aa con rr Teen Spirit” THE WHO “won't Get Pn EET FIL YOU LCASLASH LIKE THE BAD guy in some TY cop drama, Slash has recently taken to hiding out in a Burbank, California, apartment complex. It's a very un-Slash kind of place, full of clean-cut, middle-management types in tennis tops and golfwear. But the suburban peace is periodically disturbed by bursts of mped-up, tranced-out blues guitar wails. Like telltle Fooiprints, they lead a visitor sraight 0 Slash's door. Several minutes of vigorous pounding finaly fetches the apart= ‘meat's famous occupant. He looks slightly carted. “I thought you were the landlord, man,” says Slash, opening the door. Tn the time it takes to shake hands, the ccoil-headed cartoon character becomes regular human being—alikeable, down-t0- earth one at that. His cramped two-room, pad is cozily trashed. “I had a couple of chicks up here last night,” he apologizes witha sheepish grin. A Fender combo amp, resting atop the guitarst’s traveling stereo system, hisses in one comer, opposite a TV set which mutely beams an episode of The Frugal Gourmet. Slash’s trademark top hat rests on a pile of debris on the kitchen ‘counter. A battle of Absolut sits on a clut- tered table, (tis sealed, I note. This will be Heineken interview.) ‘The guitarist’s domestic disorder paral- lels the topsy-turvey doings of his band lover the past four years. Guns N° Roses have struggled with drugs, maturity, suc ‘ess, personnel changes and countless high- ly publicized scandals, rumbles and riots. ‘The most recent upset has been the depar- ture of rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin’ He's being replaced on the road by Gilby Clarke, ‘crony of GN’ R's from their helter-skel- ter early years in Hollywood. Yet for all the upheaval they have ‘emerged triumphant with two new albums, Use Your Illusion Land 2. Simultaneously released, the discs prompily raced one nother fo the top of the charts. Higsion isa sprawling, naively ambitious project (as much of rock and roll once was) which somehow hangs tozether—thanks, in large par, to Slash’s stun-gun axe work, Despite powerful, manic playing for his ‘own band and outsiders like Iggy Pop. Lenny Kravitz and, most recently, Michael Jackson, he remains a sadly underrated gui- tarist. Surprisingly, Slash is often his own ggest detractor: “Lm not a technical musician at all. I'm rot that great a right-hand picker, as far as speed picking and all that heavy metal shit goes.” He laughs self-consciously. "It's all About emotion to me.I can sit on one note fotever. I'm just irying toexpress myself as, well as I can within the context of a song, ‘nd I'm really not concemed with breaking, ‘new ground or anything.” While emotion and spontaneity rank high with Slash, he seems to abhor perma- rence of any sort. He has a perfectly fine house of his own—a permanent house— just a few miles away from his Burbank digs. So why is he holed up in this crash pad? Perhaps, since Guns N’ Roses are on break in their tour, he wants to maintain ine of living in hotel rooms? “Discipline? Me?!” he spreads his arms incredulously, grinning like Alfred E. New= ‘man, No, Slash’s natural state seems to be fone of perpetual transition; he's always in the middle of doing several things at once. Forexample, he recently took advantage of the GN'R hiatus to slip off to Africa and photograph wildlife—an obsession of his ‘long with guitars, cars, girls and all the ‘more obvious amenities of life in rock's elite ane, Slash’'s embrace of chaos is very ‘much in keeping with the Guns N’ Roses experience, Ashe outlines GN'R’ early his- tory, it soon becomes apparent that things have always been chaotic for these 2uys. SLASH: Guns N’ Roses began with Road Crew,a band that {stared with Duff (MeK- ‘agan, GN'R bassist] and Steven Adler [ex- GN'R drummer|, It was a killer group, but we just couldn’t find a singer. Eventually, Tet Axl [Rose, GN'R singer] and Izzy. who were in a band tozether. Axl and 1 Formed a band called Holywood Rose. We played together fora whi c, had a falling out and then broke up. Izzy and Axl reunited and joined L.A. Guns, which tured into Guns N" Roses—L.A. Guns plus Holly- ‘wood Roses. Eventually, Duff drifted into Guns N' Roses, too. But things weren't ‘working out for Axl and Traci [Gus]. So ‘Axl and I patched up our past differences ‘and I became part of Guns N° Roses. GUITAR WORLD: Do yeu! fee! that you've grown us a musician is a result of the Hl: sion albums? ‘SLASH: I think the whole band grew. Aside from all the hype and bullshit that sur- rounds us, the individuals in the band are really conscientious abcut musie and whatSLASH we're doing. We never intended to be some huge popular circus; playing music has alvays come fist. Sothink we've grown aa hell of a lot. We've