style, and it was based around the riff.

“I went in there, and I didn’t have any Marshalls yet because I was just starting to get serious. I had these Risson amps – they were tan, so from the moment I set up my stack, I was different.”

He continues, “I plugged in my guitar and I started warming up, and I kept warming up and warming up. And I finally said, ‘Where the fuck are these guys?’ I set my guitar down and switched my amp to standby.

“And then I went out there and I said, ‘Man, where’s my audition?’ They said, ‘You got the gig.’ So I got my job just by warming up.” Clearly, Mustaine's inimitable style made the right impression. Mustaine was recruited on the spot. The rest was history.

Recently, Mustaine revealed the life-changing diagnosis that ultimately led to his decision to retire Megadeth.

System of a Down guitarist Daron Malakian has reflected on his brief stint deputizing for James Hetfield in Metallica – which began after he saved one of the band's shows at the last minute.

In 2000, Malakian’s nu-metallers were the new the kids on the block. They only had one album and a few commendable Ozzfest showings to their name at that point, but they were making serious waves.

So, when James Hetfield was sidelined after a water skiing accident, Malakian was promptly sworn into the band. He and some ad hoc vocalists helped fill the void left by the band’s co-founder across a handful of shows, after Malakian put himself in the frame.

“When I was 12 or 13, I had been playing the guitar for a year. I was with these guys in my school and, in their dad's garage, we would play Metallica covers,” he says on Rick Rubin’s Tetragrammaton podcast (via Blabbermouth).

“That's pretty much all we'd play,” he adds. “[It was] a big part of how I learned how to play the guitar, so I knew all the Metallica covers.”

Aside from Malakian’s in-depth knowledge of the material, his hiring was also practical as System of a Down were supporting Metallica on their Stadium Sanitarium tour that summer. But there was no time for a bedding-in process.

"I met Metallica on stage playing with them,” he reveals. “I never met them before. We're the first band. Nobody knows us. It was like, five bands on the bill [including Kid Rock and Korn].

“Jason Newsted was singing, and then they brought [Jonathan Davis from] Korn on, and they played this Cheech & Chong cover song or something. They didn't know what to do because James [Hetfield] wasn't there.

“So I turned to my tech, and I say, ‘Go tell their tech that I know a lot of their shit.’ Then my tech comes back to me. He's, like, ‘All right, come with me.’

“Next thing you know, I go on the other side of the stage. I get handed a Les Paul – I think it was one of Kirk Hammett's. I'm in my after-show [clothes], wearing Lakers sweats. I'm not even ready to get on stage.”

But on stage he went, in front of 60,000 people, many of whom may not have caught SOAD’s set.

“You gotta understand that [at the time] our band's not big yet. I'm still a kid. I'm 22 years old,” Malakian continues. “I can't even believe that we're even allowed to open up for Metallica, and they put me out there! They're, like, ‘What do you know?’ I go, ‘I don't know; Master Of Puppets,' ‘Okay. Count it in.’

“And then there's this thing that happened where, in the middle of Master Of Puppets, instead of going into that slow part, they went into Welcome Home (Sanitarium), and I didn't know they were gonna do that. You would think we rehearsed it – I didn't even know it was gonna happen.”

Malakian clearly made a good impression. He continues, “Next thing you know, Kirk Hammett's in front of me with a guitar trying to teach me stuff off Load, and they're like, ‘Hey, get your shit from your bus, because you're flying on the private jet with us now.’”

After a few shows, Hetfield was back in the saddle, while Malakian was left with lifelong memories.

In related news, Malakian stumbled across a SOAD cover band while on tour last year and proceeded to play with them.

Dave Mustaine has revealed that he’s suffering from a hand condition that is severely impacting his ability to play guitar, which is a driving factor behind his impending retirement.

The metal guitar icon is retiring Megadeth after the album cycle for their forthcoming 17th studio release, aptly titled Megadeth, wraps up. While early single releases show the guitarist still has plenty of chops – for instance, Let There Be Shred is a guitar solo love-fest – his Dupuytren's contracture diagnosis has made it “really painful to play.

“It's already started, where it's kind of bunching up a little bit,” he tells MariskalRockTV in a new interview. “And then if you look at the tips of my fingers, they're severely arthritic. So all those bumps make it really painful to play.”

The condition is often referred to as Viking Disease due to its commonality in Northern European populations. It sees tissue under the skin thicken to the point it pulls fingers into a bent position, as if the hand were clutching an imaginary axe.

Straightening the fingers back is said to be difficult, and while surgery is an option to slow its progress, Mustaine won’t consider it until Megadeth’s race is run.

“If I wait until my hands are causing a problem and I try it and it doesn't work, well then I've toured everywhere, I've said farewell to everybody and am not leaving stuff unsaid or unfinished,” he explains.

Megadeth is poised to be a poignant send-off for the guitarist. It will be the first and only release to feature new hotshot guitarist Teemu Mäntysaari, who is in to succeed Kiko Loureiro’s two-album spell.

The record will close out with a cover of Metallica’s Ride the Lightning, a thrash classic for which he has a co-writing credit from his ill-fated time in the band. Mustaine believes that offering his take on the song will provide a full-circle moment to close his career in the right way.

Elsewhere, Mustaine has revealed how he found Chris Poland’s successor, and the bizarre request that cost the would-be new guitarist the job – at the expense of his guitar teacher.

Besides long hair and leather jackets, nothing is more tied to heavy metal’s image than a wall of Marshall stacks. Kiss, Judas Priest, Metallica – and everyone in between – adopted the prop at some point, using it to symbolize what heavy metal stands for.

It’s uncompromisingly loud, searingly hot and literally heavy. In many ways, a Marshall stack is the physical incarnation of the genre.

Now, as heavy metal enters its sixth decade, modelers are exposing half-stacks and 2x12s as cumbersome relics. Unlike a guitar, wielding one won’t get you any chicks (or dudes), but 25 years ago, the idea of a pro showing up to a gig with anything else was questionable at best.

At the time, internet forums taught this budding guitarist that if your combo amp went to “Insane” instead of 11, then your amp situation was about as un-serious as it could get. But just as computers moved from spare rooms to pockets, companies like Fractal Audio Systems pushed amp modeling out of bedrooms and onto the big stage.

Take Metallica. They once sang about Marshall noise piercing ears, kicking asses and kicking faces on Kill ’Em All, only to adopt Fractal Audio’s Axe-Fx in 2013. Now their tube amps stay home at HQ, leaving fewer variables for James Hetfield’s tech, Chad Zaemisch, to wrangle on the road. In this interview, Zaemisch talks about the switch, the early challenges and why Metallica hasn’t looked back at all.

What brought modelers to the table for Metallica?

We were kind of forced to come up with a solution for playing a show in Antarctica where we couldn't have speakers. We couldn't be loud. For environmental reasons, they didn’t want any noise pollution. We had a lot of help right off the bat.

Matt Picone from Fractal came and got all our sounds started. It was definitely a learning curve for us and the band, but once we got through that, everybody started to look at how convenient it was.

Was there apprehension in making the switch?

Yeah. I mean, the initial question is, can we make this work? Fortunately, the people at Fractal were very quick about making fixes and changes. From a technician’s point of view, you don't want to say to the guy you’re working for that what you’re doing is not going to be as good as before.

As you see the freedom that this gives you and the other guys in your role, do you have to convince the bosses that these modelers are what you should use moving forward?

Metallica is great to work for because they like to look forward. James wants to know all of the different ups and downs of things and, you know, he can play through whatever he wants. The fact that he chose to kind of say, “Well, maybe we’re the ones to embrace this and to use it to its fullest extent,” I really had to hand it to him because we [Metallica’s crew] were excited to use this stuff. The analog routing on the old rigs was just maniacal.

Then the people in set design realized that if we don’t have this wall of speakers anymore, we have all of these other things available to us. Everybody’s all about content these days, and not a lot of people want to watch a band stand in front of their amp line with nothing else going on. Now we can use large video screens. It opens up a lot more opportunities to do different things.

From the tech point of view, I always really liked being able to plug my computer into equipment, manipulate it, and have a visual. When you're coming up with these amp sounds, it forces you to look at why things are the way they are.

Why is the tone stack in a different position in the signal chain? If I want to change the output tube sound and see what that sounds like, I don’t have to grab hot tubes to do it! I just hit the pull-down menu and have a listen.

It's a little bit like back in the day when your tour manager got a cell phone and a computer to do business. It makes a lot more sense. We don’t have to pull the bus over because he’s got to use the pay phone to call ahead to the next place. Now, we send emails.

Still, what should a new guitarist grab on their first trip to the music store?

A small amp that they can use in their room just to hear their guitar. Maybe they push the gain button. They don’t need to get lost in the minutiae – they should just concentrate on learning songs and having fun.

• This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.

Although Whiskey in the Jar originated as a traditional Irish folk tune, once founding Thin Lizzy guitarist Eric Bell got ahold of it in 1973 – transforming it into a rocker with an iconic guitar solo – it took on a life of its own.

Since then, the song has been covered by numerous artists, the most notable of whom is Metallica, who released their version of Whiskey on 1998’s Garage Inc. And while Metallica’s version is great, there’s just something inescapably cool about Thin Lizzy’s version and – of course – its one-of-a-kind Eric Bell guitar solo.

“I think a solo should complement the song, rather than just jerking off,” Bell says. “I still play that solo. I suppose people expect it. But it took a long time. It wasn’t blues and it wasn’t rock. I was used to playing blues and rock, but when Whiskey came along, there was this huge question mark over my head, going, ‘What the fuck am I going to play?’”

How did you come up with the solo?

I remember humming it, you know? That’s the way I made most of my solos. I’ll play the chords, and I’ll sing or hum it over and over again. It might take quite a long time to get the solo I want to hear, but it seems to work.

So it took a long time?

I was trying to get the phrase, that little hook, for about two or three weeks. I was going everywhere – on the toilet, the bath, the taxi and walking down the street – going, “What do I hear coming in there after those chords?” It took forever, but it’s stood the test of time.

Did you need multiple passes to get the solo down in the studio?

No, because Phil [Lynott, Thin Lizzy vocalist/bassist] did a rough vocal, and then we went to listen to it and I hadn’t a clue. I had no idea whatsoever. I just didn’t know anything about it.

At first it took me a long time, so they gave me a cassette of the rough song, and I worked on it day and night.

Eventually, I came up with the whole song – the intro, the little phrase and the solo. So when they put me in to play in the studio, I had every single note worked out. I knew it was going to work.

Your tone throughout the song is noteworthy. How did you craft it?

I used an HH Electronics transistor amp. Thin Lizzy’s manager went out, got it and brought it to the rehearsal space to let me try it. I liked the tone, but there was no volume, which I needed. So I went out and got a [WEM Watkins Copicat] echo chamber, and I used the volume on that. Then I used the volume on a [Sola Sound] Tone Bender fuzz as well. So I was getting quite a loud sound.

What portion of the Whiskey in the Jar solo was the toughest to master?

I find the phrase to be a real challenge. Even today, more than the solo, the phrase has a skip-over part that I find quite hard. But the solo works because I spent such a long time on it.

Metallica covered Whiskey in 1998. Did you like how they approached it?

I didn’t know anything about Metallica. I’m not into that kind of music, really. But it was funny; they got in touch with me. Someone from their setup phoned me and said, “I work with Metallica. We’re doing a world tour. Would love to have you come along to play with us in Dublin and do Whiskey in the Jar.”

Were you open to the idea?

I said, “Can you email me what’s going on?” He said, “Have you heard Metallica’s version of Whiskey in the Jar?” I said, “No.” He said, “What planet are you living on?” I said, “Jupiter.” [Laughs] Anyway, this courier arrived on a motorbike about two days later, and he had quite a few records, cassettes and DVDs of Metallica doing Whiskey in the Jar.

Did you like what you heard?

“It was okay. But once we got to Dublin, the thing that threw me was, I was trying out this Marshall amp, and Metallica walked in sort of like cartoons. They said, “Hey, man, when we do this, we tune our guitars a whole tone down.” I thought, “A whole tone? The guitar is going to sound like a fucking banjo…” But I don’t know; I didn’t really know them.

Did you enjoy performing with Metallica?

No. I mean, it was okay. I just felt a bit out of place, especially as my guitar was in standard tuning and I was playing along in F instead of G. That’s the only thing that was in my head because I didn’t tune my guitar a whole tone down. If I had the chance again, I’d tune it down because it was tricky playing it in F!

Phil Lynott often said none of Thin Lizzy’s guitarists could play Whiskey in the Jar quite like you. Why do you think that is?

I think that’d apply to anybody, to be honest. You could get Ringo Starr’s drums off the record and get some other guy to come in, and no matter how hard he tried, I don’t think he could get the same feel.

There are these little subtleties when I play Whiskey in the Jar, because I made it up – it’s my original idea. If anyone else plays it, even if they get very close, it’s not exactly the same. I see people who get very close, but there’s just little things I do that they don’t.

• This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.

As the CEO of one of the world’s most important guitar brands, Gibson’s Cesar Gueikian has a pretty full plate.

Between developing new models, paying homage to Gibson’s heritage, bringing back long-lost designs, teasing upcoming launches on social media, expanding the company’s physical presence through various Garage stores and more, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Gueikian would struggle to find time to squeeze a new hobby into his hectic schedule.

But that’s not the case. While spinning the many plates that come with the job of Gibson CEO, Gueikian has also committed considerable time to learning the meticulous art of guitar making.

He has, for the past four years, been honing his skills as a luthier, gaining exposure and improving his understanding of each step of the process, from spec sheet to shred ready.

These are no novelty instruments, though. Rather, they are an collection of unique high-end electric guitars borne out of Gueikian’s passion for Gibson guitars and desire to inject them with something different. Something, in his own words, “epic”.

Gueikian charts all of his builds on his Instagram, and they’ve been gaining some traction. Hollywood star Jason Momoa – or, more specifically, Momoa’s son – is the proud owner of CEO-2, a decidedly James Hetfield-esque Explorer.

There’s also the CEO-1 – a Les Paul whose creation was documented via a social media series – and the Victory-styled CEO-3.

The most notable CEO model, though, is the CEO-4 – a Ghost Burst SG that Gueikian built and gave to Kirk Hammett, who played it at Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath’s final show, Back to the Beginning, for Metallica’s cover of Hole in the Sky.

That custom double-cut – which was named by Adam Jones, admired by Tony Iommi, and played by the Metallica great – is one of Gueikian’s most prized creations to date, and recently sold for $76,800 at auction in support of the Gibson Gives foundation.

We caught up with Gueikian before the auction to find out more about his guitar-making journey to date, and how the CEO-4 ended up playing a starring role at one of metal music’s most historic events.

How did the CEO series start for you? What inspired you to get into guitar building?

It started with an interest in building a guitar from beginning to end, and that changed over time. My initial thought was, ‘How interesting would it be to build a guitar from beginning to end, and learn the process of doing that?’

That was the first one. It took me three months, because I was going to the craftories for a few hours every Friday morning. Once I finished it, I realized it wasn't about the guitar. It was about the process of learning and working with our people, getting them to teach me how to do something.

I really enjoyed the whole process of getting to know them better, getting to learn from them, and that's what triggered in my mind, ‘This is something that I want to keep doing.’ Not only that, there's an opportunity here as we can auction them off for our foundation and do something really good for Gibson Gives.

That's been really one of the most enjoyable moments for me in my Gibson career. I get to work, and I get to learn from our people, and that's been amazing for me. It just fulfills me.

I didn't think of it this way. At the beginning, I thought, ‘I want to build a guitar.’ And I realized it was no longer about the guitars, but it was about the moment. It was about being there in the craftories, working, learning from them and what all of that has done for our company, and particularly for my relationship with our people.

Were there any particular learning curves or challenges that perhaps you weren’t expecting when it came to making a guitar?

There are so many very difficult things that happen in all the steps of making a Gibson. The first real challenge for me was learning how to do binding, so that the binding would be perfect and there would be no air pockets.

Neck fitting was really challenging. That's one of the processes where – because the binding can maybe have a couple of defects and they're going to be cosmetic – if that's not done properly, then the guitar won’t be playable. Beyond that, there's so many steps of sanding.

I knew about all these processes and how long they took, because I spent a lot of time in the craftories before. But once I really started making them, then I had a very different level of appreciation of how difficult it is.

With the sanding of the neck, I made mistakes. I went a little too far, and that's not something that can be repaired once you start eating into the wood to a certain degree. And gluing – it sounds simple, but if not done properly you can end up with air pockets in many different places. They're going to render the guitar unusable.

Once I started applying finishes, that took me a long time to get right. I had to do a lot of practice sprays to be able to control my arm in a way that was not overshadowing the guitar. For example, I was doing a perimeter burst, like I did for the one that Kirk Hammett played, and that required a lot of practice to be able to apply it.

