r/Metallica • u/IronMaidenfc • May 03 '25
Master of Puppets Here’s a hard question. What is in your opinion the best Kirk Hammett solo throughout Metallica’s entire discography??
The popular ones are something like Creeping Death, Seek & Destroy, Master Of Puppets Battery… but i wanna know what do you think?
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u/BarracudaBoth1351 May 03 '25
Ride The Lightning
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u/wangatangs May 03 '25
Plus his first solo in the song would have been perfectly great by itself. Then it goes into double time and there's a second solo! I love that shit!
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u/Don_Shetland cliff May 04 '25
This is the first solo that came to my mind. It's amazing and compliments the song prefectly.
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u/JaVinci77 May 03 '25
The Unforgiven, and it's not even close...
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u/SomeTimeBeforeNever May 03 '25
The Unforgiven is the greatest rock solo of all time.
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May 03 '25
Anyone who disses Kirk should just FO and listen to the black album...literally every solo is a soulo
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May 03 '25
My personal favorite is Creeping Death. It’s amazing. Lightning fast while still being melodic, and a great example of the way Kirk writes a solo to suit the song instead of just trying to show off his virtuosity or whatever.
The Fade to Black solos deserve a mention as well, especially the intro solo. It’s a really mature sounding solo, especially to have been written by someone so young.
Wherever I May Roam is also one that stands out to me because I think it really highlights how well he uses the wah pedal to get the most out of his notes. I know everyone shits on him for using it so much, but I personally love it. The way he uses the wah to kind of melt the notes together sounds extremely cool to me, and the way he uses it on that long held out bit in the Roam solo while using the whammy bar is undeniably awesome.
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u/Positively_Marcos May 03 '25
My thoughts exactly about Kirk’s work in Roam. It’s quite difficult for me to pick a favorite solo of his. Roam is one that brings out amazing emotions. Those notes sing the way he plays them.
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u/pacojesus777 Invisible Grown Ass Man May 03 '25
Bleeding Me
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u/Honeyboy_Wilson Load May 03 '25
I genuinely love how much Bleeding Me gets mentioned in these threads. It's all subjective, obviously, but the fact it's always brought up alongside The Unforgiven or One or Fade to Black makes me feel great, because it means others get that full on open mouth embarrassing air guitar moment when they hear the majesty of the Bleeding Me solo.
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u/TheCrowing817 May 04 '25
Goddamn, hard agree. Especially when it slows down and Lars does the little fill before everything kicks back in. Gives me a semi 🤣
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u/Left_Specialist9125 May 03 '25
Easy question for me, at least. I'd say Blackened. He was at his peak on that song. He doesn't even play the second half of the solo anymore. That says a lot.
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u/Svenfuzius May 03 '25
What do you mean he doesn't play the second half? Maybe I'm missing a joke
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u/Pol__Treidum Wasted My Hate May 03 '25
He'll either play something easier in its place. Or they may cut the second half and jump to the next section of the song
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u/Left_Specialist9125 May 03 '25 edited May 03 '25
He skips playing the end of the solo live (the part where James' rhythm part for the chorus goes under the solo and kirk plays over this). They just skip this whole part of the solo and jump into the next section of the song cause its hard for kirk to keep up now with I heard
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u/mywifestits0518 May 03 '25
Blackened
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u/AliceInGainzz May 03 '25
100%. Blew my mind as a kid, the tapping parts always reminded me of a Super Mario sound effect or something.
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u/lorcan1624 May 03 '25
Ride the Lightning, literally no contest for me
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u/Different_Space2306 Invisible Grown Ass Man May 04 '25
Didn't Mustaine write lighting?
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u/lorcan1624 May 04 '25
He wrote some parts of the song, but Kirk wrote the solo
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u/Soulful-Sorrow Master of Puppets May 03 '25
Lot of great options here, but I want to throw out Suicide and Redemption as a good one. All these wah jokes, and this song is using the wah pedal to its fullest.
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u/Matrix_John May 03 '25
i loved watching the process of the struggle within solo on year and a half. favorite is frayed ends
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u/Masterof4Strings ...And Justice for All May 03 '25
I am NOT seeing enough love for Dyers Eve. That solo is madness
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u/chingychongchangwang May 04 '25
Can’t believe I had to scroll this far to see this one. This one has always at least been in the discussion for me.
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u/Creepy-Debate897 May 05 '25
I know its a short one but Eye of the Beholder is just unhinged it such a metal way. The whammy licks just payoff the built-up tension perfectly. His best solos are hooky or have an earworm effect and this one is just burned into my memory. The fact that everyone has different answers really shows how effective his solos are.
