Kirk Hammett: “I consider myself an improvisational musician first and foremost – not a heavy metal guy, not a guitar player”

Metallica’s Kirk Hammett has spoken about the importance of improvisation in his music and the apparent lack of it in modern bands.

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In a recent chat with Rick Beato, the guitarist gushes about his love for the technique, in particular the sense of “danger” and “excitement” that it brings for both the audience and the performing musician.

“I think there’s a real element of integrity and at the same time it’s exciting, it’s a little dangerous, you never know what to expect with improvisation,” Hammett says. “And I think that’s why it’s so intriguing for me to watch people improvise. You know there used to be bands that’ll go out there and improvise forever like the Allman Brothers or Mahavishnu Orchestra and Led Zeppelin.”

“I always loved the aspect of those bands and I thrive off improvisation myself. I consider myself an improvisational musician first and foremost – not a heavy metal guy, not a guitar player.”

“Because I believe that improvisation is everything,” he explains. “Everything comes from improvisation — technique, songwriting, solving musical problems, it’s all improvisation. And I always feel that there’s certain musical muscles. You work your musical muscles collectively and it forms your technique.”

“The improvisation muscle I feel is the most important muscle to work and I work at it every single day,” Hammett says, citing John Coltrane, Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck and Miles Davis as the kind of “master improvisationist” he aspires to become.

As for whether bands nowadays “work things out too much”, Hammett says he believes improvisation is indeed something missing from modern bands.

“Everything is so thought out and that’s fine. There’s nothing wrong with that — pop bands, that’s their thing. But I just miss that improvisational aspect, I miss that danger of not knowing what’s going to happen while you’re watching this band. Watching Duane Allman and Dickey Betts you never knew what the hell they were going to play but you know it’s going to be exciting and somewhat dangerous. And I love that.”

“I don’t want to be a boring musician. I think my fear is just to be boring because I’ve been bored by other musicians. I don’t want to be that musician.”