gone through some really traumatic experiences—a tremen- dous amount of stuff—but on the po: tive side, all the emotion comes out in the songs. (GW: What sort of traumatic experiences are you talking about? SLASH: Oh, just stuif. Women, drugs, and Marshalls breaking down, cw: Life in general? ‘SLASH: In my shoes, thats basically it ‘Gw: On the Ifusion albums, Izzy Stradlin’ is credited with rhythm guitar while you're ‘credited with lead and thythm. How does that break down on any given track? SLASH: [ts simple. Izzy, even on the songs he wrote, put on a very bare-bones guitar ppart—just basic chords. And sometimes, very rarely, a single-note melody, He has ‘one guitar solo on Mitusion I—at the begin- ning of “Back Off Bitch.” {Gw: You also solo on “Back Off Bitch SLASH: Yeah, I play the main solo. I used to play this high-end trill thing forthe first solo, but I could never play it consistently. ‘So I just took it off altogether and let Izzy puta lead on, which is really alot cooler. ‘GW: Your solo on that tune is one of the few “contemporary-metal” style solos on the new albums. SLASH: Yeah, Well, it’s a contemporary- ‘metal style song, [laughs] I mean, it’s so generic in that way, I's like E, D, D flat, D—that kind of thing. GW: Those fast arpeggios in there almost sound like you're tapping them. StasH: I'm just picking them; I can't tap to save my life. I've never even seriously tried, though I do it as a joke sometimes. 1 haven't messed much with tapping because Tye always thought of it as being Eddie ‘Van Halen's personal statement, and it was, so shity to see everybody rip it off. Eddie's as great as he ever was right now, but he's being overshadowed by all his imitators. ‘The only thing I do long those lines is, i'm playing a blues lick down oa the fifth and third frets, instead of using a pick, I'll tap the same riff on the 15th and 17th frets to bring the whole thing up an octave. But don’t think I've ever recorded that-—and don’t do it live because I don’t want to be ‘seen with my right hand on the neck. It's just such a cliché. ‘cw: When did you begin working on the Mlusion albums? ‘SLASH: Well the material basically spans the band’s entire career. Some of it was actually written before Axl, Izzy and met, Some of the material eame from old ideas, that we really liked, but never finished. GW: When you started the album, was Steven Adler still on drums? SLASH: Yes, that was the summer before last [7989], although those sessions didn't last long, mainly because of Steven. See, ne never quite made it to that growing-up peri (od that the rest of us. went through, It was always justabig game for him—fun all the time. That's a rock and rol attitude, which I've always appreciated, but Steven was just out there fon drugs], and I had just ‘come back from that. So he couldn't lie to me about it. Buthe sill kept trying to lie. 1 didn't want to go into the studio because his playing was so far off. He'll argue with me even now and say, “played ‘reat.” Bute didn't—he couldn't. The guy was nodding out all over the place. That went on fora couple of months, and then I cancelled the studio time because it was 2 ‘waste of money. So the only song on the alburn that Steven played on is “Civil Wat.” He thought he was great, but we had to edit the drum track like mad just so we could play along with it. Even then, I had to remember where the drum mistakes were to keep the guitar in time with them. You know, (Aerosmith's] Steve Tyler asked me the dumbest question one time: “Is there going to be another ‘Welcome To ‘The Jungle’ on the new album?” Of all peo- ple to ask me something like that! Why should we want to do it again? But Steven BUST A A IIOVE! ““LO-RIDER” bass strings More Warmth, Richness, Flexibility, and Life DR The Handmade String 44 Allen Street Creskill, New Jersey 07626 201 894-4744 Fax: 201 894-4743 {Adler} would have been happy jus to do the same thing again onthe new album. He ‘wouldn't have made it trough the record ‘And I don’t mean to knock him. I'm just pissed off at him. T haven't said anything in public about it ofar, though he’s slandered us like crazy and is trying to sue us about stuff thats total bullshit But I know for a fact that Steven's scared to death of me. Because I've known Steven since [was 13, and I know him too well. So I'm like, “Steven, what do you think you're doing?” But he’s not even doing it; somebody else is pressing his buttons GW: How did you find your new drummer, Matt Sorum? SLASH: We didn't know wha t doat first. ‘Obviously, we coulda’t simply pur an ad in the paper. We wanted someone who would fit in asa person and who could play, and ‘we knew we didn’t want to hire some ses- sion guy. Then I went toa Cult show on a whim, and Mat kicked ass. So we hired