We ended up calling [the finish] Ghost Burst. The idea for the name came from Adam Jones. I sent him a picture of it because I thought it was really cool and I knew that he would like it. Then he came back to me and he said, ‘That looks like a Ghost Burst.’

How do you go about spec’ing a CEO guitar?

I wanted to do an SG that had a highly figured maple top, so that the type of finish I had in mind would really pop. I've always really liked the Super 400 inlays that we also use in the Supreme line, but then I also really love the headstock of the Les Paul Custom with the Split Diamond. So that's what I had in my mind when I was thinking about that particular guitar.

Normally, I try to think of things that we're not doing that would be unique. The ideas that I have, I socialize those with the team, and then we develop something that is unique, so that when somebody uses it, or I get to use it, on stage, not only was it built by me, but it's also a unique guitar.

How did the collaboration with Kirk Hammett for Back to the Beginning come about?

I had in my mind that this show was happening, so I knew that if I built an SG as a tribute to Tony Iommi, somebody would probably be interested in using it. It just happened to be that I was talking to Kirk at the time that I was finishing it, and I told him, ‘I have something that I think you're gonna like for the Back to the Beginning show.’

When I finished it, I sent him a picture and said, ‘Here it is. Do you want to use it?’ And he replied in all caps, ‘YES.’ We were talking about other things that we were doing together, and it just occurred to me, ‘Maybe I'll just run it by him first…’

What was his reaction to the guitar? Did he have any comments or feedback?

We sent it to him so that he could put it through his rig for a couple of soundchecks before. He said he really loved it, and it was going to be the perfect guitar for Hole in the Sky [the Black Sabbath cover they played] and also as a way for him to pay tribute to Tony.

What was it like seeing one of your CEO guitars on stage for such a historic concert?

That was the coolest. I mean, that guitar is definitely the one that is the most special in that sense because, first it was Kirk with Metallica who used it, and also at that particular show, paying tribute to Black Sabbath and to Ozzy.

For me, particularly, being so close to Tony [Iommi], personally, and having picked up a guitar because of Black Sabbath and because of Tony, that was super special for me.

Did Tony have anything to say about it?

He loved it. He loved the gesture. He loved the story that I built it. When I say I built it, I say again, with the help of everybody [at the craftories]. He was pretty excited about it.

There have been a few artist connections to the CEO series. Which one does Jason Momoa have?

CEO-2, the White Explorer. It’s an Explorer with the ‘84 wiring diagram, so it's got the toggle switch by the volume knob like James [Hetfield's] original.

I told [Jason Momoa], ‘I'm building this guitar,’ and I left it there. I knew that he would love it because he loves Metallica. He came back to me before Christmas a couple of years ago and asked, ‘Have you finished that guitar? That would be the perfect gift for Wolfie [his son].’

He ended up getting it and contributing a pretty significant amount to our Gibson Gives Foundation, for which we are very grateful. It all worked out really nicely with that one nice.

The CEO8 and CEO4 are being auctioned off for Gibson Gives. What’s the foundation’s mission?

“For Gibson Gives, we have this mission of saving people's lives through music. We can do that through scholarships and funding, we can do it one guitar at a time. That could be guitars that we donate to music schools, or it could be guitars like this that we auction off to fund scholarships and many of the other causes that we fund.

“I get really excited when we get to do things like that. We get to promote healing through music in many different variations. That’s something that's very important to us.”

• Visit Julien's Auctions to learn more about the CEO-4.

A new study of the web’s most popular guitar tabs has sought to find out which artists are shaping the playing journeys of modern guitarists – and both legacy and contemporary acts rank highly.

UK gear retailer guitarguitar has done the exhausting number crunching, analyzing the 5,000 most-viewed tabs and chord sheets on Ultimate Guitar. From this, 3,424 songs from 1,340 artists were put under the microscope, with page views tallied to determine the players and bands that are most popular with guitarists.

Chart-smashing loop pedal aficionado Ed Sheeran has topped the artist rankings, beating The Beatles and Taylor Swift, who came second and third, respectively.

In a breakdown of songs, Sheeran's 2017 track Perfect was noted as the fourth most in-demand song to learn. Jeff Buckley’s perpetually covered Hallelujah, Oasis' Wonderwall – no doubt buoyed by the band's blockbuster reunion – and Jason Mraz's I'm Yours all ranked higher in terms of the most viewed songs, but the Sheeran's overall influence was enough to see him crowned as the most popular player overall.

Interestingly, Elvis Presley's Can't Help Falling in Love rounds out the top five songs. That means there's no place for Seven Nation Army, Come As You Are, and Stairway to Heaven, which were crowned as the most Googled guitar riffs in a 2024 study. Only Stairway (12) features in the top 20 most-viewed tabs.

Sheeran’s catalog-wide tally of 229.5 million tab views trumps his closest competitors, the Beatles (226.1 million), Taylor Swift (167.8 million) – who recently broke Michael Jackson's 36-year-old sales record – and Metallica (125.9 million).

Other interesting results include Adele, an artist whose music is more regularly associated with piano and orchestral arrangements rather than the guitar, ranking sixth – while Bruno Mars' guitar-less piano ballad When I Was Your Man helped the singer to a ninth-placed finish.

Metallica are the only metal band in the top 20, with Radiohead, Pink Floyd, and Coldplay also making notable appearances.

“It’s no surprise to see artists like Ed Sheeran, The Beatles, and Taylor Swift leading the list, with their timeless songs that translate beautifully to guitar,” says Adam Speck, Marketing Director at guitarguitar.

“From classic ballads like Let It Be to modern favourites like Perfect, these are the tracks people dream of being able to pick up and play. What’s really encouraging is that so many of these songs are completely achievable for beginners with a bit of practice.”

In related Sheeran news, he recently surprised a school with a visit as he donated a score of Lowden acoustic guitars to its students.

EMG pickups founder Rob Turner has said that working with James Hetfield forced the firm to completely reinvent its methodology as the Metallica guitarist pushed its craft to the limit.

The thrash icons are one of the most notable bands to have adopted EMGs, and helped define their status as heavy metal pickups.

“Kirk [Hammett] was the first one to call up, but I had no idea who he was,” Turner says during a talk with Thomann at Guitar Summit 2025. “I don't think he knew who he was, actually. He was in a band and they were trying to get a record deal, and he had this purple Stratocaster with two single-coils and a humbucker in it.”

That first encounter between EMG and Metallica predated their debut album, Kill ‘Em All, which shows how integral the EMG’s high-output active pickups have been to their world-conquering sound across their entire discography.

“I think James [Hetfield] got a little jealous of what was going on,” Turner adds with a smile.

Before long, the guitarists worked with EMG on their own pickups, and some years later Hetfield’s exacting ways put Turner through the ringer.

“Hetfield was the toughest [to voice a pickup for],” he says. “We built 19 different models. He more or less changed what we were doing. Normally, we use a very narrow core in the pickup, and he wanted to have pole pieces.”

This created a domino effect of challenges, which forced Turner to rethink his approach.

“So then we're going to start with a larger core and a larger coil. That means [having] a larger aperture, which means there's going to be too much low-end,” Turner explains. “So then it's like, ‘Okay, we’ve got to change the dimensions of the coil. They need to be taller and thinner. We need to be able to space them accordingly.’

“The hardest one was the neck pickup,” he adds, “because it uses ceramic poles. Typically, nobody does that. They're too strong. So, we had to magnetize them to a certain extent.

“Then we showed him a tray of sample finishes, and he picked the hardest one to do, which is this black, shiny, stealth-like, and it's the hardest thing to prevent from getting scratches in production.”

Hetfield's official signature 'Het Set' ultimately reshaped what were, at their core, EMG and EMG81 humbuckers. In the firm’s promotion material for the set, Hetfield is quoted as wanting “something unique and historic.” He certainly got that.

In related news, Dave Mustaine has revealed that Megadeth will close out their last-ever album with a cover of Ride the Lightning, a song he co-wrote with Hetfield before he left Metallica.

Gibson CEO Cesar Gueikian has looked back on his experiences of building electric guitars, and has named the parts of the process that are the most challenging when it comes to assembling Gibson guitars.

It’s now been around three years since Gueikian first started building guitars under the ‘CEO Series’ project. What started out as general curiosity to find out more about the guitar-building process soon spawned into something else entirely.

Nowadays, his CEO builds are making their way into the hands of some big artists. Jason Momoa owns a White Explorer styled after James Hetfield’s original Metallica model. Kirk Hammett played a Ghost Burst SG at Back to the Beginning. More, we have been assured, are in the works.

Naturally, he’s learned a thing or two about the guitar-building process along the way, and in a soon-to-be-published interview with Guitar World, Gueikian reflects on the challenges he’s come across during his short-but-successful experience with building guitars.

“There are so many very difficult things that happen in all the steps of making a Gibson,” he notes. “The first real challenge for me was learning how to do binding the proper way, so that the binding would be perfect and there would be no air pockets. I had to learn that very specific method of wrapping binding so that it's a cohesive unit.”

However, Gueikian admits that a cosmetic flaw isn’t the end of the world. That can be redone, and the guitar itself will still be playable. There are other parts of the build, though, that absolutely cannot go wrong. If those get screwed up, it’s game over.

“Neck fitting was really challenging,” Gueikian adds. “That's one of the processes where – because the binding can maybe have a couple of defects and they're going to be cosmetic – once we moved into neck fitting, if that's not done properly, then the guitar won’t be playable. The neck fitting was really critical.”

The set neck seems to be a particularly problematic area for a budding luthier. Not only does it have to be fitted correctly, it needs to be profiled correctly. And if you go too far, there’s no going back.

“With the sanding of the neck, I made mistakes,” Gueikian admits. “I went a little too far, and that's not something that can be repaired once you start eating into the wood to a certain degree. And gluing – it sounds simple, but if not done properly you can end up with air pockets in many different places. They're going to render the guitar unusable.”

The full interview with Gibson CEO Cesar Gueikian – in which he recalls the making of the SG that Kirk Hammett played at Back to the Beginning – will be published on Guitar World in the coming days.

Hammett's Back to the Beginning SG is set to go under the hammer next week to raise funds for the firm's non-profit, Gibson Gives as part of Julien's latest Played, Worn & Torn auction.

Since making its debut on October 11, 1975, NBC’s Saturday Night Live has been a pop-culture juggernaut like no other.

But before becoming a weekend staple for generations of late-night viewers, creator Lorne Michaels’ variety show began as a brash, uniquely irreverent counterculture experiment boldly pairing off-the-cuff outsider comedy with of-the-moment musical guests – for the record, the first show featured Billy Preston, Janis Ian and, arguably most memorably, Andy Kaufman miming his way through the Mighty Mouse theme song.

Indeed, while it’s a comedy-first operation, music has always been a major part of SNL’s appeal – and, obviously, that means we’ve seen a lot of guitarists grace the show’s stage.

It’s been a spot for bands to crank it up just before their careers went supernova. Others faltered spectacularly on live TV, beneath the bright lights of Studio 8H and under the watch of millions of viewers at home.

Some of the greatest guitar virtuosos showed up unannounced for once-in-a-lifetime jams. A pair of blues-loving bees morphed into the show’s breakout musical act.

While it’s all made for hundreds upon hundreds of must-see moments, to paraphrase the show’s iconic metalhead character, Wayne Campbell – a.k.a. Mike Myers, an obtuse on-air shredder in his own right – some were more worthy than others.

So, in honor of the show’s staggering 50 years on the air, ladies and gentleman, behold the 50 greatest guitar moments in SNL history.

50. The Rolling Stones – Shattered

Season 4, Episode 1; October 7, 1978

While nabbing the Stones was a major coup, the band’s lone SNL appearance isn’t remembered for being great. Mick Jagger’s voice is shot and unpretty through Beast of Burden, but Shattered taps into the sleazy urgency of the Some Girls era.

It also embodies the chaotic, anything-goes-in-the-moment spirit of live TV right about the time Jagger starts snapping his ivory sportcoat at Ronnie Wood, wet-towel style.

49. The Devil Can’t Write No Love Song sketch

Season 25, Episode 5; November 13, 1999

Garth Brooks plays a down-on-his-luck musician willing to sell his soul for a hit. Ready to make a trade, Lucifer – a horned-and-bearded Will Ferrell – bursts onto the scene with a devil-red Fender built out of a “hell-spun mixture of the bones of fornicators.” Trouble is, the dark lord is a damned terrible songsmith. Fred’s Slacks is a brittle-toned, out-of-tune geek-rock atrocity, and his originals only get cringier from there.

48. Joan Armatrading – I’m Not in Love / Down to Zero

Season 2, Episode 21; May 14, 1977

The highlight of Joan Armatrading’s SNL performances is the sound of her rich and oaken vocal – but her stately 12-string chording chimes through the mix quite nicely, too.

Whether through the dew-eyed I’m Not in Love or the yearning folk-rock of Down to Zero, guitarist Jerry Donahue also brought a waterfall-rippling wave of flanged-out fretboard elegance to the arrangements.

47. System of a Down – B.Y.O.B.

Season 30, Episode 18; May 7, 2005

The SNL censors were prepared to bleep out the F-bombs SOAD’s Serj Tankian and Daron Malakian regularly scheduled into their zany, kinda thrash/kinda ska single B.Y.O.B. The latter let loose an unscripted “fuck yeah” during a surf-zested string slide, though, which ended up putting he and the rest of System on SNL’s blacklist. They never played the show again.

46. Metallica – Fuel

Season 23, Episode 8; December 6, 1997

An argument could be made that SNL blew it by not booking Metallica during the height of ’80s thrash and that they slept on the biggest metal band in the world circa Enter Sandman.

But producers gave ’tallica fans that which they desired by finally bringing aboard the band during their Reload period. Fuel found Kirk Hammett all-gassing his wah-wah solo. James Hetfield kept on theme by strapping himself to a flame-emblazoned Flying V.

45. The Tragically Hip – Grace, Too

Season 20, Episode 16; March 25, 1995

When original Not Ready for Prime-time Player Dan Aykroyd was asked to co-host this episode, he agreed – with a caveat: fellow Ontarians the Tragically Hip had to come along with him.

Gord Downie grinned cherubically as he flubbed his first line, but Canada’s Band otherwise nailed the artfully hard-rocking Grace, Too, guitarist Rob Baker flexing a wide, flavorful vibrato into its finale.

44. Adam Sandler – The Thanksgiving Song

Season 18, Episode 7; November 21, 1992

Sandler used his Weekend Update segments to test out goofball characters like Cajun Man and Opera Man. The news desk was also where he developed his voice as a singer-guitarist, and that all starts with The Thanksgiving Song.

Coming out the gates with cheerful 7th chords and a toothy grin, he uses the quaint acoustic jazz-folk song to toast turkey dinners and serve up a side of pop-culture non-sequiturs.

43. Queens of the Stone Age – Little Sister

Season 30, Episode 19; May 14, 2005

Though drummer Joey Castillo was already clonking his plastic jam block hard-and-heavy through this segment, Will Ferrell apparently felt that Queens could use more cowbell.

The comedian reprised his famous Gene Frenkle character – ill-fitting shirt and all – and whapped to his heart’s delight, but the impromptu percussive performance wasn’t the scene-stealer. Credit that to Josh Homme putting on a clinic with his serpentine flair.

42. Big Ricky & the Minnows – “Bass Lake” sketch

Season 50, Episode 16; April 5, 2025

A lakeside potluck jam on Tom Petty’s Free Falling goes horribly awry once Big Ricky – played by an increasingly exasperated Jack Black – realizes everyone hitting the stage is hoisting a bass and the soupiest tone of all time (“The quality of sound feels like a sinus infection”).

The low-end nightmare swells into a dozen rhythm-stringers and one particularly talented basset hound trying to find their footing within the frequency, with disastrous results.

41. Spinal Tap – Big Bottom

Season 9, Episode 18; May 5, 1984

Talk about bass chops, these guys got ’em. Unlike Black’s bass sketch, Tap’s low-end monstrous performance of Big Bottom was no shit sandwich. Performed on air just two months after This Is Spinal Tap hit screens, the band’s performance of their multi-bass opus rumbled with hilarious, horn-dog fervor.

Derek Smalls lays down the initial rhythm with a double-neck bass. Nigel Tufnel hits those perfect fourths like a pro. The synth-bass is on point, too. But it might be David St. Hubbins mud-flappin’ lead bass prowess that pushes the ludicrous metal anthem into overdrive.

40. J Mascis & the SNL band – Out There

Season 25, Episode 16; April 8, 2000

It’s a travesty that J Mascis never got to chop through this Where You Been? stunner on the show with the rest of Dinosaur Jr. in the ’90s. Nevertheless, a 20-second sampling of Out There – which Mascis performed while sitting in with the house band – found the alt-rock guitar hero wham-smashing his way through a micro-sized but massive-sounding SNL moment. This performance took us to the commercial break seconds after the show staged its iconic “More Cowbell” sketch.

