Originally Posted by: kill em allBack when Kirk Hammett was allowed to be his own man he was the fastest. And though Randy Rhoads didn't take full advantage of it all the time, he had the highest speed/accuracy ratio. I guess today it's Yngwie Malmsteen.

Like Leedogg said, Kirk Hammet was never close to the fastest guitarist of the day. Just listen to the boys picking speeds. As far as speed goes, Hammet never had anything on the following guitarists: Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Paul Gilbert, John Petrucci, Yngwie Malmsteen, Zakk Wylde, Marty Friedman, Jason Becker, Chris Impelliteri and COUNTLESS others. Hammet is half-assed at best, even before he discovered the Wah pedal and turned to total crap. Master of Puppets is one kickass solo, but it's certainly not one written by the fastest player in the game. Not even one OF the fastest.

PS, if Malmsteen is accurate, then I will never post here again. With the scalloped frets, he can't help but bend a few notes out of tune (which he does quite a bit) by pressing down to hard.

Edit: forgot to include Eric Johnson in the list of people faster than Hammet. Also Greg Howe.