Players
Kirk Hammett
Kirk Hammett is the lead guitarist behind some of the most recognizable metal solos ever recorded. His playing combines a deep blues-rock foundation with the darker scale vocabulary that defines metal - Phrygian, harmonic minor, chromatic tension - and a heavy reliance on the wah pedal as a melodic amplifier. He is often criticized for overusing that wah, but his underlying scale knowledge and phrasing instincts are more sophisticated than his reputation sometimes suggests.
Start with E minor pentatonic
Hammett's blues foundation. He trained under Joe Satriani, who drilled pentatonic vocabulary first.
The blues foundation: Joe Satriani's influence
Before Metallica, Kirk Hammett took lessons from Joe Satriani - a guitarist with one of the most rigorous and complete technical educations in rock guitar. Satriani's approach begins with fundamentals: pentatonic vocabulary, chord tones, interval training. Hammett absorbed this foundation before he ever played a Metallica riff, and it is audible in the structure of his solos even when the surface sounds completely metal.
His minor pentatonic playing carries real blues DNA. The bends are in tune. The phrase endings are deliberate. He knows where the root is at all times and returns to it. That structural discipline is what makes his most aggressive solos legible - even at high speed and under heavy distortion, the phrases have shape because the pentatonic skeleton beneath them is solid.
Phrygian: the metal mode
Phrygian is the darkest of the common modes, and it is the modal vocabulary of metal. The flat 2nd - one half step above the root - is the note that defines Phrygian's character. In E Phrygian, that is F natural. Against an E power chord riff, F natural creates an almost threatening tension. It is unstable, dissonant, and perfectly matched to the aggressive aesthetic of thrash metal.
Hammett uses Phrygian most explicitly over riffs built on the Phrygian I chord. When a Metallica riff is built from the E and F relationship - moving between those two notes as a riff foundation - the solo is naturally in Phrygian territory. The riff itself sets up the scale choice. His solo follows the harmonic world the riff established.
E Phrygian: the flat 2nd
Red = the flat 2nd. One half step above the root - the most tense, aggressive interval available. This note is the sonic definition of metal's darkest quality.
Harmonic minor: drama and classical tension
Harmonic minor is Hammett's go-to scale for the most dramatic, orchestrated solo passages - particularly over slow, heavy riffs where the music has a cinematic quality. The raised 7th of harmonic minor creates a leading tone one half step below the root, giving phrases an intense pull toward resolution. Combined with the augmented 2nd between the 6th and 7th degrees (in E: C to D#), the scale sounds almost operatic.
Neoclassical metal players like Yngwie Malmsteen made harmonic minor the center of their entire vocabulary. Hammett uses it more selectively - as a scale for specific moods rather than as a constant framework. The result is that when harmonic minor appears in his solos, it has impact. It signals a shift in emotional register, a darkening or dramatic intensification that the minor pentatonic cannot produce.
E harmonic minor
Amber = the raised 7th (D#). One half step below the root. The gap from C to D# is the augmented 2nd - the interval that gives harmonic minor its classical, dramatic sound.
E natural minor: the full minor scale
Hammett uses natural minor for passages that need more notes than pentatonic without the drama of harmonic minor.
Chromatic tension: the metal approach
Like Dimebag Darrell, Hammett uses chromatic passing tones to create aggression within pentatonic phrases. The principle is the same: a note outside the scale, played quickly on the way to a scale tone, creates friction that the resolution releases. At high distortion and high speed, chromatic notes are not heard as "wrong" - they are heard as intense.
Hammett chromatic approaches
The wah as a theory tool
Hammett's wah pedal use is the most discussed - and most criticized - element of his playing. The criticism is partly valid: he uses it on almost everything, sometimes when it adds little. But when used intentionally, the wah is doing something theoretically meaningful: it emphasizes specific notes by boosting their frequency content.
When the wah is swept to the open position as a phrase peaks on a chord tone, that note rings out with more presence and harmonic richness. When it is rocked back as a passing tone sounds, that note recedes. Used this way, the wah is a dynamic tool that mirrors the structure of the phrase - accenting landing notes and softening transition notes. It is the same function as Hendrix's wah use: not decoration, but phrase emphasis.
The lesson is not to avoid the wah but to use it in sync with the phrase structure. If the wah is moving independently of the melody - sweeping randomly while the phrase does something else - it adds noise. If it is synced to the phrase's peaks and landings, it reinforces the harmonic content of what is being played.
Explore Hammett's scales on the fretboard
Load E Phrygian and find the flat 2nd (F). Then load E harmonic minor and find the raised 7th (D#). These two notes define the darkest corners of his vocabulary.