10 Greatest Guitar Duos In Hard Rock

At the start of the '80s, you could begin to see the language of metal music starting to turn a corner. Whereas older acts like Iron Maiden were starting to really make a dent in the charts, the new influx of acts coming out of the US were a lot meaner than the New Wave of British Heavy Metal hoped to be. Once Metallica finally hit the scene though, the metal world got two legendary guitar heroes.

For as many jokes have been made about his constant use of the wah pedal, Kirk Hammett is still easily one of the most melodic solo crafters in metal, making guitar solo hooks on songs like One while also staying to his bluesier roots. If you pay attention to the mid parts of something like Welcome Home, you can still hear echoes of stuff like Jimi Hendrix in between Hammett's chaotic lead runs. However, James Hetfield may very well be the greatest rhythm guitar player in the business.

Having one of the most relentless right hand techniques, Hetfield's playing is enough to give any other player tendinitis, from the meaty chunks on Sad But True to the virtual locomotive downpicking on Creeping Death. In addition to just the riffs, Hetfield's role as the harmony crafter has led to some of the most beautiful interludes in metal on songs like Master of Puppets and Fade to Black. Metal may have been alive and well in the '80s, but after we got a taste of Hetfield and Hammett, the metal world had changed on a dime.