39. The Black Crowes – Sometimes Salvation

Season 18, Episode 9; December 12, 1992

Sometimes Salvation is a funny pick because the Crowes’ aching, extended blues ballad shares a similar feel to the SNL band’s longtime closing credits jam, Waltz in A. Where it differs is that the Georgia rockers also had Marc Ford sustaining a series of seismically reckless and romantic bends through his spacious solo. And it’s spectacular.

38. Foo Fighters – Times Like These

Season 28, Episode 13; February 22, 2003

Foo Fighters are prolific SNL guests, having hit the program nine times since 1995. Their third pop-in at 30 Rock came during the promotion cycle for One by One and began with a crunching version of All My Life.

But Times Like These is what makes the highlight reel – not just because the Foos crushed their yearning anthem with ease, but because Jim Carrey stormed the stage mid-song to air guitar his right leg like a maniac.

37. Red Hot Chili Peppers – Stone Cold Bush / Under the Bridge

Season 17, Episode 14; February 22, 1992

Dubious to include, but hard to ignore, the Chilis left a strange taste in millions of mouths with this off-kilter two-fer. Stone Cold Bush was funky, but merely fine – Flea gets appropriately slappy on the bass, but things get weird when vocalist Anthony Kiedis soccer-slides toward John Frusciante and boots his bandmate in the butt.

Under the Bridge is even more tense, with Frusciante cresting through a loose fluidity that paints a bit too outside the lines – and with a lot of brown. He ends the alt-ballad howling in falsetto like a hound from hell. The rest of the band seem stunned over their tragic Magik performance.

36. Boz Scaggs – Lowdown

Season 2, Episode 2; September 25, 1976

Elliot Randall’s wildcard solo is one of SNL’s most uproarious musical WTF moments. Halfway through the hit’s soft disco shuffle, Randall rips out to center stage for a furious hellfire of hammer-ons.

He tries to hit a behind-the-nut bend but kind of biffs it, then walks back with a huge smile to resume his soulfully rhythmic plinking.

Slang-style praise or secret diss, Scaggs jumps back in to croon with perfect comedic timing: “You ain’t got to be so bad.”

35. Prince – Partyup

Season 6, Episode 11; February 21, 1981

Prince’s most storied SNL performance arguably isn’t this one, and it wasn’t even in public – rather, a slow-jammed Let’s Go Crazy during the show’s 40th-anniversary afterparty in 2015 apparently had cast members losing their minds. But his televised Partyup in ’81 was still plenty iconic, with the Purple One parading around in thigh-high boots and sex-grinding his guitar with slinking funk licks.

34. Tracy Chapman – Give Me One Reason

Season 15, Episode 9; December 16, 1989

Here’s a good reason to have owned a VHS machine in the ’80s: Chapman’s rhythm-locked, Grammy-winning blues-rocker Give Me One Reason was performed on SNL a full six years before it made it onto an album.

Chapman anchored its television debut with subtle, staccato acoustic fingering and her soulful vocal, though the house band gets into the action, too; Tom “T-Bone” Wolk injects jumping-bean bass accents while bandleader G.E. Smith delivers Delta-ready slidework.

33. Devo – (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction

Season 4, Episode 2; October 14, 1978

Devo’s subversive take on the Stones classic harnesses the palpably anxious and painfully horny undercurrent of the anthem arguably better than when it’s ever sung by Jagger.

Sweet release arrives through this performance, where Devo – deep in their matching hazmat suit-and-3D glasses era – twitch through the tune like a bunch of broken androids, Mark Mothersbaugh wilding out while using a Hagstrom 1 with boosts and overdrives duct-taped all over its cherry body.

32. Pearl Jam – Not for You / Rearviewmirror / Daughter

Season 19, Episode 18; April 16, 1994

Pearl Jam were arguably the biggest band in the world in the spring of 1994, so SNL showcased the hell out of the Seattle quintet during their second appearance on the show – even offering them a rare third song. Their Daughter performance, in particular, presented an extended Jam; the group gave the alt-rock anthem a funky two-minute outro full of vibe-heavy fretless bass and ad-libbed Crazy Horse lyrics.

31. AC/DC – Stiff Upper Lip / You Shook Me All Night Long

Season 25, Episode 15; March 18, 2000

AC/DC’s SNL debut found the band cranking into their Back in Black classic a whopping 20 years after its initial release. In a solid performance, Angus Young wails hard and goes full-Curly while spinning around the ground during the finale.

Earlier in the evening, though, the eternal schoolboy and brother Mal arguably locked in harder for the gritty, then-current and super-underrated Stiff Upper Lip.

30. Punk Band Reunion at the Wedding sketch (Crisis of Conformity – Fist Fight in the Parking Lot)

Season 35, Episode 14; February 6, 2010

What begins as a father sheepishly getting his old band back together at his daughter’s wedding reception quickly devolves into one of SNL’s most raging hardcore performances ever. Fred Armisen sneers his way through ’80s-style Reagan-punk lyrics, while the arrangement itself quotes Suicidal Tendencies’ Institutionalized.

The table-crashing, glass-smashing melee gets all-too-real once drummer Dave Grohl’s mic cuts out. A cream Strat-strapped Kutcher saves the day by lunging over with another mic – which also reveals he’s definitely not the one punk-chording through their Parking Lot.

29. The Replacements – Bastards of Young / Kiss Me on the Bus

Season 11, Episode 7; January 18, 1986

G.E. Smith was a Replacements fan and called the group when SNL needed a last-minute replacement for the Pointer Sisters. The Replacements proceeded to get drunk backstage with host Harry Dean Stanton and strolled out to deliver slapdash Tim songs while sloshed out of their skulls.

Paul Westerberg fumbled lyrics, Bob Stinson played a loaner Les Paul after he fell on his own guitar on the way to the stage. The night was best summed up by the first line of Bastards of Young: “God… what a mess.”

28. Bonnie Raitt – Thing Called Love

Season 15, Episode 11; January 20, 1990

Nearly 12 years to the day after her first SNL appearance, Bonnie Raitt returned to the show to slide through this blues-rock blazer. At one point she bats at the body of her Strat to gain some gnarly sustain. Later, she juxtaposes a fiery, near-30-second glass slide solo against the arrangement’s laidback, roadhouse-reggae breakdown.

27. Lenny Kravitz – Are You Gonna Go My Way / Always on the Run

Season 18, Episode 18; April 17, 1993

Everything went Kravitz and co-guitarist Craig Ross’ way. Sporting the rawest and most iconic rock riff of ’93, the pair brought harmonized pull-offs and Hendrix-ian sharps to a pitch-perfect performance of Are You Gonna Go My Way – and then Ross delivered a wailing solo.

They then dug into their retro-rock war chest for Mama Said single Always on the Run, expertly swaggering themselves through fuzz-funk syncopation before Ross splintered off with another heater solo.

26. Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit / Territorial Pissings

Season 17, Episode 10; January 11, 1992

Nirvana’s Nevermind dethroned the King of Pop’s Dangerous from the Number 1 spot on the Billboard chart the same week they dropped by SNL. Understandably, they played Teen Spirit, the industry-revolutionizing game-changer that got them there.

That said, Territorial Pissings was the livelier of their two performances; Cobain capped the manic track by smashing his guitar into a tower of logo-less cabs; Krist Novoselic hucks his bass into the air like loose change; Grohl rains drum hardware across the soundstage.

25. Rage Against the Machine – Bulls on Parade

Season 21, Episode 17; April 13, 1996

Interestingly, the SNL time bookers paired billionaire media mogul and Republican nominee hopeful Steve Forbes with left-leaning political rap-rockers Rage Against the Machine.

Rage tried to hang upside-down U.S. flags across their cabs as a form of protest, which led to an onstage confrontation with patriotic stagehands, who yanked away the subversive Stripes milliseconds before the band kicked into Bulls. Tom Morello crushed it with his wah work and mock-scratch technique. Then the band got booted out of the building.

24. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers – You Don’t Know How It Feels / Honey Bee

Season 20, Episode 6; November 19, 1994

Petty’s fifth of eight appearances on SNL came during his Wildflowers cycle and boasted a new, temporary Heartbreaker behind the drum kit: Dave Grohl. The performance interestingly falls between the latter’s post-Nirvana, pre-Foo Fighters period, and he hits those cans heavy.

You Don’t Know How It Feels was a crowd pleaser, but the real treat is Honey Bee. The swamp-soupy garage-blues tune had Mike Campbell dripping out liquid gold guitar leads, but Petty hits an uncaged-and-uncouth, bendy solo of his own.

23. Aerosmith on Wayne’s World

Season 15, Episode 13; February 17, 1990

Satirically or not, SNL’s resident headbangers-cum-cable access hosts hoisted the flag for heavy music during a time where the show probably should have booked more metal acts.

Nevertheless, Wayne and Garth still got their party on with Aerosmith one time, with Joe Perry and Brad Whitford beefing up Mike Myers’ mock-squealing Wayne’s World theme as a basic-but-brawny basement rocker. Aerosmith also hit a pair of Pump tunes for the show, but this was their biggest bash of the night.

22. Fear – Beef Baloney

Season 7, Episode 4; October 31, 1981

Fear was brought onto SNL as a favor to fan and then-former castmate John Belushi, whom showrunners were hoping would pop back on the program for a cameo.

Fear then invited hardcore kids from across the Eastern seaboard – including members of Minor Threat and Negative Approach – to mosh out during a chaotic four-song medley. Bassist Lee Ving is constantly chasing a micstand as it gets knocked about by stage divers.

21. Phoebe Bridgers – I Know the End

Season 46, Episode 11; February 6, 2021

Phoebe Bridgers wasn’t the first person to smash a guitar on SNL, but she’s the one who got the most flak for it. I Know the End starts subtle, but the indie-rocker ended up primal screaming her way through the climax – which likewise found co-guitarist Harrison Whitford delivering quixotic scalework – before yanking off her jet black Danelectro and decimating it against a speaker wedge. The misogyny brigade tried to shame her on socials; Bridgers sold the axe for $100,000 and donated it all to charity.

20. Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band – Hot Head / Ashtray Heart

Season 6, Episode 2; December 22, 1980

Beefheart’s underrated early ’80s period found the experimental icon making music with the meanest-sounding iteration of his Magic Band. They put on a feisty performance for a shocked SNL crowd – guitarist Moris Tepper, in particular, spewing hot fire with his junk-blues sliding.

Beefheart cradled a cigarette, brilliantly rifling off a dadaist word salad through a haggard wheeze that sounded like his lungs had burnt right down to the filter.

19. Living Colour – Cult of Personality / Open Letter (to a Landlord)

Season 14, Episode 16; April 1, 1989

Living Colour’s April Fool’s appearance found Vernon Reid going off-the-charts gonzo with his inspired fusion playing.

He cut loose through a mind-bending, minute-long solo on Cult of Personality and then leaned into a vivid display of ambulance siren-styled inverted bending on Open Letter (to a Landlord).

The only thing that might’ve outshone Reid’s playing was Corey Glover’s extremely late-’80s, iridescent purple-and-yellow BodyGlove wetsuit.

18. Rihanna (with Nuno Bettencourt) – Diamonds

Season 38, Episode 7; November 10, 2012

Nuno Bettencourt never got the funk out on SNL during Extreme’s peak. Despite this, the Boston virtuoso was able to shine bright like a diamond when he popped up on the show as part of Rihanna’s backing band. The focal point is the pop star, without question, and Bettencourt begins the song with minimalist, volume pot-craning ambiance. But by song’s end, he’s soaring through the mix with a boldly prismatic vibrato.

17. David Bowie – Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)

Season 22, Episode 12; February 8, 1997

Armed with a Parker Fly, an unruly series of harmonic slides and an onslaught of out-of-control pinch-squeals, ace guitarist Reeves Gabrels (nowadays a member of the Cure) was a beast to behold on Scary Monsters.

Bowie & Co. were supposed to play something off 1997’s Earthling, but they went rogue and performed the retro cut as a form of protest after the singer objected to a sketch idea – and as a dig on Lorne Michaels, who told Bowie about a terrifying cocaine binge he’d been on while listening to Scary Monsters in the ’80s.

They were ushered out of the building ASAP. Bowie reportedly regretted not grabbing the fruit basket on the way out.

16. Top of the Pops sketch (aka Ian Rubbish & the Bizarros – It’s a Lovely Day)

Season 38, Episode 21; May 18, 2013

Fred Armisen’s SNL tenure was full of musical characters, one of his most memorable being comically hate-filled Spirit of ’77 punk eccentric Ian Rubbish.

While the U.K. snarler had many memorable lyrical barbs, Armisen’s last show as a full-time cast member found him slapping on Rubbish’s peroxide wig and a Fano Alt de Facto to deliver an earnest farewell anthem called It’s a Lovely Day.

It turns into a jam featuring Sleater-Kinney’s Carrie Brownstein, the Sex Pistols’ Steve Jones, J Mascis, Aimee Mann and Michael Penn. Is this one of Armisen’s top-10 greatest TV appearances of all time? Yeah, probably.

15. H.E.R. – Hold On

Season 46, Episode 4; October 24, 2020

H.E.R. wowed guitar-heads doubly in this Season 46 standout moment. She shot melodious, mile-wide vibrato through the ceiling during a revelatory performance of R&B slow jam Hold On.

She also used her time on SNL to showcase a then-brand-new signature Fender Chrome Glow Strat, which reflected a rainbowed array of colors beneath the stage lights that was almost as resplendent as her tone.

14. Robert Cray – Smoking Gun / Right Next Door (Because of Me)

Season 12, Episode 13; February 28, 1987

While Smoking Gun was tight, we’re going to suggest that it’s Cray’s run-through of Right Next Door that left a stronger impression on the music-loving public.

There’s a sleek, clean-channel mystique coursing through the smooth-blues arrangement, Cray accenting his adulterous tale with perfect, passionately plinking accent rhythms.

By song’s end, he bait-and-switches us with a yearning backend climax of wry little wriggles and finger-snapped string work. Of course, if you're going back and watching all these, don't deprive yourself of Smoking Gun.

13. The Smashing Pumpkins – Cherub Rock

Season 19, Episode 5; October 30, 1993

The Pumpkins went in for the kill during their first appearance on SNL. The performance of loud-quiet-loud classic Today was spectacular, but the alt-rock champs went nuclear on Cherub Rock.

Billy Corgan shreds his sinewy vocal cords throughout and wails a furious solo on his modded Bat-Strat. James Iha likewise gets in a few nasty and textural bends before they put this all-out bash to bed.

12. Beastie Boys – Ricky’s Theme / Heart Attack Man

Season 20, Episode 8; December 10, 1994

The Beasties’ second muscial spot of the night began with instrumental soul jam Ricky’s Theme, where auxiliary Beasties player Money Mark’s morning glory electric piano glistened against Ad-Rock’s sly-and-wily wah-wah guitar and MCA’s lithe standup basslines.

An extended cymbal segue leads to gear-swapping and a furious aesthetic pivot, as the Boys then go buckwild with a pacemaker-exploding old-school hardcore freakout. Ad-Rock smashes an S-shape into the ground – splinters fly into the air as the screen fades to black.

11. Adam Sandler – Lunch Lady Land

Season 19, Episode 11; January 15, 1994

From Red Hooded Sweatshirt to The Chanukah Song, most of Adam Sandler’s SNL music went unplugged. But unencumbered by the confines of the Weekend Update desk, the Sandman went full-electric with a black Gibson Les Paul to strum this Bruce Springsteen-ian opus about elementary foodstuffs revolting against their maker.

Sandler sells his Jungleland rip with goofball heartland earnestness. Of course, the sight of Chris Farley’s hair-netted Lunch Lady gracefully plié-ing across the stage near Kevin Nealon’s sentient Manwich pushes the performance into all-timer territory.

10. Fishbone – Sunless Saturday / Everyday Sunshine

Season 16, Episode 16; March 23, 1991

Despite its gloom-clouded song title, Fishbone were beyond brilliant on Sunless Saturday. Frontman Angelo Moore somersaulted across the stage with manic energy and put on an acrobatic vocal performance. John Norwood Fisher flexed thick bass thwaps across the soul-metal fusion piece.

A double-strapped Kendall Jones switched between acoustic strums and flanged-out-and-frantic tap solos on an S-shape. Keeping things on-theme, they then dipped into the funkily Vitamin D-dosed “Everyday Sunshine” for their second song.

9. St. Vincent – Birth in Reverse

Season 39, Episode 21; May 17, 2014

While the Season 39 finale brought out rappers 2 Chainz and Lil Jon for a pair of sketches, Annie Clark commanded the stage with playfully panicked art-punk energy during her performance of Birth in Reverse. Early on, she’s twitching out jazz chords on a vintage 1955 M-75 Aristocrat.

