Kirk Hammett is Metallica's lead guitarist. Hammett was born in San Francisco on November 18, 1962 to a Filipino mother and a merchant Seaman father. He learned how to play the guitar at age 15. Hammett later joined Metallica in 1983 (replacing former Metallica guitarist and Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine) having previously been in the band "Exodus". His lead guitar playing is regarded by some as being more varied than his heavy metal contemporaries, while others regard him as little more than a pentatonic player. In 2002 he was the first inductee into Guitar World magazine's "Hall of Fame."
