[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZDhnRo8YvQ[/youtube]
Since guitarist Gary Moore’s death this past Sunday, friends and musical peers have been coming out of the wood work to praise the former Thin Lizzy guitarist. Everyone from Ozzy Osbourne to even Arch Enemy/Carcass guitarist Michael Amott have given touching tributes to the fallen guitarist. But in a special piece for RollingStone.com, Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett goes even further to express Moore’s influence on him.
You can read the entire article over at RollingStone.com, but here’s a taste of what Hammett had to say about Moore:
“Gary Moore is definitely in my list of top five guitar influences, right up with Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Van Halen, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Michael Schenker. His influence is strong to the point that the opening lick of the guitar solo of ‘Master of Puppets’ is a variation of a lick that Gary Moore played a lot. I remember the first time hearing his blues album and just getting totally blown away – not only by the playing but by the sound of it too, his tone. And I remember being so inspired that I wrote a couple riffs just based on his sound and his feel. And those riffs ended up in ‘The Unforgiven’ on The Black Album.”
Even though the band has covered “Whiskey In The Jar” (an Irish song that Thin Lizzy made a staple in their catalog) for Garage Inc., it’s still somewhat surprising to hear how Moore had so much influence over Hammett not just in his style of playing but even in writing riffs. But looking at the numerous statements musicians and friends have made since his death, it’s obvious that Hammett wasn’t the only one Moore influenced.