By the finale, a choreography routine finds St. Vincent and guitarist Toko Yasuda harmonizing post-shred bristliness while parading the stage like a pair of nectar-crazy hummingbirds.

8. Elvis Costello – Radio Radio

Season 3, Episode 8; December 17, 1977

“I’m sorry ladies and gentlemen; there’s no reason to do this song here.” In one of the show’s most iconic moments, musical or otherwise, Elvis Costello came into 8H to play Less Than Zero but abruptly and awkwardly halted the single to re-route his band toward a spritely but unexpected Radio Radio.

The swerve had staff panicking behind the scenes. He’d later say it was because Zero was too slow; it might’ve been that its lyrics on the rise of British fascism were, well, incredibly British. Costello satirically recreated the chaos for SNL’s 25th-anniversary special in 1999, hijacking Beastie Boys’ Sabotage to once again play Radio Radio.

7. David Gilmour with G.E. Smith & the SNL Band – Song for My Sara

Season 13, Episode 7; December 12, 1987

This episode brought out two musical guests, wildly juxtaposing Buster Poindexter’s broad, brass-heavy calypso-sleaze smash Hot Hot Hot with Gilmour’s tastefully funky instrumental, Song for My Sara.

Supported by the SNL band, the latter echo-quaked melodious vibrato from his headless Steinberger GM 3T. T-Bone Wolk thumb-and-finger popped his way through the piece. G.E. Smith is all smiles while supporting the Pink Floyd legend. The song was never officially released, making Gilmour’s drop-in appearance even more unique.

6. Eddie Van Halen with G.E. Smith & the SNL Band – Stompin’ 8H

Season 12, Episode 13; February 28, 1987

Van Halen’s lone and unplanned SNL appearance arose out of boredom. As then-wife Valerie Bertinelli was rehearsing skits that week, EVH ended up in the music office trading licks with Smith, and together they whipped up a bluesy lil’ choogle named after the show’s 8H soundstage.

Eddie goes full Orca-moan on his striped Kramer 5150 before flitting between tasteful quarter-note taps and cut-throat runs. Smith is ear-to-ear grinning while chopping at his Tele. The two guitarists literally – but playfully – butt heads mid-stage, though they stood united for this memorable drop-in moment.

5. Stevie Ray Vaughan – Say What! / Change It

Season 11, Episode 10; February 15, 1986

As Double Trouble drummer Chris Layton recalled years later, host Jerry Hall’s then-husband, Mick Jagger, was around during rehearsals. Mick almost sat in with the band for their SNL debut but ultimately didn’t have the stones to go through with the team-up. Instead, a mass of Texas talent graced the stage, with SRV first hitting 12-bar instrumental Say What! as a screaming, whammy-and-wah-wild workout.

For the cocksure Change It, he strutted through flavorful blues runs alongside fellow Strat-smith, brother and Fabulous Thunderbirds co‑founder Jimmie Vaughan.

4. George Harrison and Paul Simon – Here Comes the Sun / Homeward Bound

Season 2, Episode 8; November 20, 1976

Back in the first season, Michaels went on-air to offer the Beatles a hilariously paltry $3,000 – to split however they’d like – if they appeared on his show (“You want to give Ringo less? That’s up to you”). Paul McCartney and John Lennon were apparently watching the show together in NYC and damn near took a cab to 30 Rock to collect. But it was Harrison who became the first Beatle to play on SNL, and he did it with another music icon.

In one of most stunningly tender musical moments of the early years, Harrison and Paul Simon teamed up to strum and folk-finger through the former’s Here Comes the Sun and the latter’s Homeward Bound, back to back. Outside of their acoustics and gentle vocal harmonies, it’s pin-drop silent in the studio, the audience watching history in the making.

To say the least, the performance was more than alright – it was god damned magical. McCartney would ultimately show up as a musical guest four times between 1980 and 2012, and he closed out this year’s 50th-anniversary show with another Abbey Road classic, The End. Ringo hosted in 1984.

3. Jack White – Taking Me Back / Fear of the Dawn

Season 48, Episode 13; February 25, 2023

Ever since the White Stripes bashed through a radically raw Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground on 8H in 2002, Jack White has been an SNL fixture.

On top of being a five-time musical guest, he once ripped a solo as a six-stringing wedding crasher in a 2018 sketch and also covered Rockin’ in the Free World during this year’s SNL50 concert.

While he cut a memorable double-handed tapping tribute to EVH in 2020, his mic stand-toppling, pedalboard-maximalist Taking Me Back / Fear of the Dawn medley in 2023 was a fiendishly feral display of fuzz-blown sonics and wah expressionism.

2. The Blues Brothers – Soul Man

Season 4, Episode 6; November 18, 1978

John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd prototyped their musical-brothers band in the first season with a buzzy, bee-costumed performance of Slim Harpo’s I’m a King Bee. They eventually bought some fedoras and rechristened themselves as Jake and Elwood Blues.

Flanked by members of the SNL band (blues vet Matt “Guitar” Murphy and Stax session all-stars Steve Cropper and Donald “Duck” Dunn), this Season 4 cold open is the Brothers’ defining moment – and it led them toward a hit record and a blockbuster film.

After smashing into a sweat-box vamp of Otis Redding’s I Can’t Turn You Loose, they choogle through a cool-as-ice cover of Sam & Dave’s Soul Man. Cropper steps into the spotlight with sleek vibrato waggling while Elwood honks his harmonica.

1. Frank Ocean with John Mayer – Pyramids

Season 38, Episode 1; September 12, 2012

Pop-bluesmith John Mayer’s earnest-but-animated performance style was roasted on the show several times, via squinty-eyed, fat-tongued and faux-ripping impersonations from Bill Hader, Jimmy Fallon and host Ashton Kutcher. Mayer got the last laugh with his staggering 2012 guest solo for Frank Ocean.

The R&B singer walks over to a vintage arcade cabinet and starts gaming once Mayer unearths deep, atmospheric bends on a finish-obliterated Strat. A fighting game plays on in the background, but Mayer delivers the knockout blow.

• This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.

As a guitarist, there are few things more daunting than group guitar lessons. In that setting, wrapping your head and fingers around Metallica’s metal guitar classic, Enter Sandman, is challenging enough – so imagine how these Guitar Center students felt when Robert Trujillo gatecrashed their lesson.

The band’s bassist was a surprise guest at the lesson, which was hosted at the musical instrument store and headed up by Dave Kushner of Velvet Revolver fame – who is now Senior Director of Music Education at Guitar Center – and Guitar Center CEO Gabe Dalporto.

In footage from the lesson, Kushner shows a semi-circle of students the basics of the metal banger’s main riff. Then Trujillo, with a cheeky grin across his face, barges in saying, “No, that doesn’t sound right.”

He was then handed his signature Godin A4 Ultra electro-acoustic bass in Yellow Flame – very convenient – to help guide the students through a playthrough of the riff at a nice, accessible tempo.

There is some irony in a guitar shop encouraging customers to play one of the fabled forbidden riffs – no Stairway, denied! – but it makes for great viewing. And why not learn from the best?

Trujillo, who has also played with Ozzy Osbourne, Suicidal Tendencies, and Jerry Cantrell, joined Metallica in 2003 and has since played on four studio records with the heavy metal titans.

Dalporto, meanwhile, has been tasked with leading the store into a bold new era and has told Guitar World that he's on a mission to win back the trust of his fellow guitar players.

This comes in the face of uncertain economic climate and rising online markets, which is putting a strain on running brick-and-mortar stores. Last year, for example, Sam Ash go out of business after nearly a century of operation. The iconic retailer has since been acquired by Gonher Music.

James Hetfield might just have won Halloween 2025 for Metallica, having ripped through thrash classic For Whom The Bell Tolls dressed as a kangaroo.

Metallica's set at Optus Stadium, Perth, on October 31st saw half the band get into the spooky spirit early on in their performance, surprising fans at the 70,000 capacity venue.

Hetfield the Kangaroo, with a spring in his step, was joined by bass player Robert Trujillo in a hi-vis vest and builder's helmet. The items were likely cobbled together from crew members backstage, but he gets marks for trying. Kirk Hammett and Lars Ulrich’s casual attire, though, didn't quite nail the brief.

“Let’s hop to it!” Metallica posted on Instagram, accompanied by footage of the Ride The Lightning cut. Hetfield’s vocals are a little muffled by the costume, but, playing an Electra Guitars 2236 Flying Wedge inscribed with the band's Scary Guy logo, he handled its guitar parts with aplomb. He’s set a high bar for next year.

The guitar is a cheap Japanese copy of the Gibson Flying V, and the original featured on their debut album, Kill 'Em All. Speaking to Ultimate Guitar in 2023, the band's guitar tech Chad Zaemisch revealed that he and luthier Bill Nash had recently been tasked with tracking down several of these guitars and modifying them to recreate the tonal magic of the band's early days.

He also revealed that the original V was dusted off and put back into circulation around this time, so the one Hetfield is playing here could be the one that was such a key part of the band's formative years.

In related news, Kirk Hammett's mystery Back to the Beginning SG is headed to auction, along with more than 150 guitars from his personal collection. He'd used the Custom Shop Gibson SG to cover Black Sabbath's Hole in the Sky during the historic event.

In more recent Metallica-related news, Dave Mustaine has revealed that the last song on Megadeth's forthcoming final album will be a reimagining of Ride the Lightning, a song he helped write before leaving the band in 1983.

Dave Mustaine has revealed he has some unfinished business with Metallica. When Megadeth release their final studio album in January 2026, the eponymous thrasher will sign off with a ripping cover of Metallica’s Ride the Lightning.

And Mustaine promises that the mid-paced, headbanging title-track from Metallica’s sophomore album will be performed as you will never have heard it before.

The question is why? In a YouTube video, Mustaine explains everything. In short, it’s a tribute. He wants to “close the circle” before riding off into the sunset, and to pay tribute to the early days of Metallica when he and frontman/guitarist James Hetfield were straining at the leash to get their songs out there, on tape, and to turn metal guitar upside down.

“Obviously, the song, I had a lot to do with writing it,” says Mustaine. “James and I, when we were working on the song, it became clear to me, when James first started playing guitar, how good of a guitar player he was. And I thought it would be really cool to close the circle, to show respect, to play the songs that I’ve written with Metallica and to honor our friendship – even though it’s been strained and ruined from emotions over the years, when we were not necessarily friendly.”

Ah yes, not necessarily friendly. Historically, Mustaine has scarcely needed an excuse to talk about Metallica. His acrimonious 1983 departure from the band has been recurring theme in his career, a regular talking point in interviews, with an on/off and largely one-way feud lasting decades but now has largely thawed.

But Mustaine insists that all this is water under bridge – Hetfield and Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich are officially on his Christmas card list – and what better way to show that than put Ride the Lightning on a Megadeth record?

“One thing I’ve always said is I’ve always had a tremendous respect for James’ guitar playing – and Lars’ songwriting,” he says. “So it was cool to do this and add it to the record.”

Mustaine says he and Megadeth lead guitarist Teemu Mäntysaari have been playing around with the arrangement.

It has long been a staple of Megadeth concerts, that when performing Mechanix – a track sharing much DNA with Metallica’s The Four Horsemen, another ‘Tallica song that Mustaine co-wrote – he would play the riff and say something to the effect, “This is how they play it…” and then play it again at Mechanix tempo, i.e. much quicker.

So it will be no great surprise that when we hear this version of Ride the Lightning to hear it faster. Also, expect fireworks in the solo.

“We sped it up just a little teeny bit, and we kind of played around a little bit with the solo,” reveals Mustaine. “Teemu and I both tossed it back and forth to each other. So you might hear a little bit of some differences with the tempos, and of course, I sing different from James too.”

On this occasion, however, Mustaine says it’s not thrash metal oneupmanship. It’s a tribute, y’know, to himself, but also, of course, to Papa Het.

“It was about completing the circle and just us showing what James and I as guitar players did to change the world,” he says.

Historians disagree on when the Great Epic Thawing of Megadeth and Metallica Relations first happened. Some might date it to 2004, when Mustaine appeared in the Metallica rockumentary, Some Kind of Monster, and there was a full and frank sharing of emotions. Others would say 2010 was when it ended, with both bands sharing the bill with Anthrax and Slayer as The Big Four of thrash metal embarked on a stadium tour. That was the Berlin Wall coming down.

But there are plenty of incidences lately when Mustaine has been keen to offer praise Metallica’s way. In 2023, he admitted to Louder that Hetfield’s abilities as a guitar player blew his mind.

“I was kind of playing at Lars’ level, because Lars was still learning to play drums back then,” said Mustaine. “But watching James play guitar for the first time was kind of shocking, because I didn’t know he knew how to play guitar.”

Mustaine even had some kind words for Kirk Hammett, the man who replaced him as lead guitarist, telling Guitar World that Hammett honored Mustaine’s role in the band by playing his solos and not changing them.

“Jokes aside, I’ve always kind of poked fun at Kirk. And unfairly so, as he never did anything to me,” said Mustaine. “Whenever I felt singled out, picked on, or antagonized by James or Lars, it was really easy to pick on Kirk. But the truth is Kirk did me an honor by trying to play my solos on those early songs the way he did.

“I think that some people would have just started over again. So, I thought it was honorable that Kirk took my solos and did his best to play them as I did. That couldn’t have been easy.”

Mustaine even defended Hammett from the trolls, insisting that the Metallica shredder-in-chief has never dropped his level.

“There was a time when Kirk won every guitar contest in the world, and I don't think he's gotten any better or worse as a player,” said Mustaine. “He’s always been really good. Kirk was a good player when he was in Exodus. And he’s been steady the entire time he’s been in Metallica.”

Megadeth is scheduled for release on 23 January 2026 via Frontiers Records.

Kirk Hammett will be auctioning off more than 150 guitars and pieces of memorabilia from his personal collection – including the mystery Gibson SG he played at Ozzy Osbourne’s last-ever show earlier this year.

For Back to the Beginning, the Metallica guitar hero took to the stage alongside his hard rock and heavy metal peers wielding a mystifying SG that had a fair few fans scratching their heads. He used it to play one of Metallica’s two Sabbath covers, Hole in the Sky.

A few weeks later, it was revealed to be CEO4, the latest passion project of Gibson CEO Cesar Gueikian, who helped build the guitar. At the time of its grand reveal, Gueikian said the SG would be auctioned off in support of Gibson Gives.

Now, the CEO4 has edged closer to the auction block, but it’s not alone. It will be joined by a huge assortment of other guitars lifted from Hammett’s personal collection, comprising personal players and stage-played six-strings.

Owing to its Ozzy ties, the CEO4 is understandably going to grab the headlines here, but there are a few other Hammett deep cuts that will no doubt pique the interests of keen Metallica fans.

For example, there’s the Lux Æterna Black Metal guitar that can be seen in the track’s music video. In behind-the-scenes footage, Hammett can be seen carving an ‘X’ into the top. That one has an upper estimate of $12,000.

A 1985 Gibson Custom Shop Michael Schenker Flying V, as well as a 1996 ESP Wavecaster – both of which were used on stage on various Metallica tours – are in the running order. The V was used in 2008, the ESP – which is made from Lucite and filled with colored liquid – played a starring role in the Load and Reload tours of 1996-1997.

There are a fair few other, more reasonably estimated guitars elsewhere in the lot, and while none of them will come anywhere the list of the most expensive guitars to ever sell at auction, there looks to be plenty to satisfy ’Tallica fans.

“The Kirk Hammett Collection features over 150 guitars, storied awards, and stage-played instruments that shaped metal forever,” says Julien’s, which is including the Hammett collection as part of its upcoming Played, Worn & Torn auction event.

Tommy Lee and U2’s Adam Clayton will also be selling off instruments and memorabilia as part of the auction, with the latter offering up a number of bass guitars that shaped the sound of U2 over the years for the event.

“These instruments and artifacts coming directly from the artists themselves represent the soul of music history,” says Martin Nolan, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Julien’s Auctions, “with proceeds from the Adam Clayton, Kirk Hammett, and Tommy Lee collections benefiting MusiCares, with additional pieces throughout this historic auction supporting incredible worthwhile causes including Teenage Cancer Trust, Gibson Gives, and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.”

The Played, Worn & Torn auction will take place 20-21 November. Head over to Julien’s Auctions to find out more.

Dino Muradian has lived a movie-script life. It’s the tale of a hard-working outlaw who accidentally became a guitar pyrographer to the stars – and getting there was quite the journey.

As he grew up in Romania, the art of burning images into unfinished woods was just a hobby. But when he escaped from the Communist state six years before the collapse of the Soviet Union, that hobby became his entire life.

“In August of 1983, I defected from Romania,” says Muradian, 73. “I was a commercial pilot, so I left on a Russian cropduster. After three and a half hours’ flight under the radar, I landed on an Austrian Autobahn.”

