In response to Kirk Hammett‘s claim that solos aren’t important, Angel Vivaldi disagrees and states that Hammett himself is a reason why guitar solos are dying. Vivaldi acknowledges Hammett as his biggest influence and credits him for showing him what could be done on a guitar besides playing rhythm.
According to METALLICA‘s Kirk Hammett, non-musicians, who make up the majority of music listeners, are not likely to remember a great guitar solo. Hammett believes that what people remember and appreciate are the great melodies and songs that transport them emotionally to a different place.
In a recent interview with U.K.’s Total Guitar magazine, Kirk said: “People are not going to remember a great guitar solo. I hate to say it for all your readers out there. They will remember a great melody. They will remember a great song.
“And I am not talking about musicians. Yeah, musicians will remember a great guitar solo, but non-musicians, who are the majority of the f**king listening world, they are not going to remember guitar solos.”
“Yeah, they are gonna remember a great melody and they’re really gonna remember a great song, especially a song that’s gonna bring them to a different place from where they were five minutes previously.”
He continued: “I figured it out when I was 15 years old. John Marshall [former guitar tech and fill-in METALLICA guitarist] and myself had literally been playing guitar for six months when I said to him, ‘We need to start writing tunes. Look at KISS, they write all their own songs… and AEROSMITH, VAN HALEN.’ So John and I started writing music. And it was a lot of crap, but it was something.”
In response to a Facebook post regarding Kirk‘s assertions, Angel expressed their thoughts in the comments section: “Couldn’t be further from the truth. If the solo is written by a songwriter and not a lazy guitarist relying on muscle memory, your solo will stay with people forever.”
Afterwards, the virtuoso decided to share on his personal Facebook profile an explanation regarding his previous comment. He clarified that his intention was not to criticize Kirk, whom he deeply admires as a personal hero. In fact, Vivaldi emphasized that Kirk‘s existence serves as undeniable evidence that solos indeed hold significance.
“If not for Kirk I wouldn’t be here, so utmost respect to him,” Angel wrote:
“However, the second someone succumbs to this type of thinking, a la ‘There’s no good or memorable music these days’ you’re just screaming ‘I’m close-minded and don’t seek new music in order to actually judge it’ to the world.”
“You can’t say that unless you’ve heard every new song uploaded to Spotify daily, and few at that age actually seek out the new music they’re writing off.”
“They are gonna helluva remember a great melody, and they’re really gonna remember a great song – especially a song that’s gonna bring them to a different place from where they were five minutes previously.”
Angel later added: “Regarding the non-musician argument. Good and inspiring solos are what MAKE musicians. Kirk himself held a torch of responsibility when it came to flipping non-musicians into guitar shredders, myself included. He himself is a reason why guitar solos are dying!
“He arguably has the largest platform to inspire even more guitarists, but because he ‘opted for a raw, improvisational approach’ (which he does not have the skill set to execute, IMHO) on 72 Seasons and lord knows how many before that, his torch now burns very dimly if at all.
“There was a time during the Some Kind of Monster-era where he fought for how important solos were. It’s possible that because none of his solos landed the way they did in the past it helped to further extinguish his opinion on how important they are. I can only speculate.”
“Do you guys remember what Lars said about how it would take Kirk about 6 months to write a good solo for ‘The Unforgiven’ (‘Year and A Half’ doc)? I sure do. For 72 Seasons, he churned out 20-30 solos, tossed them to the band’s drummer and producer, and said, ‘You guys edit them.'”
“This approach only works if you’re a world-class songwriting musician a la David Gilmour. And honestly, this approach is perfectly fine! He’s earned the right to do that. But he doesn’t have the right to say what he did. It only becomes a problem when you say ‘solos are dying’ and write off entire generations who are jointly carrying the torch he decided to drop.”