him. (sieepishiy)...S0rt of stole him from the Cult. Le's just say we made him an offer. [was desperate! And Matt fit in with: {nthe first five minutes. No weird atitude No rock star trips. None ofthat crap. ‘So we worked for a month on 30 songs and then went inthe studio—t puess it was the summer of last year—and recorded basic tracks. We an through 30 songs in 30, days. Then I worked on guitar parts and overdubs for five weeks. [played a lot of gultar on this record, though five weeks isn't bad for 30 songs. Axl went in and did vocals, then in the midle of the sessions ‘we went out on the road. From that point, ‘Mlusion was town allover the place; we recorded the albumin ike ten different st- dios or something, Gw: Did hitting the road break your stride? SLASH: It broke the record company’s stride! I didn't break ours. We were hap- py. They kept saying, "When are we gonna see that record, guys?” Our attitude was, /edon'tknow. When t's cone, it's done." GW: You grew up in Hollywood, around the music business. Does thathelp you deal with the whole rock stardom thing? SLASH: Ithelped meto get off drugs. Ihad already seen the pattems and I've never met an addict that was able (o sustain any kind of ereative or financial success; they either die or lose everything. Watching the peo- ple I grew up around subconsciously taught ‘me stuff didin'teven know [knew. think [Fm lucky because I went through the drug trip early in life, as opposed 10 having it build up end hit me wien T was 30. But T have to admit, never relly thought about drugs untill got toa point when I just real- ized that things were getting aitietoo hee- tic. 'm 26 now; it's been two years and I haven't hada problem with it I'm no ange, but I'm not slamming and al that stuff ‘And that’s one othe reasons that Izzy, even though he’s completely clean, has 0 be away from any sort of drug activity. He doesn't know how to deal with it. Whereas with me, people can do whatever they want and I don't give a shit. I'm comfortable boeing on the same planet with them. (GW: A lotof recovering addicts have 0 is0- late themselves completly ‘stash: Yeah I know, and Tean’t be around that. 1 hate that. Those people are so screwed up—they're clean but they're unhappy. It's like, “So-and-so was more pleasant to hang around when he was throwing up all over the place, Now I ean't deal with him at al.” GGw: Is Izzy's recovery the reason he ostra- ized himself from the band? SLASH That's probably one of the factors in his unhappiness. He was definitely strug- sling 1 keep hirnself clean. That's why he traveled separately from us and so on. But basically, we just came to the conclusion that Izzy wasn't putting in the time we thought was necessary forthe good of the ‘band. It had been building up for a long time. And finally Izzy came outin the open ‘with me and Axl and said he didnt want to eal with the work that was involved. So we decided to work with someone else. ‘GW: How did you Find Izzy's replacement, Gilby Clarke? ‘stastt When we decided tolook forancw guitarist, I put the word out as discreetly as Possible. A couple of my friends recom mended Gilby—he's a guy that Axl and 1 sort of knew from Guns N' Roses’ early days. He was in another band atthe time, bbut we had lost rack of him. Axtand | audi- tioned 17 guitarists oso, and he's the one ‘who fit in the best. He had to lear about 30 songs in two weeks in order to be ready for the tour on time, and he's done a eat job We're really happy. GW: Rumor has it that Dave Navarro, of Jane's Addiction, was also considered for the position. SLASH: He didat work out. He's gota lit tle too muck going on right now with his ‘own personal situation. ‘ow: Is Gilby now a permanent, recording ‘member of Guns N’ Roses, or ish just fil- Bin forthe tour? SLASH: Ciiemisiry between musicians is something that lakes a while to develop. So right now we're just touring. We don' have any plans for recording or writing togeth- er. ‘GW: Has Izy lft the band for good? ‘SLASH: That's something I have no idea about—how this is going to affect Izy and his attitude. He may be happy not doing this anymore. Or he might really want come back and make the effort that he was- nt making before. 