He sought refuge in Atlanta, Georgia, later moving to Washington, then Honolulu. “The Romanian authorities gave me a 25-year sentence for high treason, and asked for my extradition,” he laughs. “But everything stopped there.”

Stateside, he sold two art pieces “for serious money,” one of which earned him a feature in Fine Woodworking Magazine. Then, as he read a guitar magazine, his life changed forever. He spotted an advert from spare-parts manufacturer Warmoth displaying two raw guitar bodies, and that was his eureka moment.

He grabbed some samples of his art, went to the factory and met the two Warmoth brothers. “They pointed to a shelf with old issues of Fine Woodworking Magazine on it. Paul said, ‘Dino, I don't remember anything in those magazines – but I remember your artwork.’

“I said, ‘Give me a scrap guitar you don’t need; let me do something with it. They gave me a nice Telecaster, and in a few days I covered it in flowers. I went took it back to the factory and they couldn’t speak for five minutes. Ken called the Fender Custom Shop and said, ‘I’m sending you something on the first UPS. You need to see this.’”

Fender was impressed, but didn’t immediately bite the bullet. But ESP CEO Matt Masciandaro did – he ordered recreations of Frederic Remington's Native American paintings for a run of guitars. Then one of metal guitar’s biggest names came calling.

“In the spring of ’96, Matt asked me to pyrograph James Hetfield’s Explorer. I wasn’t sure who James was, but I said yes. Matt put me in contact with Zach Harmon, his guitar tech. James wanted ‘Something scary,’ so we came up with this elk skull idea – although it’s actually a stag.

“That was the weirdest guitar I’d ever done at the time; the Explorer has that weird shape and getting the horns to fit was really difficult. Horns don’t look like that in the wild!”

The guitar, which became a fan favorite, was donated to the ESP Museum in Tokyo, Japan, in 2019. But that was just the start of Muradian’s Metallica adventure. “The first time I met James was in Seattle in ’96, backstage,” he says.

“He made me feel so important, like he was talking to Michelangelo or something! He said, ‘Dino, this guitar sounds shitty, but I love it!’ ESP say he was always too picky about the sounds of his guitars, but that’s his art.

“That was my first heavy metal concert. I watched from the side of the stage and my whole body was vibrating. The guitar wasn't a big deal for me, but seeing him in those lights, playing it on stage, and seeing all those crazy people chanting and singing along was such an experience.

“He played a lot of songs with it, even though he said it sounded shitty. I was honoured to see the fruit of my work being appreciated like that.”

Muradian has worked on a series of Hetfield axes since then, including the Unforgiven Variax depicting scenes from the song’s video, a Cthulu design on his Snakebyte signature guitar, and a Martin D-28 that Hetfield played during December's All Within My Hands charity concert.

“The Unforgiven guitar was difficult,” Muradian says. “James had the idea to have lyrics around the sides of the guitar – black heart scarring darker still – but the neck was still attached. I have to turn the guitar a million times when I work. And because it’s black and the letters have to stay white, I had to burn around the letters; it took a long time.”

He continues: “The Martin was old and very expensive. He wanted an exact replica of Elvis’ sculpted leather guitar. He wanted to strip it for me to pyrograph. But you never know what’s underneath the paint – if it’s a dark wood, my art doesn’t show so well. So they got a newer one to work with.

“I finished the piece and sent it to a luthier in San Francisco to rebuild it. Then I then realized I’d missed a little arm from the letter ‘E.’ The show was so close so I had to jump on a flight from Honolulu. The mistake was corrected in about three minutes and James never knew!”

Naturally, it was only a matter of time until Hetfield’s gear-hoarding bandmate Kirk Hammett wanted a slice of the action. So one of his ESP Eclipses was pyrographed from top to bottom, on a background of the manuscript of Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven – Hammett’s favorite poem.

“The second guitar I did for Kirk was in 2023; the 15th of a run of 15 Eclipses made to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Nosferatu film. He loved that. Nobody knows this, but one of the craters on the Moon on that guitar is in the shape of Romania!”

Muradian pyrographed B.B. King’s 17th Lucille for his 70th birthday – and his work for the Fender and ESP Custom Shops continues. Asked who his dream client would be, he doesn’t skip a beat in answering: “Taylor Swift.” Why? He thinks she’d benefit from the surprising tonal magic of his work.

“I’ve worked with violins, mandolins, cellos, you name it,” he says. “The owners all tell me that afterwards, ‘They sound amazing’ – especially if the whole instrument has been covered. The burning process changes something in the wood. It changes its structure, and it makes the instrument sound more powerful.”

So, Taylor, if you’re reading this, give Muradian a call. Maybe it could be a wedding present?

• See more of Muradian’s work on Instagram.

Scott Reeder found his early days with Kyuss to be a mixed blessing. “I toured with those guys before Blues for the Red Sun was released; I was on that first tour through the States,” he tells Bass Player.

“There were some good shows,” he continues, “but you’d be playing at a sports bar next to the cut-out of some football player! It was depressing after touring Europe with The Obsessed – but I believed in the band. I knew that if we kept at it, we were going to do something.”

It took time for Kyuss to catch on, but Reeder was proved right. He built a strong reputation that led to auditions with Tool and Metallica, although he accepts he took home “the silver medal” in those situations.

These days he works in production while lending his mighty bass licks to select projects. “I don’t look too far ahead,” he says. “I don’t bum out if things are slow because something always falls into my lap. At 60 I’m not anxious to be doing something all the time. When something special pops up, I enjoy every bit of it.”

You’ve participated in a Spinal Tap tribute album.

“Yeah, this guy, Mark Shea, called me a couple of years ago. He was putting together a tribute album to be released in conjunction with the new Spinal Tap film. It’s for Teen Cancer America. The album is called The Majesty of Rock.

“We’ve got Kellii Scott from Failure on drums and Justin Chancellor from Tool on another bass. We’ve got Abby Travis, who’s played with everybody. Rami Jaffee from Foo Fighters is on keys, and Troy Sanders from Mastodon did the vocals, and he tore it up.”

What gear did you use?

“I like to have an amp next to me when I’m tracking so I can get some feedback. I’ve got a micro-SVT in the control room, right next to the console, and I have that thing cranked. I recording through a direct box into the computer or onto tape and then I re-amp that, going through to one of my old SVTs or a custom Bison head.”

What inspired you to play bass?

“I started playing drums when I was five and I was in a punk band in high school. Our bass player’s parents weren’t too happy about him going out and playing gigs, so he quit. We couldn’t find another bass player but we had this guy, Alfredo, in mind for drums. So I bought the guy’s bass, and Alfredo started playing drums.”

What led to your joining The Obsessed in 1990?

“I got a call from Wino [Scott Weinrich]; he had a tour of Germany coming up and a new album to record, so I jumped on that. It was such a huge turning point – it took me away from my punk rock roots towards more a hard rock side.”

What are your memories of The Obsessed’s Lunar Womb?

“When I joined, the German tour was about a month away. Wino had another bass player who’d got in a motorcycle accident and actually died. That’s why I got the gig, and why we were so pressed for time.

“When we flew out to Germany the Desert Storm war was going on, and security was crazy at the airport. A goon in the walkway stopped me and kept asking, ‘Are you carrying more than $10,000 in US currency?’ I was like, ‘Bro, I’ve got five bucks in my pocket!’

“We toured Germany for three weeks. We had a couple of days off, and then we went into the studio and just blasted through everything. We got the whole thing done in less than five days – it might even be three days. It was a lot of first takes because we were well-tuned coming off the road.”

In 1992, you joined Kyuss after Nick Oliveri left the band. Did you know the guys pretty well?

“We did a West Coast tour together when I was in The Obsessed. When it was time to come home, the guys asked me if I wanted to ride with them; so Nick went to the Obsessed van.

“The first night, we’re driving down Highway One and they said, ‘Things are getting a little crazy with Nick. We’re thinking about letting him go – what do you think about joining?’ I turned them down. I said, ‘We’ve got Columbia Records looking at us. I’ve worked too hard for this.’

“About three months later, Brant Bjork called and said, ‘Dude, we’ve kicked out Nick. I know you don’t want to join the band, but we’ve got some crazy shows coming up.’ So I said, ‘I can fill in for these shows.’

“The first day of rehearsal in Josh Homme’s bedroom was just so exciting. Those guys were inspired, hungry and creative. That night I asked my wife, ‘What do you think about moving back to the desert?’ She said, ‘If that’s what you want to do, let’s fucking do it.’ That was it.

“We rehearsed for three days. The first day, me and Josh wrote Space Cadet, that ended up on Welcome to Sky Valley. The day I got back to LA, I went to rehearsal with The Obsessed; we had a couple of shows coming up.

“Right off the bat, Wino was all, ‘So, what are you gonna do, man?’ I said, ‘Dude, I gotta do this thing with Kyuss – but I’ll fulfill my commitment.’ He said, ‘No, it’s cool; we’ll get somebody. It’s all good.’”

What gear did you use once you joined Kyuss, and did you take into account Nick’s tone?

“I didn’t give a shit about Nick’s tone! I already had my thing – Ampeg SVT. And instead of resetting the knobs in the dark before I played, I just cranked the tone controls all the way up. You’re supposed to have them at 12 o’clock then cut or boost a little. I just turned them all the way up! That’s where the overdrive comes from.

“I didn’t use pedals – just straight in, tone controls all the way up. Volume was only around three or four. That’s been my sound forever. Everybody asked, ‘What kind of pedals do you use for that?’ Nothing; just straight in.”

You made two albums with Kyuss –Welcome to Sky Valley and …And the Circus Leaves Town – which are highly regarded. Did you realize they were special right away?

“No, no way! But Sky Valley was us just doing our thing. I didn’t think too far into the future. It wasn’t like, ‘Oh, man, people are going to fucking trip on this.’ I thought we’d be lucky to tour for six months or a year, then maybe get an opportunity to do another album and just slogging away.

“I certainly didn’t think that anybody was going to give a shit 30 years doen the road. It blows my mind, especially when younger people are into it. It’s so weird!”

When Kyuss broke up, did Josh ask you to join Queens of the Stone Age, or was it always going to be Nick?

“Josh was recording with [drummer] Alfredo Hernandez, for what I believe became the Queens record. He called and said, ‘Hey, Scotty, we’re recording. Do you want to come over and put some stuff down?’ I was like, ‘So, basically, you want to do Kyuss, but no John Garcia?’

“I said, ‘I’m good,’ because I was really loyal to John. I was bitter, I guess, that there was a breakup. Things were going great, then whatever happened between Josh and John destroyed the whole thing. So at the time, I didn’t want anything to do with Queens.”

Given the success of Queens, do you regret that?

“No regrets! I actually told Josh, after Dave Grohl was gonna leave, ‘It would be trippy if I played drums for you guys!’ But I think they already had the next guy. It’s all good. It took me a few years to go check Queens out; but, it’s water under the bridge with me and Josh now. Good vibes.”

Not long after Kyuss broke up, you auditioned for Tool as a potential replacement for Paul D’Amour.

“Two crazy things came up at the same time. Right after Kyuss, Jason Newstead called me. He said, ‘Dude, you got to get out there and have some fun!’ He flew me and my wife up to the Bay Area and put us up at his house for a few days.

“We recorded some stuff with Devin Townsend on guitar and Dale Crover on drums. And just before I left, I got a call from Tool’s A&R guy, Matt Marshall, who said, ‘Hey, the guys would love to jam with you for a couple of days.’ I had just a couple of days to learn some Tool songs.”

Were you familiar with their music?

“I’d never seen them or met them before; but I loved Undertow. We jammed for three days, ran through a few songs; but mostly just jammed, recorded and vibed. I hit it off with Adam Jones especially.

“The first day, they gave me a cassette of some songs for Ænima that they’d recorded with Paul D’Amour. They were like, ‘Learn whatever you want for tomorrow.’ It had my favorite song, Eulogy. And they invited me to a party that night at Timothy Leary’s house.

“I was torn – I was like, ‘Is this a test to see if I’m into partying, or doing my homework?’ I chose to do the right thing. I went to the studio and worked half the night on Eulogy and some other stuff. And it was fun!”

Did it come down to you and Justin Chancellor in the end?

“Yeah, it was a trip. They said, ‘We’ll give you a call on Halloween, and let you know which way it goes.’ And I got a call from everybody, and they said, ‘Man, we’ve been listening to everything back and forth, but Justin just oozes Tool, and he’s going to be the guy.’ But I made some friendships that still last.”

Circling back to the short-lived group with Jason Newstead, Devin Townsend and Dale Crover, there are unreleased recordings from that session, right? Will we ever hear those?

“Come over to my house – I’ll play them for you! I think Jason had a lot of pressure from the Metallica guys at the time not to put stuff out. And it was pretty rusty stuff, but it was super fun working with those guys.

“It was the party that got my mind off the Kyuss breakup, and got me into a better frame of mind. I will forever be grateful to Jason for hosting that weekend.”

You auditioned for Metallica after he left.

“Somebody from their organization asked me if I was interested, probably right after Jason was out. I was in making a record with Unida; I was like, ‘Thanks, but I’ve got to follow through with this thing.’

“Then I got another call, at least a year later, from Lars Ulrich. I was at our ranch, shoveling moldy hay into a wheelbarrow, and my wife comes out holding the phone. She thought it was a prank call.

“We used to get prank phone calls from Maynard from Tool when we had our pet store. She’s all, ‘Says it’s Lars Ulrich,’ and she’s rolling her eyes. I grabbed the phone, and it was fucking Lars Ulrich! He said, ‘Hey, man, we’ve got to pick a bass player, and would love it if you could come and jam.’

“I was like, ‘Fuck, yeah!’ I said, ‘Let me hold off for a week and I’ll learn some stuff.’ I probably learned 20 songs, then I went to their headquarters, and we had a meeting around the table. It’s all in the film. They had their life-coach guy, Phil, that was part of everything.

“Then we got to go in and jam, and it was so fun playing some of the classics. Next day they were in recording mode from Some Kind of Monster, and I was sitting on the couch next to James Hetfield while he's cutting vocals. I’m like, ‘Is it okay if I’m here?’ He’s all, ‘If it wasn’t, I’d let you know, man. It’s cool.’

“So, I’m sitting next to fucking Hetfield recording vocals for an album – that was pretty crazy! And there was one point for one of the songs, James asked everybody to write down their thoughts on a certain subject. I think it was specifically around the Napster issue.

“Everybody sequestered themselves for half an hour, then we all met back in the control room and read our lines to James. He sat there, stewing on it for a few minutes, then said, ‘Okay, let’s roll tape,’ and he just started laying down stuff. That was pretty amazing to be a part of.”

How did you find out you hadn’t got the Metallica gig?

“We said our goodbyes, and the vibe was that I was going to come back at some point. Kirk Hammett said, ‘We haven’t seen the last of you, Reeder.’ And then, they called me, probably about a month later, a conference call with all the guys.

“They said, ‘Hey, man, we want to let you know we have our guy. But you’re family for life. You’re going to be a part of anything you want to be a part of. Let us know.’ That was it. James called me half an hour later: ‘You sure you’re alright, man?’ I told him, ‘Dude, if there were like the Metal Olympics or something, to get the silver medal is not too shabby!’”

What are you proudest of when you look back?

“That’s tough! I’ve been lucky to work on so many projects; I never got locked into one thing. During Covid we put together this project called Sovereign Eagle. It’s the best my playing has ever been. If I had one record to say, ‘This is me,’ it’s Sovereign Eagle.

Where do you go from here?

“I’m working on a song with Fireball Ministry for an Iron Maiden tribute album. It’s a blessing that I’m not familiar with Iron Maiden – this is like taking the guy from the punk scene and immersing him in the metal scene.

“I had no idea what Steve Harris did on the song. When they gave it to me, I didn’t want to hear it, like, ‘I’m gonna do my thing!’ And it’s ended up great. I don’t think people would even recognize the song. I don’t!”

• The Majesty of Rock: A Spinal Tap Tribute is on sale now.

Newsflash: Scott Reeder never got the gig as Metallica’s full-time bass guitar player. Robert Trujillo got the role.

The whole saga of Jason Newsted’s exit, the acrimony and fracture as St. Anger came together as Metallica were imploding, and their torturous hunt for a bassist, was all captured for posterity in one of the most notorious music documentaries of all time, Some Kind of Monster. We have all watched it.

And we saw everything – Some Kind of Monster took us inside the room. But, as they say, you weren’t there, man. Reeder was, and the former Kyuss and Obsessed bassist’s recollections of his brush with metal’s biggest band is a remarkable story, and it is one he shares with Guitar World in a new interview.

This is a story that begins and ends with rejection, only in the beginning it was Reeder who said no to Metallica when the Q Prime industrial complex cast the net wide for a new bass player to replace Newsted. As Reeder remembers it, they were in no mood to waste time.

