Kayla Kent is an American guitarist and YouTuber known for her covers of Dimebag Darrell guitar solos. She first came to wider attention after being featured in Guitar World in early 2022, and is predominantly associated with her Kramer JK8000 and Kapybara model guitars.
Following her rise in popularity, she was revealed to have been considered as a potential replacement guitarist for Pantera following the death of Dimebag Darrell, with Phil Anselmo disclosing this to her at a Pantera concert in Austin, TX in 2023.
Kent maintains a YouTube channel under her own name, where she began posting videos in late 2020.
Influences While Kent is well known to accredit Dimebag Darrell as her single biggest guitar influence, she lists Ty Tabor, Joe Satriani, and Alex Lifeson as her biggest secondary influences.
She is known to cover a select few other guitar players on her channel other than Dimebag Darrell - such as leads from Eddie Van Halen and Jake E Lee.
Discography
Even though Kent is known for her Heavy Metal playing style, she has released several singles under her own name which she described as "more indie rock than metal" to Guitar World.
Year Band Title Notes 2019 Kayla Kent Silly Insults Single 2019 Kayla Kent All For Nothing Single 2021 Kayla Kent a (cute) stress disorder Single 2021 Kayla Kent cauliflower crust Single 2021 Kayla Kent Halloween Single 2021 Kayla Kent Fractured Soul Single 2021 Kayla Kent How Nice Single 2022 Kayla Kent Chaos Reigns Single 2023 Otu Believe (In the style of Pantera) (feat. Kayla Kent) Otu album featuring her solo on this track. 2025 Kayla Kent Smoke This Single 2025 Kayla Kent Lost and Found Single
Gear
Kent is only known to play her Kramer JK8000, as it is the only Kramer Guitars model that has ever been officially made with a star body and a reverse hockey stick headstock. She has gone on record of turning down several other guitar manufacturers that offered her free guitars and exclusivity clauses, in order to keep playing her JK8000.
After explaining this to a forum dedicated to Kramer Guitars, the forum collectively decided to build her a backup guitar identical to her JK8000. She named the guitar the Kramer Kapybara.
Kent has only ever been seen using a Johnson Millenium amplifier. She credits receiving a USB audio interface for Christmas 2019 from her father for enabling her to practice more and learn Dimebag Darrell solos.
New Band
In February of 2025, Kent released a video on her YouTube channel featuring a demo she had recorded with her band. The demo was entitled "Big Groovy". Guitar World reported her intent behind releasing the demo prematurely without vocals was to seek a singer.
The Demo was met with favorable reception, with Guitar World stating:
"It sounds like an unreleased cut from Reinventing The Steel [Pantera], full of sleek turns, chunky power chord riffs, and squealing licks." - Phil Weller Guitar World, February 2025
Kent stated that she was looking for an aggressive male vocalist who "fits the same vibe that we do". While also stating that she isn't looking to tour right away with only gigs here and there.
References