“I owe it all to Kirk”: Gary Holt explains his relationship with Metallica’s Kirk Hammett
Exodus guitarist Gary Holt has opened up about his relationship with former bandmate and Metallica legend Kirk Hammett.
The pair’s connection dates back to the early days of the Bay Area thrash metal scene, where they first crossed paths and forged a bond that would shape both of their musical journeys.
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According to Holt, he and Hammett hit it off immediately after meeting during their teenage years. It was also then that the ex-Exodus guitarist offered to teach him how to play the guitar, something he’d always be grateful for.
“We became immediate friends. One day, he just said, ‘Want to learn to play guitar?’ And I said, ‘Yeah’, because I always wanted to, but I’m the youngest of six,” Holt recalls on the Scandalous Podcast [via Ultimate Guitar].
“My parents had purchased pianos for my brother to take piano lessons. It ended up being a place to put family photos [on]. You know, there’d be a trumpet in the closet that someone played for six months, and I think my parents didn’t think I’d stick with it.”
“Six months later, I was in Exodus. So yeah, I owe it all to Kirk [laughs]. The first song he taught me was some Rolling Stone song; for some reason I can’t remember what it was — maybe ‘Wild Horses’, something like that.”
Hammett eventually left Exodus in 1983 to join Metallica, a decision the guitarist admits he’s felt a lot of “guilt” for even though he now recognises it as the right one to make.
“I have known [Exodus drummer] Tom Hunting since I was 16 years old, I’ve known Gary Holt since I was 17. We’re all close to this day, but there was a lot of guilt there for a while. A little bit of remorse,” he says. “But I really felt that Metallica was my calling. I feel more comfortable playing in Metallica than I ever did in Exodus, so go figure.”
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