“Somebody from their organization asked me if I would be interested, God, probably right after Jason was out,” says Reeder. “I was in the middle of making a record with Unida, and was like, ‘Thanks, but I’ve got to follow through with this thing. We’re kind of in the thick of it right now.’”

That was to be the end of it. Reeder is not a man whose calendar needs filling. He is always in the thick of it. But his name was clearly burning a hole in the Metallica Rolodex.

“I got another call, it had to be at least a year later, from Lars Ulrich,” he says. “My wife and I have a 50-acre ranch, and I was outside shoveling some moldy hay into a wheelbarrow, and my wife comes out holding the phone… she thought it was a prank phone call.”

This was not unusual.

“We used to get prank phone calls from Maynard [James Keenan] from Tool,” says Reeder. “She’s all, ‘Says it’s Lars Ulrich,’ and she’s rolling her eyes. I grabbed the phone, and it was fucking Lars Ulrich. [Laughs] He said, ‘Hey, man, we’ve got to make a move here. We’ve got to pick a bass player, and would love it if you could come up and jam for a few days.’”

Ulrich officially had Reeder’s undivided attention. Reeder was stoked. But he took a beat. If this was to be his one big chance at landing a life-changing gig, he needed some time to prepare.

“I was like, ‘Fuck, yeah.’ I didn’t take the first audition for that weekend. I said, ‘Let me hold off for a week, and I’ll learn some stuff.’ I think I had a week to work on stuff; I probably learned 20 songs, and went to the headquarters, and we had a meeting around the table.”

That meeting is in the film. It is an age ago now, but this was the era of Dr Phil and norm-core knitwear, of an ashen faced Bob Rock filling in on bass, of door slamming, poorly tuned snare drums, of no solos, no fun because there were no solos – everybody was tense.

Some Kind of Monster is listed as a documentary but at times it could be a comedy. Others have an air of horror about them. All of it was faintly surreal.

“They had their life-coach guy, Phil, that was part of everything,” says Reeder. “We walked for a while, and then we got to go in and jam, and it was so fun playing some of the classics. And the next day, they were in recording mode, working on Some Kind of Monster, and I was sitting on the couch next to James Hetfield while he’s cutting vocals.

“I’m like, ‘Is it okay if I’m in here?’ He’s all, ‘If it wasn’t, I’d let you know, man. It’s cool.’ So, I’m sitting next to fucking Hetfield recording vocals for an album. That was pretty crazy.”

Reeder never got the gig but maybe he played his part in some small way. Metallica were piecing themselves back together again. Maybe the audition process helped. Either way, they treated Reeder right and let him down gently. And he had definitely been in the running before Trujillo got the gig.

“We said our goodbyes, and the vibe was that I was going to come back at some point. Kirk [Hammett] said, ‘We haven’t seen the last of you, Reeder.’ And then, they called me, probably about a month later, a conference call with all the guys,” he continues.

“They said, ‘Hey, man, hope you’re doing okay. Just want to let you know we have our guy. But you’re family for life. You’re going to be a part of anything you want to be a part of. Let us know.’

“So, that was it. James called me back about a half an hour later, ‘You sure you’re alright, man?’”

Who could say how Metallica might have turned out with Reeder on bass. No one knows for sure – well, there would be less crab-walking onstage. But all in all he wasn’t too bummed out, and let Ulrich know that there were there were no hard feelings.

“I told him, ‘Dude, if there were like the Metal Olympics or something, to get the silver medal,” says Reeder. “Not too shabby.’”

Metallica wasn't the only big-name band that Reeder rubbed shoulders with. In a previous interview with Bass Player, he recalled the time he jammed with Tool.

Metallica’s James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett took to YouTube to wish ESP Guitars a very happy 50th Anniversary, the long-time endorsees checking in from their rehearsal room HQ, signature guitars in hand. But in the process they might just have something very intriguing indeed.

There’s an Easter egg in this video, and it looks like this could be a signature tube amp for Hetfield from Mesa/Boogie. Once you can see it you can’t unsee it. Behind Hammett, there’s a guitar amp head, sitting on a 4x12 guitar cabinet with a Metallica logo stencilled in white on the black grille cloth.

The amp is a variant of a Mesa/Boogie Mark Series that we’ve never seen before, with a decorative brushed metal plating on the grille (kind of like something you would see on a hot-rodded, supercharged automobile, which is very Hetfield), and on the top-left of the control panel we have what looks like Hetfield’s initials.

“It looks like a two channel amp with some really weird knobs in the middle,” writes one comment from Mesa Sean. “We’ve seen that [amp] in the studio for a couple years now. It would be really cool if they released something.”

If it is a Hetfield amp, it would have been a long time coming. As noted above, and in a 2017 thread on the Mesa/Boogie forum, this mystery Mesa has actually been in the Metallica HQ for years, also appearing in a video from 94.5 KATS with drummer Lars Ulrich and Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor goofing around.

The video resolution is not great, but you can see this same amp in the lower left-hand side of the frame.

This new video gives us a better look. It could be that the metal plate on the amp’s front has been updated. If it was a prototype for Hetfield, that time scale could check out.

Designing a Mark Series Boogie for one of metal guitar’s biggest stars is a serious project, and it would take some time. There would be revisions. Also, consider the upheaval at Mesa/Boogie, the takeover by Gibson, the departure of its founder Randall Smith. That could delay the project.

In July, Mesa/Boogie released the Mark IIC++ "Crunch Berries" head that Metallica used to give their tone its signature venom in the mid ‘80s.

The Mark IIC++ was initially a custom mod that only those in the know had. It was designed for Vivian Campbell, then playing in Dio, who wanted more added “gain and girth” to his electric guitar tone. Well, Metallica got wind of that. Hammett told MusicRadar that this Boogie, allied to EMG active humbuckers, was the secret sauce to their sound.

“They made very few of those Boogies and we happened to get a few. And those amps, along with EMG pickups were defining our sound,” he said. “They enabled us to get the sound that we needed to get across. If it wasn’t for those Mesa/Boogie amps and EMG pickups, I don’t know how much further we would have got with just Marshalls. With the Boogies it was something different.”

If Mesa/Boogie is going to release a Hetfield Mark Series in the not-so-distant future it would be A) Not unprecedented, after it released a signature model for Dream Theatre’s John Petrucci, and B) Foreshadowed somewhat by the “Crunch Berries” release, and its antecedent, the Mark IIC+, which was reissued last year.

Hammett has already collaborated on a couple of notable signature amps with Randall. There was the KH120RH, the RM100KH, which was a three-channel 100-watter. We can confirm that playing Creeping Death on a Gibson Flying V through this amp is a lot of fun.

But sometimes you need more fun, and Randall and Hammett had just the thing in the 120-watt KH103 head, designed with Mike Fortin, with three channels, three gain voicings per channel… The thing looked nuts. Fortin also made him the Meathead.

C’mon, Mesa/Boogie, let’s get Hetfield one, too. Or would someone at least let us know what that knob in the middle of the control panel does?

In the absence of any more details, we quite like some of the theories posted by Mesa forum user screamingdaisy: “Theory A: It’s a blend knob... channel 2/Recto, channel 3/Crunchberries, blend to taste. Theory B: it’s a chorus knob... they built the [Roland] JC-120 chorus into the amp. Theory C: it’s a scoop knob... they built James’ parametric EQ into the amp.”

And Theory D it’s a red herring just to mess with our heads. Mission accomplished. Where were we, anyways? Yeah, many happy returns, ESP.

Metallica fans of a certain age will recall Jason Newsted's arrival in October 1986, when he was recruited to fill the huge boots of Cliff Burton. As current bassist Robert Trujillo told Bass Player: “Cliff was very aggressive, very melodic, and a busier player, but there’s an art to simplicity, and Jason brought that art.”

After one too many disputes with the other band members, Newsted called it a day in 2001, following 15 years with the thrash metal giants, and was eventually replaced by Trujillo in 2003.

Having played with Suicidal Tendencies, Jerry Cantrell's solo band, Zakk Wylde’s Black Label Society and a seven-year stint with Ozzy Osbourne prior to joining – Trujillo was well prepared for life in Metallica.

“I think he's the best choice they could have possibly made,” Newsted told Bass Player in 2003. “Robert is solid and musical; he knows his shit and his style is very strong. He's got a big heart and a good family. All of those things are important to be able to put up with something as huge as the Metallica entity, and he's got what it takes.

“As a fan I wasn't sure Metallica would be able to come out and be a force again, but now that they have Robert, I think they will. If Robert and James can click the way I think they can, they could be a huge, huge thing.”

As fate would have it, just a few weeks after Metallica announced that Trujillo had emerged at the top of the audition heap, Ozzy Osbourne made his own proclamation, announcing Jason Newsted as his new bassist.

Newsted was officially welcomed with a press event at 3rd Encore Studios in North Hollywood, where the band powered through Black Sabbath’s War Pigs, and three Osbourne hits, Believer, No More Tears and the classic Crazy Train.

At the end of a busy press conference fielding questions like, “How does it feel to play with a metal icon?" and “Who in the band drinks the most?” Newsted sat down to talk to Bass Player about music – and the new page in his career.

When you found out about joining Ozzy's band, was it a surprise?

“Totally. I didn't put it all together until Sharon Osbourne called me. Mike Bordin and I have been friends for years – he was one of Cliff Burton's best friends – so I got Ozzy's setlists for the last two tours, figured out the tunings they were using live, and made a tape with 13 tunes – six Sabbath songs and the rest Ozzy.”

“I did everything that I had heard you're supposed to do, or that I had done before, to get a gig. I played until I could not play anymore. The flesh on my fingertips was actually cracking; it got down to the nerve, and the pain was shooting up my arm. That's when I'd stop. But I'd sleep with the headphones on, with my work tape playing on repeat.

“When I'd take 30 minutes to eat something, I'd watch old Sabbath videos. So I was literally living, breathing, eating, and sleeping Ozzy for eight days. It was full-on preparation – just like what I did with Metallica. When the day came, I felt pretty good about everything.”

So you didn't consider it an audition?

“The guys told me it wasn't an audition and that I was already in the band, and Ozzy had already mentioned it in a radio interview. But that didn't stop me.

“First I played with just Zakk and Mike. I had all the songs I'd learned written on a list, and I had pinpointed my questions: ‘Zakk, how does this resolve, what is that note.’ I got all those things tight, and we jammed for a while.

“Then Ozzy came in. I wanted him to be able to point to any one of those songs on the list and for me to be able to just knock it out. He picked five of the tunes, and from the first bit of Paranoid, when I began playing, he started bouncing around the room.

“He made a couple of comments in between songs; I didn't talk much. After the fifth tune he said, ‘If you want a job, you've got it.' And I said, ‘Yes, Oz, I want it. Wherever you want me to be, I'll be there.’”

How much freedom will Ozzy afford you in the band?

“In the first three minutes that I spoke to him on the phone, he was already talking about writing songs together, which pretty much freaked me out. Black Sabbath is my all-time favorite band, and it has been ever since I started playing.

“They influenced me so much that with every riff I wrote for Metallica or anyone else, the guys would always say, 'We can't play that – it sounds too much like Sabbath’ – or, 'Nice ripoff.' Now, those riffs I write will fit.”

With Ozzy will you be playing 4-strings, 5’s, or both?

“Usually I play a Sadowsky 5-string, though I have one new 4-string that I like a lot. As I start figuring out the songs a bit more and see exactly what they're going to play, things will change.

“If I can get away with some of the Sabbath stuff on a 4-string, I'll do it. But for the Ozzy stuff I want the 5 so I can put my own signature on the tunes. I want to make all those old songs new again, but still get what Geezer Butler did in there.”

You were branching out into things like fretless towards the end of your Metallica career. How will this shift affect your development as a musician?

“I haven't played fretless in a long time. My groove is more toward sounds and production now. Again, I need to pay justice to something that's already been done – I'm stepping into a situation where some cool bass players have been. I mean, Rudy Sarzo... whatever, right? But Bob Daisley – fantastic. Geezer Butler – number one. That's big, and they're much bigger shoes to fill than Cliff Burton’s.

“Ozzy hasn't really had a high-profile bassist before. A lot of guys became more famous after playing with Ozzy, but none was really established when they came in. In my eyes, Metallica is nearly equal to Ozzy in terms of the respect factor and accomplishments – not all the way, but nearly.”

Do you have any idea why you've now been picked to play in two of the world's elite metal bands?

“I ask myself, ‘Why does this happen to me?’ There are a lot of bassists out there who can play circles around me. But have they developed a style? Do they have personality? Do they have what it takes to be in the big leagues? I like to think I got this call because of the good energy I spread around.”

“And like I always did with Metallica, I want to make sure I say hello to the fans. They might have something they've been wanting to say to you for 10 years, and they get one minute with you and they finally spew it out – and it's the most sincere thing and just knocks you down.

“The guys who have been around the longest are the coolest guys – the ones who'd be the first to embrace you. It took B.B. King 90 seconds to embrace me and tell me about his family. Eric Clapton – the second time he met me, he called me by my name, and I just about dropped to my knees. It's the same with Ozzy.

“For someone who's been through that much, what does he have to prove? So I'll push myself to make it happen. Whatever he asks of me, I'll be there for him.”

Jason Momoa has commissioned an exacting replica of James Hetfield’s iconic Elektra Flying V copy from Polish custom electric guitar company Krupi Guitars, and it looks and sounds incredible.

This is a copy of one of the most-famous copycat electrics of all time, the so-called OGV – the white Elektra Flying Wedge that Hetfield used on Metallica’s seminal 1983 debut album, Kill ‘Em All, and thrashed into submission over the subsequent years as the Bay Area quartets charted their unstoppable rise to superstardom.

Krupi has replicated the OGV in exacting detail, from the finish wear to the hardware (aftermarket Sperzel locking tuners FTW), to the middle finger graphic on the back – Krupi even recreated the effect of original OGV’s infamous headstock break.

That break, lest we forget, was a hinge-moment in Metallica (and metal guitar) history because the OGV’s temporary absence while a luthier in Austin, TX, was repairing it gave Hetfield the opportunity to check out the Gibson Explorer, and he liked what he heard.

Krupi says it was an honor to work on this replica.

“Here’s a faithful replica of James Hetfield’s legendary Electra OGV – the very guitar that roared on Kill ‘Em All and helped forge the sound of Metallica’s early days,” it writes on Instagram. “Some time ago Jason Momoa – [whom] I truly admire, a huge Metallica fan – reached out to ask if I could build one just like it. I did. And I poured everything into it.

“Recreating this piece of metal history wasn’t just a challenge – it was a privilege. It meant a lot to us, both as a builders and a fans. Enjoy it, Jason.”

This is not just about the guitar, though. Just look at that guitar case. You’ve got Momoa’s name emblazoned on it in the Metallica typeface – in a shade of yellow-orange that makes us think of the Jump in the Fire 12” – and a whole bunch of Zorlac stickers featuring the work of artist Brian Schroeder, better known as Pushead, who has provided some iconic designs for Metallica’s merch.

Pushead’s Damage Inc. and Harvester of Sorrow T-shirt designs are all-timers. Anyway, those stickers really tie the whole thing together.

And somehow, the OGV, battered, bruised, repaired, is still in Hetfield’s regular rotation. Not bad for a cheap copy. It looked the part. It sounded the part.

In his 2023 coffee table book Messengers: The Guitars of James Hetfield, the Metallica frontman recalled how drummer Lars Ulrich reacted when he first saw it.

“What I think about most is how happy I was when Lars came over [to see it], because it felt like the beginning of all the ‘coolness’ that we were trying to achieve,” said Hetfield. “It felt like we had arrived… [like] we were going to make it… I did not care that it was a copy of a Gibson. It played great, it sounded great, and it had the look that I wanted.”

There was no need to sweat the details. Hetfield didn’t. For a time, he was famously unaware that it actually was a copy.

“I thought it was a Gibson Flying V, just like the one Michael Schenker used,” said Hetfield. “That’s all I cared about. It was white, it was a V-shape, it had a Gibson plate on it, and it was cheap.”

Japanese copies of classic US electric guitar designs were getting better as the 1980s dawned. Some collectors argue that they sound better than the Gibson or Fender counterparts of the ‘70s, the imitators challenging the US companies to up their game.

But Hetfield’s Flying Wedge was not quite as exacting with the spec as some copycat imports. Take the neck joint for a start. Not that a young Hetfield cared about these things.

“Now I know why [it was cheap], because it was made in Japan,” he said. “For me, it didn't matter. Later on, I think when we were in New York the first time, somebody said, ‘Err, that’s not a Gibson! It’s got a bolt-on neck!’ I didn’t know, and I didn’t care.”

And it didn’t matter. It sounded ferocious, especially when going through the Metallica frontman’s legendary Marshall amp, which was stolen after the recording of Kill ‘Em All and lost to history. Hetfield described the OGV as “like a shield”, giving him the confidence to front a band that would spearhead thrash metal’s ascendancy.