1 just can't understand how he could let something like this just fll apart. I mean the guy didnt want 0 tour or do videos; he hardly wanted to record. I just never thought he was one of those guy that this would happen with, It’ alot different than the Steve Adler situation. So T don't know ‘what's going to happen a year from now: whether we'll be working with Gilby, Izzy cor somebody else altogether. A lot of things are up in the air right now. But we've got a hheavy duty tour going on, and we've got a killer band to doit GW: Guns N’ Roses now has a fulltime keyboardist, Dizzy Reed. Has that altered the way you orchestrate your guitar parts? SLASH: I had to get used to the idea. At first thought, “We don't need no stinking key- boards!", and [ really gave Dizzy a hard time, He was the new guy, and I would be Tike, “You screwed up there. Just don't play.” Now he's really part ofthe band and T love him to death, But he probably remembers how bad it was at first. But getting back to your question, key- boards can be difficult to deal with, espe- cially when mixing. I's difficult to balance them with guitars without sacrificing at least one instrument's dynamies. So T had to make sure I didn’t lose the guitars’ dynamics. also spent alot of time master- ing the album, to ensure that certain guitar frequencies weren’t lost. Now, I think the Keyboards are great, especially live, They give us many more expressive options. GW: In contrast to Appetite For Destruc- tion, there are alot of different styles on the new albums. Did that lead you into using a lot of different guitars? SLASH: Yeah. I played about 20 guitars. 1 hhave my main guitar,ahandmade [replica] Les Paul. But I also use Strats, and I use Travis Beans for slide, which I picked up from [Aerosmith guitarist] Joe Perry. saw hhim play once, and he sounded coo!—and the guitar didn’t look too funky, Looking cool is important with guitars. also use a Dobro for slide. I'm not 2 ‘200d slide player, to be honest. What I try to do is go for an unusual tone —just thick chords— but the licks are presty generic, because I don’t know much about slide playing and I don’t sit around and practice it. Tean'teven begin to play slide on my Les Pauls because their actions are too low. ‘GW: Your Travis Bean only has fives Which string do you remove? And how is the guitar tuned? SLASH: I remove the low E, and it's tuned toa variation of open G: G, D, G,B, G. But the Dobro was in regular tuning for (Iu. sion’s) “You Ain't The First.” ew: How many guitars do you own in all? SLASH: About 45. I bought everything I used on the new album—and, let me tell ‘you, it was a very expensive record. [laughs] For example, I used 2 Music Man—the model used by Keith Richards — for real light touches on certain songs. continued on page 89SLASH ‘They're these little Strat things with inter. | Legendary Texas Blues Guitarist changeable pickups. They're more sry than Stas. lo used Guild acoustic putas: a i I2-string and a big dreadnought. I used a is hack banjo on “Breakdown,” I don't know any- thing abou enjos, so jus tuned i ike inthlank with ET ME I suite. [bought a Gibson Explorer and a | oagtelm Gibson Flying ¥—the most expensive gu? tars ye ever bought {8 Did you gt real vintage ones? Stastt: Yeah, both of them are *585. 1 didn't use the Explorer on the record becouse I got it afterwards But wed the V for “Knockin” On Heaven's Door” For certain things ithas a Killer sound. : Gr Six-sting basses popup on quitea few son Poona racer SLASH: Do you hea them? They're mixed rae in just to make certain songs more heavy. | es cooworldselass Mlunses aides it also used one on Appetite; “Welcome To: Pe etal oT) ‘The Jungle"s got one. You can hearths “rinnng” in the chords when it goes to the slow pars that’s the sisting bass. 1 ‘sed toe the, bu ialy bought one Unfortunately they're very inconsistent, those Fender Sw: Fender Bass IV's? Like a Jaguar syle body? SLASH: Exactly. Tobaceo sunburst oF whatever. They'te very inconsstent!"The invoation sway outand they're jos pain in the as, But [finaly found one that's usable, sought {ewe But your main squeeze, of couse is s the Gibson Les Paul. Do you generally pre ir fer Standards, Customs or wat? featuring the tracks SLASH, Standards. Ihave a8 and a cou ple of “63 Customs, which look great. One “Illustrated Man” ofthem's got the the pickups. But theyre [the Customs] too thin-sounding for me, So ' pa - everthing se besides the goitops, are | and “Life Is Hard Standards I also have two handmade Les Boetcrcicra ty} Paul copies, one of which is my ating plus mony more tar—the one with the zebra pickups. The Buy who made it dead now. My other . u Peaduced by Handmade Les Paul copy was done by Hoek shurman and Jobany Wiatr another guy who also passed away. So T Management SLATUS Mancqomeat Can't onic hese guys to pet anor gui- tar. [gota Oua board butt dit work, GW: Why a Gibson epi? SLASH They'te beter than the ones made by Gibson, Som love Gibson cel. ‘They really try hard to give me guitars, bt pefntalank they justo sound ight, They esi y= me DMT ca eee Lace 1780 Brasdway, 208 Floss Gibsons that tought. 