Joe Satriani on Kirk Hammett

There is an interview with Joe Satriani on Turkish music magazine Blue Jean (Issue July 2002). The interview is about Joe Satriani's "Strange Beatiful Music" album but there is a part of interest to Metallica fans:

Blue Jean: Everybody knows, you were Kirk Hammett's guitar teacher. Some people say you stopped giving lesson to Kirk, because he is more into thrash metal. Is it true?

Joe Satriani: No, I was Kirk's teacher for 2 years. When I was his teacher, Kirk was playing in Exodus, then he joined Metallica. Those were really importand lessons. Sometimes Kirk came to me and we studied on the solos that Kirk did for Metallica. I recommended
somethings on those solos. But then my "Surfing With The Alien" album was released and the album was very successful. I toured with Mick Jagger so my own career's started. Kirk Hammett was my last student.

Source: Encyclopedia Metallica