In a recent interview with the Talking Shred podcast, Joe Satriani helped Metallica succeed.
The guitarist said that he didn’t want to tell his students what to do creatively as a teacher and recalled his lessons with Kirk Hammett:
“Like, Kirk would come in and say, ‘This is a rehearsal tape, we’re working on the song. What key is this in?’ And it was brand-new music! I mean, it was different from what other musicians had been doing for the last hundred years.”
He Wanted Hammett To Learn Himself
He shared his response to Hammett:
“And I’d say, ‘Well, I’m not going to tell you what to play. But here, I’ll tell you how to figure it out. And these are the choices. And then you just go do Kirk Hammett once you learn this stuff.’”
Satriani didn’t specifically mention whether the recordings Hammett gave him were from Exodus or Metallica. Still, it is more possible that it could be Metallica because Joe talked about music that had not been made before.
Was Hammett A Good Student?
In an appearance on The Howard Stern Show last year, Satriani also said that he was proud of what Hammett achieved as a musician:
“I have to say among all the students, we all felt the same way like we were part of a team. When someone got a good gig, it was like someone scoring a goal. It’s good for the team. At least, I felt that way. I was proud of him [Kirk Hammett] because I know how hard he worked. He was tireless and totally motivated.”
The rocker also explained his teaching days as a ‘great experience’ previously on Guitar Player:
“It was a great experience. No matter what abilities my students came to me with, I always tried to give them their money’s worth and build their musical knowledge in ways they could grasp and use. And I tried to make the lessons fun because I knew that if things got boring, they’d tune out and stop coming.”
Besides Hammett, Satriani gave guitar lessons to other musicians like Testament’s Alex Skolnick and Larry Lalonde of Primus, and Steve Vai.
You can watch his full interview below.