Kirk Hammett, Paul Stanley, Peter Frampton, and Charlie Starr share their earliest musical memories, influences, and first guitars
In this compilation taken from Gibson TV’s The Collection series, four famous guitarists—Kirk Hammett (Metallica), Paul Stanley (KISS), Peter Frampton, and Charlie Starr (Blackberry Smoke)—talk about their earliest musical influences, their first guitars, and the musical heroes that inspired them to be musicians. If you’re a fan of any of these guitarists or bands, or just like hearing cool stories about how some of the world’s biggest artists got the music bug that bites us all, you’ll love this.
If you’re watching via the Gibson Gazette, here are the timestamps:
0:00 Kirk Hammett’s first guitar and early influences
9:43 Paul Stanley’s guitar heroes
15:54 When Peter Frampton fell in love with the guitar
20:25 Charlie Starr’s early guitar influences
Kirk Hammett on his brother’s SG and first Flying V
For Kirk Hammett, the musical seed was planted early as he recalls childhood memories of a cousin playing air-guitar to “Drive My Car” by The Beatles, and a toy Monkees guitar that became his best friend. However, it wasn’t until his older brother brought home a cherry red Gibson SG™ that everything changed for Kirk. “I remember sneaking over, picking up the SG, plugging it into this amp… I hit one note, and it was so loud to me, I got instantly scared because I thought I’d get in trouble,” he laughs.
Hammett’s early musical years were filled with classical, jazz, and bossa nova at home—a far cry from what we hear him play today. But rock came later when he moved to a different school. A KISS live album opened the stairway to Zeppelin, UFO, and Thin Lizzy. “I still couldn’t get that sound I wanted,” he reveals, until he traded his guitar and some savings for a black Gibson Flying V™. “I plugged it into my Sunn practice amp, and the sound was there,” Kirk recalls. “The sound that Jimmy Page got, that Michael Schenker got… the humbucker™ sound. I had the sound that Exodus needed.”
You can read more about Kirk’s guitar collection in The Collection: Kirk Hammett, the luxury 400-page coffee table book from Gibson Publishing that takes the deepest-ever dive into Kirk’s life in guitars.
Paul Stanley’s love of rhythm guitar
The iconic KISS guitarist, Paul Stanley, grew up with some of the world’s biggest musical icons playing on his doorstep. And he certainly took in as many shows as he could. Living in New York, he frequented the Fillmore East and absorbed everything from Hendrix and The Who to Humble Pie and Richie Havens. But it wasn’t the killer solos that these guitarists could nail that drew his attention.
“I was always more enamored with what I might be able to do as a rhythm player,” he shares. “I wanted to hold down the fort.” Learn how Stanley was influenced by and still loves Keith Richards and Jimmy Page, noting that “one great note” can mean more than a flurry of tapping, which was becoming the norm in the late 70s and 80s. And for those who might not appreciate the power of a good rhythm guitar player, Paul has this to say: “You should learn to walk before you run. I decided to just be happy walking.”
The moment Peter Frampton fell in love with the guitar
Peter Frampton traces it all back to a TV glimpse of Buddy Holly. “That was it,” he says. “I was obsessed with electric guitars.” Peter loved both the look and sound of the guitar straight away, and recalls poring over Selmer catalogs that featured Gibson and Epiphone guitars in math class, sketching his dream guitars during lessons. “I saw Eddie Cochran and Hank Marvin,” he says. “That was everything I wanted to be.”
Charlie Starr on family, rhythm guitar, and Rick Richards
For Blackberry Smoke’s Charlie Starr, inspiration came from his father, a bluegrass rhythm guitarist who “was like a one-man band.” Starr’s first guitar was a nylon-string, but he quickly graduated to a 1978 Gibson SG and then onto a 1985 Pearl White Les Paul™ Custom. “A total Randy Rhoads guitar,” he notes, that was a “much better guitar” than his SG.
Starr’s influences spanned from Eddie Van Halen to The Rolling Stones, but a key moment in terms of tone and the style we know Charlie so well for came from hearing Rick Richards of The Georgia Satellites play a Les Paul Junior. “That made me want one,” he says. “That tone stuck with me.”
Your favorite guitar heroes started somewhere, too
Whether it’s Kirk Hammett chasing Michael Schenker’s tone, Paul Stanley learning what really makes a great rhythm player, Peter Frampton sketching Les Pauls during math class, or Charlie Starr channelling his dad’s acoustic, every one of these players started somewhere. With a little inspiration, that became an obsession. Get out there and enjoy the journey.
Looking for more stars and their vintage guitars? Check out six famous players and their 1959 Les Paul Standards on Gibson TV. Shop Gibson guitars direct from Gibson.