've spent something New York, Hey Tok 10018 like $40,000 on guitars in my career, Ad Pines lncade your nee, Gibson's only given me tc guitars hat | inl eden en pce te live Twoat hem ar the fst two Bu tas they ever gave me, while the thid's a Ecltop got more rece. Buteven these Fvoret ue inthe stdio~ihey're jus ot 00d enough. I'mrealpaneula about one Tan it one chord and i doesnt have the right combination of warmth an bright ness I jst ean use te guar. 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But a while ago T ‘bought another one from this guy I met at the Cathouse [an L.A. club] one night. Used it in the vidéo for "You Could Be Mine.” B.C. Rich saw the video and were ‘ecstatic. They called up and I said, “If 1 ‘could get one without the tremolo bar...” *Cause thas the only problem with the one Thave. The Floyd messes up the sound and the sustain, Sustain for days is my big thing ‘GW: One of your signature riffs—the main one in “Sweet Child 0” Mine”—has incred- ‘ble sustain, Was there any trick to that? SLASH: No, I still doit live, and it sounds pretty much the same. Les Pauls are great for sustain I can find the right spot on stage, hold the G string in a certain position, and sustain it for ten minutes. That's all that's happening on "Sweet Child.” ‘ew: What can you recall about coming up with that rif? SLASH: It was a joke. We were living inthis hhouse thathad electricity, a couch and nath- ing else. The record company had just signed us and were on our backs. There was alot of shit going on. We were hanging out ‘one night and I stared playing that riff. And the next thing you know, Izzy made up some chords behind it and Axl went off on it. used to hate playing the sucker. ‘Gw: What kind of pickups do you like in your Les Pauls? SLASH: Everything has Seymour Duncan Alnico II's, except for the old Les Pauls the PAF’s in them; I leave those the way they are. But Alnico I's go right into ‘anything else. The way I discovered those pickups was kind of a fluke. They came in that Les Paul copy I was talking about (GW: It's fairly well known thaf you re-cut all your guitars after you do basics, because you can’t stand the sound of headphones, SLASH: I can't use headphones. I's very rare that I keep anything off the basic tracks. The basic tracks were especially a Joke on Appetite; I was just there for the ‘general eel for the rest of the guys. I got loaded drunk and played the basics with headphones on. Some good stulf that came out of it, but I decided to serap it all and go in and just blast out the monitors and over- dub everything, The only time | Kept any- thing through headphones was on a punk EP we did that’s going to come out even- tually, which we mostly cut five in the siu- dio, But on Mlusion, [kept maybe one solo 1 did with headphones; they just sound so sterile fo me and I can’t play for shit if i doesn’t sound sight. [don’t useany effects, but I do use fram] ambience. If'm play- ing at home,"l ten the speakers a certain \way. [can’t play directly infront ofa cab- inet, So headphones are just altogether ‘GW: Are your amps mainly Marshalls? ‘Stasi: Yeah, [have one head and one cab- inet. Thats all 1 use in the studio, And 1 think I used a Mesiy/Boogie for certain lead lines. Live, l use wo Marshall stacks—one for clean sounds and one for dirty sounds. My guitar technician [Adam Day} switch- es between them forme because I can't use ‘foot pedal. [never know where I'm going. tobe, and I used to kick them off the stag. 1's hard enough for me to use a wah-wah pedal. Ihave to have four of them on stage, ‘ow: What kind of wah-wahs do you use? SLASH: They're custom-made by EMB Audio. (Slash uses four pedals that feed a central module via cables with XLR con nectors—GW Ed. They have a sound all their own, In the studio, if want that real Ceybaby wah sound 'l just use a Crybaby. {Gw: What kind of strings do you use? SLASH: Ernie Ball .010's, As far as picks... know there’s one here somewhere. [Rummages through litter on eoffee table} 1 just use the heaviest I can find, Tontex, Here, someone gave me this one. (GW: So it's standard shaped. SLASH: So you're a player, right? cw: Yeah. SLASH: That sounds like somothing you'd say to someone in prison—"You play, right? (GW: Tell me more about this punk EP you ‘mentioned. SLASH: I's just 3 bunch of songs that df= Ferent guys in the band realy like, There's a Steve Jones/Sex Pistols song called “Black Leather.” A song called "I Don't Care About You" by Fear, And “Ain't It Fun” from the Dead Boys—sort of a trib- tute to Stiy Bators. There's a total of six Songs on it now, and we're talking about doing a Hanoi Rocks tune, ‘GW: Did you connect in a big way with the punk thing? ‘SLASH: Yeaht! I never went so faras to say, “Oh punk is hip now, so I'm going 10 cchange my look and everything I do." It's just that punk was an aitude Ltoally elat- ed to, But it was only cool in its first yea. By the time iteame 10 L.A. it was just gay. I'm sorry. There were a couple of cool