The Metal Legend Who Taught Gary Holt How to Play Guitar

Exodus and Slayer‘s Gary Holt credits a metal legend with teaching him how to play guitar — Kirk Hammett.

Of course, both musicians have ties to Exodus and Hammett, at that time, wasn’t the legend he is now. Hammett was one of the co-founders of the thrash group in 1979, along with fellow guitarist Tim Agnello, drummer and then vocalist Tom Hunting and a few others.

“Tim Agnello was the guitar player before I joined, but Exodus operated as a power trio, with Tom playing drums and singing for a while,” Holt said in a Loudwire episode of Wikipedia: Fact or Fiction.

The guitarist added that he met Hammett and became a roadie for the band.

“We were playing backyard parties for free beer,” he recalled. “That means you just hung out and you drank beer and maybe carried a guitar case in. I didn’t tune the guitar, I didn’t touch the guitar.”

Holt then shared that Hammett taught him how to play his first chords on the guitar, because they had developed a tight friendship. He joined Exodus as a guitarist six months later, and Agnello had already left the group by that point.

“The first song [Hammett] taught me… I really can’t remember. But it was a Rolling Stones song, showing me some basic chords,” Holt continued. “I can’t remember which one it is, maybe ‘Wild Horses’ or some shit like that.”

READ MORE: Thrash Fans Name Bands to Listen to Aside From the ‘Big 4’

See the clip below in a new compilation video of lies told about thrash, taken from various Wikipedia: Fact or Fiction episodes through the years.

Hammett left Exodus in ’83 to join Metallica after the firing of Dave Mustaine, and the rest is history. Holt has been the primary songwriter for Exodus ever since, and also joined Slayer in 2011 in place of the late Jeff Hanneman.

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