“I’m not being overly dramatic in saying that if there was a guitar that changed the course of my history, it was the OGV,” said Hetfield. “It's one of the fastest guitars I have to this day, with very, very good mids. It's very clear but crunchy, too.”

Gojira are behemoths of the metal scene – and, during an appearance that can only be described as history-making at last year's Olympic Games, the band firmly cemented their influence beyond the metal realm on the global stage.

And for the gearheads, guitarist Joe Duplantier dazzled audiences with a custom ESP electric guitar specially curated for the occasion: an ESP XJ-1 – boasting an all-chrome aesthetic, EverTune bridge, and a DiMarzio Fortitude bridge humbucker – that made metal (and music) history.

At the time, keen-eyed fans were quick to speculate over Duplantier's decision to play an ESP on that occasion, especially considering he has long been established as a loyal Charvel artist.

“It’s funny, people talk about instruments almost like marriage,” he quips in a new Guitar World interview.

“‘How could you? I thought everything was going well!’ It’s not like that, okay, can everybody relax?! I love Charvel and I’m proud of the signature we made. Nothing went wrong. But I’m just a dude who wants to have fun and try new things."

Indeed, Duplantier has been wielding Charvel's Tele-style San Dimas models for over 10 years – a run which has also included several signatures over the years, including his latest, the Joe Duplantier Signature Pro-Mod San Dimas Style 2 HH Mahogany.

“At the end of the day, from Fender to Gibson, I just love guitars. I’ve actually had a relationship with ESP for years. Hetfield personally hooked me up with them back in the day. He actually picked up the phone saying, ‘Dude, have you tried an ESP?’”

Duplantier clarifies that he still uses his signature Charvel “and will continue to do so”.

“I just wanted to experiment in other fields,” he divulges. “It feels like I’m expanding and ESP has a lot to offer. I’m not cheating on anyone, I want all the instruments! The Metallica connection was a big part of it. Bill from Mastodon loves ESP, and I’ve played his guitar a bunch of times. I’ve talking to [Head Of Artist Relations] Tony Rauser about making something different from what I’ve done before.”

These changes also come from a place where he's finally accepting his role as more of a frontman.

“I used to go on stage with dark shirts, jeans, and guitars, looking like a black hole. I don’t know if it’s a midlife crisis, but enough is enough, I want to shine on stage,” he adds with a laugh. “Maybe I’ll design a mirror guitar, so I can blind people with the spotlight!”

Last year, ESP sealed the deal by confirming Duplantier as a signature artist, with their announcement coinciding with Gojira's appearance at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games.

Guitar World's full interview with Joe Duplantier will be published in the coming weeks.

When Metallica released their fifth album, lovingly referred to as the Black Album, in 1991, they were rightly crowned the world's biggest metal band. Decades later, no metal record has yet to surpass its staggering 30 million units sold, but with its controversial follow-up, 1996’s Load, the band offered a very different sound.

Pushing a lighter, more commercial aesthetic, and chopped locks to boot, many felt the band had eschewed the identity that garnered them such lofty success. Now Bob Rock, who produced both those albums, has said it was a record that reshaped James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett’s guitar-playing relationship.

“Before Load, James did all the rhythms,” Rock tells The Metallica Report podcast (via Blabbermouth). “So the idea is Kirk was gonna play rhythms along with James. That changed everything, and some people don't like it.”

Rock had entered the fray their previous three records had been produced by Flemming Rasmussen (who has a theory for why ...And Justice For All was so light on bass guitar). Their new producer found that those experiences had left them a little limited.

“What they knew is how he put together a record, but I don't do that,” Rock says. “The way they did it, it's very mechanical. You can't go back and fix a kick drum. And you can't really realize what the whole song is until you finish it. But what you do when you record live, you get a good example of pretty much everything.”

That also saw Jason Newstead's approach to his bass parts heavily scrutinized.

“Jason wasn't playing bass like a bass player. He was just doubling the guitar,” Rock explains. “So I taught him, like, ‘Dude, be a bass player.’ So there are points where he's not playing the guitar riff; he's playing with the drums. That would've never happened if you just did it to a click and did all the guitars.

“So that opened the door, and it's my fault that I opened that door, because what they realized, through the recording of the Black Album, was there was something different about that, and in Load they embraced it.”

Rock is, in his own words, “a song person,” and he encouraged Metallica’s desire to experiment. They were getting inspired by different bands; Load is less Motörhead and Black Sabbath, more Led Zeppelin and Lynyrd Skynyrd. That set a precedent, and the way Hetfield and Hammett approached their tandem on the record was a key driver behind the band’s change of colors.

As per the band's chat with Guitar World ahead of the release of Reload in 1997, that approach changed again.

“Kirk had a little more freedom on this one,” Hetfield explained. “His only instruction was to not play what I played. We wanted a point-counterpoint kind of vibe. And we're really splitting the guitars now to get some really different things going on.

“It's not exciting to us anymore,” he added of the album's lack of high-octane thrash riffs. “It's a little more exciting for us now to figure out more fucked-up chords, things that grind, dissonant bits.”

Mesa/Boogie has released the holy grail Mark IIC++ as a production model, putting the ultra-rare custom amp head within reach of regular players for the first time in its history.

In the world of heavy metal and hard rock, Mesa/Boogie tube amps are some of the most revered out there, but the Mark IIC++ – a custom model from 1985 that was only ever created at the request of artists – is hallowed in its own right.

As Mesa/Boogie explains, the first Mark IIC++ was born out of a request from Vivian Campbell. In the mid 1980s, Campbell was playing with Dio, but asked for a modded version of his traditional Mark IIC+ in order to tap into “added gain and girth”.

The resulting creation quickly became the talk of the tone town among Mesa/Boogie circles, and though the IIC++ never became an official mod, it did become a favorite among a suite of A-list players, and was created on an ad hoc basis for those guitarists who required them.

As such, before its release today, it may just have been one of the most exclusive metal amps ever. An exact number of IIC++s created isn’t confirmed owing to the obscurity surrounding them, but the firm estimates only 20 were made. It’s an almost Dumble-level rarity and scarcity, which makes this launch all the more enticing.

After Campbell pioneered the IIC++, it was later used (perhaps most famously) by Metallica, who used the affectionately dubbed Crunch Berries amp (owing to the sticker they used on their own model) to shape the sound of heavy metal in the 1980s.

Speaking of the IIC++’s influence on the Metallica sound, Hammett once told MusicRadar, “They made very few of those Boogies and we happened to get a few. And those amps, along with EMG pickups were defining our sound.

“They enabled us to get the sound that we needed to get across. If it wasn’t for those Mesa/Boogie amps and EMG pickups, I don’t know how much further we would have got with just Marshalls. With the Boogies it was something different.”

As for what sets the IIC++ apart from the standard IIC+ – which also received a reissue last year – the additional ‘+’ basically translates to additional gain and a tighter low-end. On the surface, the IIC++ looks the same as the IIC+ (save the mod-specific plate on the grille cloth), but it won’t behave like one.

In practice, it offers increased gain in the preamp, which only affects the Lead mode. The Clean mode will operate as normal, but the Lead offers more to-end gain, an enhanced low-end, and an overall “thicker” sound with more dynamic harmonic layering.

“Experience one of the rarest and most coveted vintage amplifiers ever, the Mark IIC++, in solid new form built by the same artisans who built the originals 40 years ago,” Mesa/Boogie writes. “These awe-inspiring gain machines have fueled some of the most iconic rock sounds ever captured on record.”

Only 200 of the Mark IIC++ will be made and, by the looks of things, they’ve all already sold out.

Visit Mesa/Boogie to find out more.

Tim Henson has responded to recent comments made by Kirk Hammett, after the Metallica electric guitar hero recently gave his thoughts on the ‘boomer bends’ controversy that Henson spawned a few years ago.

Back in 2021, Henson made a throwaway comment concerning his stylistic preferences, saying he prefers to avoid “bommer-ish” bends – something that relies on oft-heard blues rock cliché’s – in his own playing.

The offhand remark sparked intense debate and it seems, three years on, the conversation still has legs: earlier this year, Hammett offered both criticism and praise to Henson over his boomer bends observations, praising his technique but questioning just how accessible his style is to the casual listener.

“I love that. Is he gonna call Eddie Van Halen a boomer guitar player?” Hammett said earlier this year. “I really like his style. It's really unique, and in terms of technique, it's amazing. It's the age old question, how relatable is it? It's good to listen to three or four times, but can you really relate?”

When asked by Rolling Stone if he’d seen Hammett’s response, Henson says, “I did! I got a Google alert for Polyphia, and I was like, ‘Oh, what’s this with Kirk Hammett?’ I click on it and I started reading and I’m just like, ‘Oh my God. This is a compliment and a diss at the same time from fucking Kirk Hammett!’”

The reaction from the band was mixed. While Henson saw the silver lining, Scott LePage – Henson’s guitar foil in Polyphia who has a rather strong bond with ’tallica – felt especially let down.

Henson continues, “Scott is a Metallica head. Scott’s father is the singer in Kill ‘Em All, which is a Metallica cover band. That’s what they do on the weekends. When Scott’s dad’s not at his job, he’s fucking doing a Metallica cover band. So Scott got sad.

“But I was happy because in an interview that Kirk Hammett was doing about Hammett activities and the world of Kirk Hammett, my name was brought up! So I’m happy about that and I appreciate you doing that. I appreciate that he even has thoughts about it.”

And Hammett certainly had a few things to say about Henson’s playing. Speaking to Rolling Stone’s Music Now podcast, he reflected, “Is he hitting on raw emotion? No, it's so complicated. It's a very distinct emotion that he's shooting for.

“Therefore, how accessible is it on a larger scale? It's only accessible to people who like that, or can understand that. It's a very small category of people. That's absolutely fine if he wants to reach that category of people.”

Still, Henson isn’t holding it against Hammett, and has even issued a public plea to have the two bands line-up together on the same bill.

“Kirk, if you are reading this one, thank you for the acknowledgement. You’re a fucking legend. Take us on tour, dude. Please. Seriously, man. Let’s talk about it over a beer, maybe.”

The ‘boomer bends’ conversation doesn’t seem to be going away, something made all the more frustrating for the fact Henson’s sentiments have been widely misunderstood and misinterpreted by guitar fans.

In 2021, Henson was forced to clarify his reflections, saying, “No-one said you couldn’t bend!”

More recently, Henson was revealed to be the guitar star who had been hand-picked by Hans Zimmer to work on the soundtrack for the recent F1 film – a secret project that Henson had discussed with Guitar World at NAMM this year.

The metal world of the early '80s had not yet encountered a bass player with such formidable and dynamic musical abilities as the late Cliff Burton. At the time, only Iron Maiden's Steve Harris had really elevated the bass guitar as an equal participant in the guitar-dominated world of metal.

Right from the beginning, Burton forged an inimitable style, both musical and otherwise. As most headbangers succumbed to the typical thrash-metal uniform of the day – black T-shirts, and leather bike jackets – Burton wore bell-bottom jeans and flannel shirts ten years before grunge deemed it cool.

“Cliff strikes me as a player who would have said, ‘This is how we’re doing it’,” said Robert Trujillo, Metallica’s bass player since 2003. “He had a vision, and he would go for that vision. Rather than a producer trying to control him.”

If you’re still sceptical about proclamations that Burton made Metallica the band they are today, look no further than Orion from Master of Puppets.

Orion begins with a multi-layered bass intro, and breaks down to a classically-inspired bassline (beginning at 03:59) that outlines a straightforward F#-A-B-E progression and supports the guitars' 3rds and counterpoint.

Burton uses the same progression as the basis for his own melodic improvisations, adding another layer to the overall contrapuntal texture.

The actual harmonic language of these sections remains easy to follow (everything is squarely in F# minor). However, the mere presence of ensemble textures characterized by counterpoint and diatonic harmony was largely unheard of in mid-'80s thrash metal.

Guitarist Kirk Hammett remembered Burton in the February 2005 issue of Bass Player, “Cliff was heavily into classical music, and he'd incorporate classical harmonies and techniques into his bass playing all the time.

“Whenever we went on tour he'd bring along his guitar, and he'd plug it into a Scholz Rockman with two little speakers and play along with songs for hours.

“He was actually on his way to becoming a really good guitar player – in fact, I picked up a few things from his hotel-room guitar playing that ended up on Master of Puppets.”

Andy Battye, who worked for Metallica on the band’s Ride the Lightning tour, also recalled Burton’s free-flowing vibe onstage. “I remember my first time seeing Cliff with Metallica. I spent the first three songs in total astonishment watching his onstage antics. After the show he told me everything sounded fine, but that I really needed to keep those drinks coming!”

It was about this time that Burton switched to an Aria Pro II bass. “We were on the Ozzy Osbourne Ultimate Sin tour and Cliff had just got an endorsement from Aria Guitars,” bass tech Eddie Kercher told Bass Player.

“After a few shows, Cliff took off the bass and started smashing it against the side-fill monitor, which made a dent at the top of the neck. He told me I'd better start ordering more basses, because he liked whacking them around!”

“Even after destroying a few side fills, putting holes in the stage, and throwing the bass out into the crowd, he was still using that instrument through the very last show he played in Stockholm. That thing never went out of tune!”

It was during the European tour for Master of Puppets that Cliff unexpectedly bid farewell to the world. What he would be doing nowadays if he’d survived that terrible coach crash in Sweden is anybody’s guess, but one thing’s for sure – it would have been awesome.

Halloween might be a little over four months away, but that hasn’t stopped Wes Borland from getting into the spirit of things by cosplaying as James Hetfield while supporting Metallica on tour.

The Limp Bizkit electric guitar titan has been taking part in Metallica’s M72 world tour, and to celebrate the final stop of the current run, Borland donned a curly blonde wig as he comedically cosplayed as an ’80s-era James Hetfield.

It was an exemplary effort from Borland, who – along with ripped jeans, a classic Metallica tee, sweatbands around his wrists, and white high-top trainers – donned a white Jackson Kelly to troll Hetfield’s own iconic Explorer-style ESP

The Kelly – which tipped its hat to the metal guitar Hetfield frequently played throughout the 1980s – also has “EET PHO” scrawled on its body.

This is a nifty reference to Hetfield’s similarly-shaped 1987 ESP MX220, which has the charming words “EET FUK” written on it. However, a skull mask ensures that the ever-effervescent Borland still has some of his own flair in the look.

Speaking to Playboy in 2001, Hetfield had said, “Limp Bizkit seems a little cartoony to me”, and while that opinion may have changed 24 years on, Borland’s comical cosplay probably does compound that sentiment a little.

In related news, Borland, who released a signature Tonality plugin with STL Tones last year, has spoken about how his beloved Jackson King V guitar started life as a factory reject, but has since become so much more.

Gibson, meanwhile, recently sent Metallica fans into a frenzy in December when it teased a new signature run of Hetfield’s Explorer. Sadly, no such run is yet to materialize, as it turns out it was a special one-off build for Jason Mamoa.

Metallica's hard-working techs have also given an eye-opening insight into the gear needed for the tour. The band are currently touring with 64 guitars, and 36 need to be shred-ready at any given moment. They also go through a ridiculous 6,000 guitar picks each night. A whopping 800 locals are also employed to support the running of each show. And now 1x blonde wig can be added to the band's sizable itinerary.

You could say Kirk Hammett knows a lot about guitars.

He’s been collecting them for over four decades, with many of his finest specimens exhibited on last year’s Gibson TV interview – part of an ongoing series presented by the company’s Director of Brand Experience Mark Agnesi.

Now a 400-page coffee table book takes that concept one step further, giving fans a closer look at some of Hammett’s most prized vintage rarities, which famously include the 1959 Les Paul Standard once owned by Peter Green and Gary Moore and the 1979 Flying V heard on Metallica’s most impactful releases.

If you ask the man how exactly he caught the bug, he’ll tell you it was always there deep inside of him...

“I’ve always been a collector,” he smiles, talking to GW from his home in Hawaii. “At first it was comic books, monster magazines and whatnot. I’ve always been a collector of something. When I started playing guitar, I’d look at books and magazines and see all these wonderful Flying Vs and Strats, thinking to myself, ‘Wow!’

“I remember going to Guitar Center in San Francisco and seeing a Korina V but they put it on the top rack, like 15 feet up! I was thinking ‘One day I’ll have enough of a say to ask if I can plug it in and the staff will let me.’”

If the Kirk Hammett we’re speaking to right now walked into that guitar shop, they wouldn’t just let him play whatever his heart desired; they’d close up early and give him the kind of privacy only afforded to the rockstar elite.

It would be a dream experience for the rest of us mere mortals, but just another day in the life of a Metallica member. He’s humble enough to acknowledge how times have changed, and in more ways than one...