bands, but it was like the biggest poseur scene. [started playing during that time. 1 used to spend a lotof time ut the Starwood, and down where the China Club is now, ‘What was it called then? ew: The Cathay de Grande. SLASH: Yeah, [used to hang out thore, and it was just the coolest; [loved the rebel- liousness of it believe in that shit, and 1 dug the chicks, who were just great, I'm Now the proven, popular Rock Performers Guitar Method includes video cassettes on Technique and Style. Look, earn and be inspired to work on your own distinctive style. Jim Gleason studied the masters for 30 years fo produce this RPGM Sel -5 books (1,353, pages), 11 audio and 4 video cassettes. “Alghly recommended’ Guitar World. Books!-4usesendordntationandabature, RPM. VIDEOS ~The best instruction you've Books 1,2: and nce: prograsive lesson ser had. Each example spayed a cen guide Sob ézarpes, rhythm iocks melodie ‘hen dwn onenotetatine. 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Fon ers tenet Gon Snide my eM Ome pogma Wonmactmenetrats tots my oc sioeturer pnt eee Ey DIRASR ed RWNGHAIS espero suit tapes ie Sine Shee a retest" ail in arr form or CALL 1-B00-678-FRET anv or, rr © (SD a ects ngumoycanese nemeca toner, U nna a 4-0-1188 at Ga D8 eso OeeaSLASH not a violent person, but [love that violent attitude. Even at our shows, it’s part of our thing; break down the barriers and kick ass for three hours. I don't like it when it gets 0 violent that people are maliciously beat- ing each other up. But the punk scene was ‘big influence, especially on Dut. Lalmost ‘wish that atitude would come back and kill what the record business is right now. Tate itl Thate being a part of it, We've always done everything in our powerloslay away from the norm. But then, all of a sudden we hecame the norm. Appetite took off, and what I call the copy- ing period set in. And all ofa sudden it was ‘no longer fun 10 be in Guns N' Roses, 10 have that “go into a liquor store, rip off a pack of cigarettes and play your guitar all day" attitude. [think that’s one ofthe main reasons we didn’t know what to do with this new album, We were real frustrated with being so acceptable, We're not MOt- ley Crile, We're not gonna do something that appears alte bit dangerous 30 we ean sell records. ‘Gw: That sort of predictable “dangerous ness” is so wimpy. SLASH: I know. “I’m gonna be dangerous right now, okay. PM only be dangerous “tll I get to the bank.” The experts are convinced... ‘Revolutionnaire." Judge FREDD, June 1881 (France) GUITARE GouaMoHag ghinally a big tube amp sound in a little bon” a George Peterson, gst 1991 Electronic Musician "SansAmp is one helluva versatile piece of kit. Frankly, it’s excellent. Jerry Uwins, Setember7, 199 (U.K) “Designed to plug\ @ guitar into it, patch it into a mixer and And go it (ies Maen no a Engineered for recording = ‘SansAmp delivers the pure, natural sounds of tube amplifiers —without altering the original tonal quality of the instrument. Prepare yourself o be convinced! "The one pound SansAmp is an ss nlite ‘smash. major league ara iat "(0 replicates the sounds of tube guitar amplifiers with an accuracy that belies the compact size of the unit.” =" TNT August 5.18, 1851 CONNECTION 1991 AES "Best in Show" i\ Blue Ribbon direct and performing live, Fea ween ane See] naa 08 imam casts far 5 mest Tech 21 GW: Are Guns N’ Roses to the Nineties ‘what the Rolling Stones were tothe Sixties? SLASH: I don’t know. Those kind of labels bit us all the time, ‘That's one reason why, when we played with the Stones, I never took a picture with them or even made an effort 1o meet them, I'd love to meet ther, ‘but not on that level. There were so many paparazei around. You know the theme: bad boy band of one era meets the new ‘model? Screw that! But I'll tell you, the ‘Stones are the only band I can listen to at a given moment, no matter what mood I'm in. Tan listen to Aerosmith or AC/DC or Steely Dan for cestain things. But I can always listen to the Stones; if Thad to go on ‘a desert island, that’s what 1 would take. But [ never think about trying to be the Siones or anything like that {Gw: You met up with a formidable talent of another kind recently: Les Paul SLASH: Yeah. I played on his tribute album, which is on hold right now. I knew the project was disorganized, but I decided todoitanyway. put the band together with Iggy, and [drummer] Kenny Aronoff. Fer- ‘nando Saunders played fretless bass on it, Dutit didn’t sound right sof took it off and pput Duff on it, And Lenny Kravitz does background vocals, GW: Did you do a Les Paul song? SLASH: No, no. We did a song that was supposed to be a Guns N’ Roses’ song, but Steven could never play. I's a slow blues shuffle called “Burnout.” I's realy differ- cent now, though, ‘cause