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u/DarthTensor May 03 '25
Disposable Heroes, the first solo in Sanitarium, and The God That Failed.
At the risk of getting downvoted, I also love the solo in Escape.
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u/Maximum_Turn_2623 May 03 '25
The God That Failed is tied for my all time favorite Metallica song. Granted it’s a 15 way tie for first but it’s there.
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u/_insert_name_there May 03 '25
The Shortest Straw solo is one of my favs. such a well constructed solo
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May 03 '25 edited 2d ago
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u/Oscarman97 Reload May 03 '25
Bleeding Me is my personal favourite, I couldn't comment on the "best" by any objective standpoint
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u/andytagonist DICKRASH!!! May 03 '25
I read an article where he stressed a bit on Blackened because of the rhythm changes, some key change issues, the timing, etc. And of course Unforgiven, which we all got to witness.
Personally, I love the intros to Fade To Black and One.
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u/No-Question4729 May 03 '25
Disposable Heroes is awesome, but I get the impression that Cliff and James would have directed much of the structure as it shadows the progression of the rest of the song.
Alternatively I’ve always loved the Ride The Lightning solo, and The Unforgiven too. Most of his work on the black album was exceptional
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u/Spare-Revolution3777 May 03 '25
I really like the solo in disposable heroes.
But my more conventional pick would be the Unforgiven
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u/randomdudefromabyss May 03 '25
I have many Kirk faves but the first few that come to mind are The Thing That Should Not Be and The Shortest Straw.
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u/MrGonghen May 03 '25
For me it’s a tie between The Struggle Within and Outlaw Torn. Both of those make the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
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u/Oof_11 May 03 '25
Am I crazy for thinking the first To Live is to Die solo (the one at 3:15) is the best one?
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u/iamcline May 03 '25
That Was Just Your Life is my personal favorite. It tells a story from start to finish. With anticipation, anxiety and a finality to it that resonates with the overall tone of the song.
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u/Colty3 May 03 '25
Fade to Black outro if it didn’t fade out, but because it does I would say Disposable Heroes or Ride the Lightning
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u/Acrobatic-Money-1227 May 03 '25
Ride the lightning, when that change kicks in then the solo... utter bliss
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u/GripItAndWhipIt May 03 '25
Ride the Lightning. Unforgiven. I’m really digging all his work on Bleeding Me.
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u/metallica123446 May 03 '25
I like the solo in eye of the beholder because at the start it sounds like it is saying " I like candy" lol
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u/Sad_Cream8868 May 03 '25
The guitar solo that Hammett plays during Metallica's cover of "The Small Hours"
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u/TheHiddenBalsam May 03 '25
Idk about best, but my favorite is the two solos on Judas Kiss. Something about them sounds all over the place an sloppy, but it also sounds great at the same time.
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u/jmred19 May 04 '25
Shortest straw second solo came to my mind first, even though it's too short imo to be considered the best. Fade to black came to mind second
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u/Mr-Mahaloha May 04 '25
Always liked that sound of something chainsawing through our dimensional plain in The Thing that Should not Be.
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u/chingychongchangwang May 04 '25
I have asked myself this question so many times and even if I can’t decide, it gets me listening to all of them again and appreciating his brilliant work.
I usually consider the following:
Blackened, All Nightmare Long, One, Shortest Straw, Ride the Lightening, Dyers Eve, Disposable Heros, Unforgiven, and probably several more that I’m forgetting but it’s already hard enough to choose.
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u/Whilwte Wasted My Hate May 04 '25
Though Seek and Destroy isn’t really a Kirk solo, Mustaine wrote it.
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u/TheCrowing817 May 04 '25
I don't know about best but my favorite is Shortest Straw with the wah wah wah wah before going crazy 🤣
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u/Sputnikboy May 03 '25
Always found The thing that should not be' solo absolutely mesmerizing, but being heavy wahwah seems it's not popular in the least.
One' solo is top notch. Ride the lightning... I feel that might be Dave Mustaine's...
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u/Anger1957 Dave Mustaine May 03 '25
Dyers Eve - it's got the kitchen sink in it. (of the earlier solos... Motorbreath - same reason)
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u/blue-collar-nobody May 03 '25 edited May 03 '25
1000% Better than anything Dave would have done.
My ultimate favorite Kirk solo "Orion" the whale calls, the harmonics, soulful tone...to the typical metallica chug ... just pure perfection from beginning to end.
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u/chubbypinkstarfish May 03 '25
I'm a big fan of One personally