“Back then, vintage guitars were so frickin’ cheap,” continues Hammett. “That Korina V was only $2,400. Now it would be 10 times that amount just for a cheap one and 100 times that for a not-so cheap one!

“As soon as I started touring with the resources to buy, probably around 1988 0r 1989, I started acquiring rare instruments. Me, James [Hetfield] and Jason [Newsted] would go to dealers in the Midwest and walk away with 10 cases each! The next day would be hilarious because we’d walk into our dressing room and there’d be all these random guitars.”

Not all deals are the same… What’s the weirdest situation you’ve found yourself in?

“A lot of the major guitars in this book, like the Explorer, prototype Flying V and the 1958 Les Paul Standard came from a big package deal 15 years ago. A seriously big deal. The guy didn’t want any trades; he wanted cash.

“It was so much that I had to sell guitars and movie posters to raise enough. Another part of the deal was that I wasn’t allowed to talk about it for five years. I said, ‘Whatever!’ because I was used to dealers acting in that way.

“With movie posters you deal with people and ask, ‘Hey do you have this one?’ and they deny it. You ask again and eventually they come back with, ‘Alright, what would you give me for it?’ It’s the same friggin’ game with guitar dealers.

“A lot of people don’t want others to know what they have in their collections, nor do they want people to know what’s coming in because they think it’s some kind of business strategy. I can respect that – but I don’t condone it. I think everything should be out in the open.”

So what do you think is the total value of your collection?

“I dunno... at least a nice house somewhere! Some of these guitars I’ve had for 20 or 30 years. I didn’t buy them for what they’re currently valued at – thank God, man! Now you have to be ready to spill $250,000 just to get a dealer to answer the phone.

“The time of me spending that much on an instrument is long gone. If I do find something, I’m instantly thinking about trades. It’s exactly what I used to do with comic books and movie posters. My strategy is the same: find the most unique models and coolest rarities and then just go for it.

“I would network and ask around, just doing whatever I can to find certain things. That’s how I’ve ended up with the collection I have. It’s the rarest, coolest and most unique stuff everyone wants.

“I’d rather do trades than cash deals; with trades, everyone walks walk away smiling. Cash deals don’t do that; you walk away feeling empty. It’s no different to purchasing a friggin’ milkshake or whatever.”

A few years ago, there was a story about how James had carved ‘No. XII’ onto one of his 1959 Les Paul Standards. We reckon some collectors are still having nightmares about that.

“Even I’ve gotten into the habit of doing that! Over the last five years, I’ve started carving my initials into the back of guitars I really like. I’ll look at my stand and see three purple metallic Ouijas, making me wonder, ‘Which one do I grab?’ I’ll turn them over, and if my initials are on the back, that’s the one!

“It’s started to become a bad habit. I bought a 1955 Tele – well, actually an Esquire – and I turned it over to carve my initials into the back, but then my friend screamed, ‘Don’t do that!’ I had to thank him for reminding me. I’ve got OCD and ADD. Sometimes I will compulsively do things and later wonder why.”

Another interesting guitar in the book is the 1961 three-pickup SG once owned by John Frusciante, which was played on the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ hit Otherside and used in the video for Fortune Faded. It’s a surprise because most people wouldn’t connect your bands.

“I’m honored to have a guitar that John owned. I like John; he’s a great guy that’s super-eccentric, just like I am. He’s a great player too. I’d been looking at SGs for a long time and it had been hard to find good ones. I managed to find a handful of great ones and I love them.

“I only started using SGs around the Load era. That white two-pickup SG in the book is something else. It was Les Paul’s SG – he actually played it on an album. That was crazy, because when I first got that guitar I didn’t know who’d owned it.

“It’s weird how celebrity instruments over the last 10 or so years have gravitated towards me. I have Michael Schenker’s main Flying V that he played on his first four albums.

“I used to stare at it when I was 15 years old, on the back of UFO’s Force It album. I’d be thinking, ‘What an amazing instrument!’ Well, now I own it. It’s in the book, painted like a V-2 rocket, so Michael probably wouldn’t recognize it.”

You were recently gifted a Triplecaster by Jack White. What did you make of it?

“I love that thing. It has all these nice little toys attached to it, like killswitches or whatever, so you can make the guitar beep like Tom Morello. It has what looks like a Bigsby tremolo arm – I yank on that thing hard, and it actually stays in tune. I’m so impressed by that feature.

“It has this weird combination of pickups. I love P-90s; it has one of those, and some other strange things. Jack gave me that guitar because I sent him a Greeny. He’s played the original. I turned up at one of his shows with Greeny and said, ‘Bro, check it out – play her on stage!’ And he used that guitar for a few songs.

“When the replicas came out, I sent him one because I knew he’d dig it. So a couple of months ago, I got a text from him saying, ‘You’re gonna get a package in the mail.’ He occasionally sends me his Third Man pedals, which are totally psycho; I love them. But then a guitar case showed up, and when I opened it up, I was so happy!”

Your rig has evolved over the years, just like your playing. What’s the greatest tone you’ve ever gotten?

“I would have to say my lead sound on Load is the best tone I’ve ever gotten. I’m still chasing that sound. It was the 1961 SG with PAF pickups going out to 20 amps all blended together. Okay, I don’t know if it was 20, but it was definitely more than five.

“My second favorite is my lead sound on Kill 'Em All. I talk to Lars about that killer tone all the time. It was just my Flying V with EMG pickups and my Tube Screamer going through James’ legendary fuckin’ Marshall that got stolen in Boston.

“The sound had this pureness that felt so real. It wasn’t super-processed or overworked. It sounded natural and fit the music. Magic!”

Another tough question. What’s the greatest solo you’ve ever recorded?

“The solo in Fuel was done on the green Strat from the I Disappear video. I love that guitar so much. I still have it; that thing just feels like an old friend. So I really love how that solo came out. But it’s a tough question, bro.

“I think I’ll say it’s the one from Hero of the Day. Every note counts and fits perfectly. I feel like everything is in its right place and the solo lifts the song to another level, which I always try to do – even if I’m not always successful. The track has a different level of intensity afterwards.

“There’s another solo I really like – I’ve tried to relearn it and I just can’t fuckin’ nail it. It’s the one from The Unforgiven III. Some of the playing is out of time, but it sounds super-effective.

“It can happen: you’ll play something out of time but it just friggin’ works. It’s crazy. And because it’s out of time, it’s hard for me to relearn because I always want to play in time. It feels unnatural, even though I’m the one who originally played it!

“I’m a big fan of playing from the heart. I love seeing technique – a lot of new younger players have both hands on the neck, doing all this crazy stuff. I also dig all those percussive acoustic players. I love all that stuff to death. But, man, most of all I just love hearing simple solos that sing.”

• The Collection: Kirk Hammett is available now from Gibson Publishing in Standard hardcover, Deluxe slipcase and Custom boxset editions. See Gibson.com for more info.

If you know your Metallica history, you'll know that Jason Newsted and Robert Trujillo aren't the only guys to have filled the bass chair with the thrash metal giants. The first, Ron McGovney, joined in January 1982, but his time with the band was to be short-lived.

The story goes that McGovney was at a concert in San Francisco with guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich when they saw Cliff Burton play with his band Trauma.

“Cliff starts going into this bass solo. And they’re just looking at him and their eyes are wide open,” McGovney told Bass Player in 2018. “I kind of knew right at that point: ‘This is the guy that they’re gonna go after.’ I could just feel it.”

Tension with guitarist Dave Mustaine eventually led McGovney to quit – he was more interested in being a motorcycle mechanic than in playing thrash metal. Burton joined in September 1982, but he always respected McGovney’s time in the band, giving him a backstage pass to a concert at the Palladium in 1984.

Burton’s impact on Metallica’s music was immense – listen to Orion from their superlative Master Of Puppets album for evidence – and on the next generation of metal bassists, all of whom owe him a debt to a greater or lesser degree.

Burton’s most famous instrument was his 1979 Rickenbacker 4001, uniquely modded with three replacement pickups: a Gibson EB, a Seymour Duncan stacked Jazz, and a Duncan Stratocaster pickup under the bridge for extra top end. It’s this bass that you can hear on Kill ’Em All and Ride The Lightning, but by the time of Master Of Puppets, he had switched to an Aria Pro II.

“Cliff’s style was very aggressive,” says Robert Trujillo, Metallica’s bass player since 2003. “When I joined Metallica, I became more familiar with where he was coming from creatively. That’s when I realized how special he was.”

By 1986 Metallica were riding high, but the year was to end in tragedy. While on tour in Sweden the group's tourbus skidded and crashed. Burton was trapped under the bus and killed. He was 24 years old when he died.

It looked like Metallica had been dealt a blow from which they would never recover, but they made the decision to carry on, with Jason Newsted joining in October 1986. For his audition Newsted had learned the band's entire back catalogue. When they asked him which song he wanted to play, he replied, “Whatever song you want.”

Newsted’s stint with Metallica was commercially successful, but also creatively inconsistent. While his bass playing was always exemplary, delivered on a range of basses including his beloved Sadowsky, he was inaudible on the 1988 album ...And Justice For All, while other, less assured records such as Load and Reload divided the Metallica fanbase.

Still, 1991’s self-titled LP – the Black Album – was a massive success, selling over 30 million copies worldwide.

Metallica found a new, bottom-heavy sound thanks to Canadian producer Bob Rock. “In Bob Rock I found someone who knew what he wanted and how to achieve it,” said Newsted. “I learned a lot by listening for what he wanted in terms of bass sound. I learned to bring lots of mids up. I didn't do that before.”

As current bassist Robert Trujillo told Bass Player: “You could hear Jason’s parts better for sure, and they were a bit more delegated, but still great, though. There’s an art to simplicity, and Jason brought that art.

“Obviously Cliff was very aggressive, very melodic, and a busier player, so it’s not like one way’s better than the other, but it would be safe to say that Jason’s parts were easier for me to learn, for sure.”

After one too many disputes with the other band members Newsted called it a day, and left in January 2001.

Following Newsted's departure, Rock kept the group's album plans alive by playing all the bass guitar parts on its 2003 Elektra release, St. Anger. Rock played just three gigs with Metallica, but in the studio he became an essential part of the group's bass legacy.

“Please – tell all the bass players to be easy on me, man,” Rock told Bass Player. “I did my best to represent you well!”

Robert Trujillo – who had played with Suicidal Tendencies, Ozzy Osbourne, Black Label Society and Jerry Cantrell's solo band prior to joining – was announced as Metallica's new bassist on February 24, 2003, following a two-day try-out that was captured on their fly-on-the-wall Metallica: Some Kind of Monster rockumentary.

Bassists Pepper Keenan, Jeordie White, Scott Reeder, Eric Avery, Danny Lohner and Chris Wyse – among others – also tried out for the role, but after months of auditions, Trujillo was officially declared the new bassist.

“For the first couple of years, I was literally just hanging on,” said Trujillo. “We hadn’t even done Anesthesia until the Puppets anniversary show in 2006, so I did a lot on my own, to stay ahead of the game, because for the first three years I was chasing it.”

When we ask about his his predecessors, Trujillo reflected: “Hard shoes to fill. Both guys are incredible players. Considering Newsted's a pick player, and the speed and dexterity involved in this music, I think it's a tall order. And for Cliff too, who was a finger player.

“I'm not being disrespectful to all the bass players out there, but there aren't many bassists that could do this job. Playing with Metallica is the most demanding gig there is.”

Kirk Hammett has played a huge amount of electric guitars over the course of his career, from uber-expensive vintage Gibsons and Peter Green’s iconic Greeny Les Paul (which he now owns), all the way to his Fernandes Strat-a-like and the Fender Acoustasonic.

Indeed, his personal collection of guitars spans well over the 100 mark (a count in 2017 put it around 150), but as the Metallica guitarist explains in a new interview with Guitar World, he's not interested in playing a PRS guitar.

Over the years, Hammett has used Gibsons, ESPs, Jacksons, Ibanez guitars and more, but never has he warmed to any of Paul Reed Smith's builds, despite the fact they've been adored by the likes of Mark Tremonti, John Mayer, and Orianthi.

“I don't think they're aggressive-sounding,” he tells Guitar World matter of factly when asked why he's never been spotted playing a PRS. “There's a part of me that always wants to scream out. My whole life there's been this inner anger or frustration, I don't know what it is. And it sounds crazy, but that's just how I play my guitar.

“I need the aggression right there at my fingertips,” he continues. “I've never been able to coax a sound that had the right kind of attack or bite out of a PRS.”

There’s another aspect to this, too: “They're basically Les Paul copies, let's be frank,” Hammett suggests. “It's a Les Paul style guitar and I already have amazing Les Pauls. So I will stick with those.”

For a guitarist who owns such a spellbinding Les Paul in Greeny – and many more mouth-watering Gibsons to boot – he simply has no need for a PRS in his life.

Of course, it should be pointed out that Hammett is an official Gibson artist, and has a number of signature Gibson guitars to his name. In fact, he recently worked with Gibson to produce The Collection: Kirk Hammett – a premium coffee table book that charts his guitar catalog.

Not only that, PRS has many other non-Les Paul-style builds on its books, such as the Custom 24 and Santana, to name but a few, that are very much their own builds.

Nevertheless, Hammett's personal style is clearly incompatible with PRS guitars: “I just feel they don't have the right kind of bite," he goes on.

“I will walk into a guitar store and I'll see all these amazing PRS models with crazy finishes with all these dragons and birds and whatnot. They look amazing but they just don't tick that aggression factor that I need.”

Hammett has doubled down on his Gibson love affair in recent years, with a Murphy Lab-aged recreation of his 1979 Flying V arriving in 2023. An “artfully aged” Gibson Custom Shop take on his blacked-out 1989 Les Paul Custom followed in January last year.

Keep your eyes peeled on GuitarWorld.com for the full interview with Kirk Hammett, in which the Metallica man also recalls the time he let Jack White play Greeny live.

It is over three years since Tim Henson found himself at the heart of the boomer bends backlash – a term he first coined off-hand, during Rick Beato’s modern guitar discussion with Misha Mansoor and Tosin Abasi – yet feathers continue to be ruffled.

Now Metallica’s Kirk Hammett, prompted in a new interview with Rolling Stone’s Music Now podcast, has added his two cents to the debate.

“I love that. Is he gonna call Eddie Van Halen a boomer guitar player?” responds Hammett, when he’s asked what he thought of the term. [The US Census Bureau defines Baby Boomers as those born “between mid-1946 and mid-1964” and EVH was born in 1955 - Ed]

Nonetheless, the Metallica man is (mostly) effusive in his praise for Henson’s playing.

“I really like his style. It's really unique, and in terms of technique, it's amazing,” Kirk raves, adding: “It's the age old question, how relatable is it? It's good to listen to three or four times, but can you really relate?”

“Sometimes people just want to listen to music and not feel challenged. Some people, sometimes people just want to feel raw emotion. Is he hitting on raw emotion? No, it's so complicated. It's a very distinct emotion that he's shooting for,” Kirk argues.

“Therefore, how accessible is it on a larger scale? It's only accessible to people who like that, or can understand that. It's a very small category of people. That's absolutely fine if he wants to reach that category of people.”

“It's amazing playing, but at the end of the day, people want something that's comforting and satisfying, and is not that hard,” contends Hammett.

“They're great at what they're doing. But I also know that sound, only a certain amount of people have patience for that, or even the musical temerity to actually understand the breadth of it,” continues the Metallica guitarist.

“I love watching him play, but man, after a while, I'm probably gonna go and put on a Jeff Beck album or Stevie Ray Vaughan or maybe put on the Misfits or something. I’ll tell you, I'll get more out of a Misfits album, singing along and screaming and yelling, then I'll do out of something really technically challenging.”

Tim Henson might point out that the “very small category of people” who can enjoy Polyphia’s music is rapidly ballooning. This summer the band will support System of a Down and Korn in US stadiums, and they receive high billing at European festivals.

“In France, we were playing Hellfest, and we were like, third from headlining, and there was, like, 80,000 people there,” Tim recently told Guitar World.

Henson acknowledges, though, that stadium music has different demands than music written for smaller venues.

“It made us realize, like, ’Hey, we should start composing for it to work in these situations of 80,000-plus people,’” Henson said. “I don’t want to say tone it down in the technicality department, but sonically, making sure that it can work.”

Hammett, for his part, acknowledges that he appreciates technical like Allan Holdsworth. “I love all that really fucking complicated shit,” he admits. “You know, some people just want just raw energy or raw emotion on a plate, and they want it now, and that's what I think we deliver in droves.”

Henson has previously responded to the controversy over his comments. In 2021, he clarified “No one said you couldn’t bend!”

He is currently working on a new Polyphia album as well as a secret project with film composer Hans Zimmer.

Meanwhile, Raven, the band who took Metallica on their first US tour, recently told Guitar World that audiences initially struggled to understand the thrashers, so maybe that concept of accessibility can change over time...