Iggy's singing. GW: Did you get to meet Les? SLASH: Yeah. I jammed with him. It was the most humbling experience in my life He and his rhythm player are amazing. ‘They play chords like... mean, how they get Irom one of these chords (0 the other just blew my mind, And Les isa great guy. Funny, eccentric, and very, very smart Once, before this tribute thing ever hap: pened, he called me up out of the blue. picked up the phone and was ike, “Whoa, Les Paul!” We talked for an hour. GW: How do you feel about being consid- ered the father of the “back-to-basics” movement in rock guitar? SLASH: I don’t feel that way. I’m real proud of the work that went into these records, although most of the stuff was spontaneous, The guitar parts on Apperite were mare worked out. With fusion, [just did te guitar lines the day we recorded. ln order to give each song its own unique qua ity, I'd do all the overdubs for one song. before moving on to the next. And to this day T can’t remember some of what 1 played. I can't duplicate it live. So 1 feel puny asa guitar player. 1 ike what I do and know where it comes from, and I'm proud of the fact that itis for real. But I'm way far removed from feeling like the father of any= thing. ©pos xanistA PRIVATE LESSON W ITH GUNS N° ROSES Slash & Burn Guns N’ Roses’ Slash overcomes his humility to offer insights on the art of vibrato, avoiding “standard rock licks” and the importance of string muting. BY WOLF MARSHALL SLASH CLAIMS 70 have no personal style a 2 guitarist. This despite the fact that con any given Saturday afternoon, his sig, ature Guns N' Roses’ riffs and licks bounce off the walls of music stores around the globe. He was at first more than alltiereluc ‘tantto do this lesson; is technical skis and grasp of theory, he believed, were Not sufficient, Once the guitar was in his hands for a few minutes, however, his reluctance geve way to enthusiasm. He offered valuable insights about rock gui- tar fundamentals and rhythm approach es, and Into his personal solo tech niques and concepts. We launched our exploration of Slash's guitar approach with a look at his vibrato technique—which defines ‘most rock guitarists’ individual sound as distinctly as a signature of a fingerprint. ‘To me, vibrato is basically a moving bend, but not going as far,” he explained, “The hand sits the seme way {compare Photos B and E], but the phys- ical action is different. | pull down some- times, push up sometimes, end move back and forth other times. The tech. nique is about conveying emotions—exe- ‘ution is on an emotional level. | think It's very important to make vibrato lock into the song's groove—tempo-wise and feeling ‘Slash feshioned a simple, gutsy lick to lustrate his point (Fig. 4). Played entire lyon the 2nd string, the lick is an abso lutely definitive demonstration of rock. guitar vibrato and string bending, Notice the bluesbased, Claptonesque, ‘anchored hand position and the domi nant use of the 3rd finger for fretting (Photos A—E). Tho thumb anchors the wrist, which actually Coes most of the ‘oscillation during the vibrato. Other fin ers execute the phrase—the index fin- er mutes the 3rd and 1st strings around the vibretoed 2nd string (righthand palm ‘muting silences the 4th-6th strings) and the middle finger helps bend the string (reinforced fingering) (Photo ‘Another thing | like to do Is Catch oth- er strings with my fretting finger when bending, and use the resulting string noise musically,” Slesh said. “It's SLASH aggressive. You hear this a lt in my play Ing." Photo E depicts one of these “snegged-string” bends. In this case Slash simultaneously bends and applies vibrato to both the 2nd and 3rd stings, “if 'm playing on the low strings, I'll def initely pull them down for vibrato,” ne ays. fina eo Figure 2, a signature Slash lick, fez- res a funky, rhythmic feel, varied paim- ‘muting (indicated by the abbreviation P.M) and chromatic passing tones (FFF G). “| like to bend and shake chords 00," he says. "For example, might take: this C5 chord and yank the strings down- Ward with my 4st and 4th fingers [Pho-A PRIVATE LESSON WITH GUNS N* ROSES’ SLASH tos H and fl. | use similar maneuvers in the ‘Paradise City’ rif when we're pley- ing live. ‘Slash is quick to point out that he nev- cer gets bogged down with technique to ‘the point where he allows itto intrude on ‘the music: “I don't practice technique because It's virtually impossible for me to sit around the house and practice at all. But | play all the time. When I'm in ‘town, | go out and jam to keep my chops up—mostly blues, H1V-V things, James a ‘town stuf, old r&b. I'm always playing, s oo oe © © but whatever | play has to be a song with ones 2 grove, to which | can apply the ight kind of rif and solo. Im kid of single ct