GUNS N’ ROSES Slash

WITH HIS TEXTBOOK ROCK AND ROLL LOOK, SLASH IS POSSIBLE ONE OF THE MOST UNIVERSALLY RECOGNIZED GUITARISTS EVER. IT’S NOT AS IF HE DOESN’T HAVE THE CHOPS TO BACK IT UP, HOWEVER. WITH A STYLE THAT SPORTS A VOLATILE MIXTURE OF SIMMERING BRITISH BLUES WITH A SASH OF L.A.-INFLUENCED FLASH, SLASH IS THE PERSONIFICATION OF THE TERM “GUITAR HERO.”

How did you get started?
My first guitar was a one-string Spanish acoustic that was lying around the house. I taught myself a U.F.O. song and “Smoke on the Water.” My grandmother was really sweet – she bought me a Gibson Explorer copy that I flipped out on. Unfortunately, it was a piece of crap. Then I got a Memphis Les Paul copy. At rehearsal one day, I ended up sticking it through a wall neck first, because I could not keep the thing in tune!

Were you bitten by the Van Halen bug?
Van Halen had just come out when I started playing, but I didn’t think about how good Eddie was – to me the music just sounded great and gave me a certain kind of energy. When I started playing guitar, I did what I wanted to do. I wasn’t intimidated by any of that stuff, ever. When Guns n’ Roses was about to start, there was a certain point where G.I.T. suddenly became a big thing in Hollywood. Guitar players were doing this very technical playing. I never went for that.

Did you practice a lot?
I was a workaholic, playing 12 hours a day. I picked it up really quickly because I was naïve in a way. I wasn’t star struck, and I wasn’t so flipped out by other guitar players that they intimidated me. I didn’t feel like I was trying to reach some goal – I was just learning. A lot of people go, “It’s gonna take me 10 years to reach this place, “ and it freaks them out. I’m real single-minded, so once I got into guitar, that’s all I did. It basically replaced school.

Did you practice scales?
No. I mean, I must have learned pentatonic scales in a few positions, but as soon as I really started getting into lead guitar, scales went out the window.

Then how do you approach your solos?
I know what key I’m in, but it’s more the note I’m looking for. You automatically adhere to certain patterns because the notes are there. It wasn’t until the Use Your Illusion album that I really branched out and started using more passing tones in my solo.

What’s the secret to playing a great solo?
The most important thing is to be able to hear it in your head and apply it through your fingers to your neck in a split second. That’s what people miss out on. Instead of playing patterns, hear the melody you’re going for. You need enough experience to know where it is on the neck. I’m still learning this; it’s something that very few guitar players of my generation even paid attention to. You have a better chance of reaching your goal if you hear the solo before it happens, rather than just flipping around.

Thanks Gypsy for the article.