If you spend your time amazed at the talent of YouTube guitarists, then you and Kirk Hammett have something in common.
The Metallica guitarist tells Metal Hammer that he's impressed by the "amazing players" he sees shredding online.
"I'm just shaking my head like, 'Why aren’t these guys working? Why aren't they recording?'" Hammett says. "But then I think ... maybe they can’t. Maybe they have jobs, or families, or something they can't leave behind."
If watching YouTube guitarists makes you feel self-conscious about your own playing, then, again, you and Hammett would have something to talk about.
"I should be a lot better than I am," Hammett says. "I see some of these younger guitar players and I'm like, 'Where did I go wrong?'"
Hammett adds, though, that he's never really been concerned with being a virtuoso.
"I don't need to show off or get egotistical by being like, 'Hey, check out this three-octave arpeggio with tapping in the middle,'" Hammett says. "I can't be f****** bothered! I have a bombastic way of playing – I've always been that way, even when I was just in my room."
You can see Hammett play live during Metallica's ongoing U.S. tour, which continues Wednesday in Blacksburg, Virginia.