ringed tat way." Ss ) © cs ms So how. does one cop @ groove with Ann DA AAA the potential forthe “right kindof rifend 8010?" According to Slash, it starts with rhythm, “| always concentrate on rhythm ‘and groove to get my right hand going. | ‘might start with a rhythm like this” (Fig. J, Slash strums a heavily accented Z6th-note chordal pattern on muted strings, embellishing the sparse changes with sliding chords, doublesstops (two- Pao x © ® @o rote chords) and a consistent, scratchy r&b feel, The patter follows a funk: une ‘based IV! progression (F7-C7).. Note Slash's use of left/iand muting BIRT BF (indicated by x's in the staff and tabla- ture}, es applied to the F7 chord form. The 6th string is “choked” by light pres- ‘sure from the 2nd finger's tip; the 2nd ‘and 4st strings are muted by the fleshy side of the index finger (Photos J and K). To mute the F7 shape, loosen your left hhand’s grip on the strings without actu- ally lifting your fingers. Check out the wo OD © loose, but controlled, righthand wrist ‘action for strumming in Photos J, K and L. This keeps the 76th notes rhythmi- cally “inthe-pocket’—smooth, even and funky, “I fove r&—the old rock and roll kind—ike James Brown. | get a lot of rhythm ideas from that music. They're not note-fornote steals, but more the feel and mood—the groove.” Slash nextilustrated the kind of fillhe often plays over a C7. Playing around with the shapes depicted in Figure 4, he created a tasty fill consisting of seventh ‘chords and bluesy, descending sixth dou- blestops. Again notice the allimportant Jefthand muting. In this example, the index finger prevents the idle st (ny ‘rom sounding (Photos M—O). “To put a lead on top of this, I'd prob- ably mess around with this (plays Fig. 5, ‘classic C minor pentatonic biues lick,” Slash continues. “This is a variation of the first rock lick | ever learned. It's so ‘standard—the number one alltime stan- dard rock lick—but it always works. | use some form of it all the time, and | like to pb: repeat it to get an energy flowing. This is ee Oe) @ my favorite position [Fig. 6]. C is myA PRIVATE LESSON WITH GUNS N° ROSES* SLASH minor pentatonic box Pome K KK) HAA mica penton box ‘werromalc passing toes rouree cr © favorite key puts this shape in the cen- ter of the neck [8th position] and, using related notes, | ean go high enough [to the 20th position or iow enough {tothe 4st position) around the lick to build 3 solo the way | Ike. There are a milion things to do in this area—it's one of those spots on the fingerboard that just seem 50 fluid, You can be moving along and just land there, and it feels good. You can justi there end mik two notes, ‘or you can really rip init! The possibil ties are endless. “To ascape from the confines of ‘stan dard rock licks,’ | like to add chromatic essing tones. For instance, | could take ‘anything from here [plays a C chromatic scale: C, C#, D, Df, E, F, Ft, G, Gi, A, Ad, B] and add itto the lick. There are lots of different passing tones that work In this position.” Some of these tones. are illustrated in Figure 7. Slash begins by playing Figure 8, a C minor pentaton- icine with the added Sth (D). "B to C is. ‘eal strong too (Fig. 9,” he adds. °| think Ff sounds good in the midcle of a ripping lick." [Fig. 10] The F# blue note is used 25 a true passing tone in Figure 10, chro- ‘matically connecting the G and F notes, “They're everywhere on the neck!" he says. Figure 9 is another example of a pass Ing tone used in a characteristic Siash phrase. The lick is similer to one heard in the “Sweet Child 0’ Mine” solo—an improvised variation which succinctlyA PRIVATE LESSON WITH GUNS N' ROSES’ SLASH demonstrates the concept. Here Slash ‘adds the notes Fi, Di and C to what is essentlally an E minor pentatonic (EG-A- BD) lick. "I think of these sounds as ‘classical’ [tris between Fé and G (Pho- {0 ¥Y), then between Cand & (Photo AC). They sound Jimmy Pageish to me— scaleorlented, | use stuff like this on ‘Back Off Bitch’ and 'Don't Damn Me," on Use Your ilusion.” ‘Slash summed up his approach to gui tar with this thought: "The most impor tant thing is to play the way you feel. Just go with whatever emotion and music ‘come to you. If you hear more notes, play more notes; ifyou hear fewernotes, bley less. If you hear some ‘out notes’ inthe song, ft them in—they may just be the magic nates! A producer might say, "That's out of key!” Itmay Just be out of koy—orin tho key of Z somewhere —but ifit’s in the emotion, go with it.” @ oo et @ Wolf Marshall, the “dean of rock music educators,” has written a series of groundbreaking transcription books for Hal Leonard Publishing. Marshall's col: umn “Rock Basics” appears every other ‘month in Guitar World. Priori: @ ® fac Oame ines ee Ne euiram wonto/reonuany 997