paul or nothing
Slash explains why his love for Les Pauls remains undiminished, even after all these years…
“Istill find them tremendously sexy. For me, being in a room full of Les Pauls is akin to being in a room full of naked girls… it never gets old, ha ha! I don’t know what else to compare it to. These guitars are a major turn-on for me. I still look at the Les Paul as a particular model or style that’s the most awesome. I really don’t think there’s a better-looking or more understated looking guitar out there. Plus, you never run out of sustain. Funnily enough, I was watching a thing on Mark Knopfler recently – who is an awesome player who I never really talk about – and he was in the studio having a discussion about his fingerstyle, talking about the differences between a Strat and a Les Paul. He’s one of those guys who can really make you appreciate the flavours of each type of guitar he plays. I definitely think the Strat is great for certain things, they’re probably the best guitars if you want to do a big variety of stuff. But Les Pauls have this certain thickness, warmth and sweetness that I just can’t get away from… they have this sound I gravitate towards and no other guitar can compare.
“There’s a reason why Tobacco Burst is my favourite finish: I remember I had this neighbour way back in the day and he had this Tobacco Sunburst Les Paul in his living room, which you could see through the big bay window at the front of the house. I would look at it every single day, even though I was only 14 and had only just started playing. To be honest I was still a bit of a punk back then, so I would think about how I could break in there and steal it... I never did! That’s when the obsession started.”
other freeform sports. I remember it was all about pure expression when I was a kid. I’d watch other people going for it and it would always be this emotional thing despite the technique and tricks involved. That concept of just going for it and doing something wild in the moment. Then the technique aspect comes in and starts to evolve and evolve… 30 or 40 years later, people will find they can do shit that’s just mind-blowing. Guitar playing has become like that for a lot of people too – where it becomes about the accents to the melody or theme of a song, putting in statements that actually extenuate that idea. Suddenly, this great platform for people to express all kinds of shit becomes so technical, it gets harder and harder to explain to people. You don’t have to go there. Art forms don’t have to be about all the cool techniques, even if they’re really, really bitchin’! Someone who knows how to sweep through all the right notes can be really impressive and cool to listen to, though emotionally it won’t do much – at least not for everyone. Technique can become the main aspiration for people, and I don’t want to rain on their parade, but for me it’s more about expressing some sort of emotional content and finding melodies that fit the whole thing. It’s important to have that side aswellas the technical side… it’s all about how you mix it all together, you know?”
You and Richard Fortus make a formidable team indeed. What is it about his playing that helps bring out the best in yours?
“Sit me down with a guitar by myself and I might not know what I’m doing or find things that will impress people. It tends to be within the context of the music I play over that allows me to go places. Richard is a really cool player in that he has this technical ability that means he can sit there with a guitar and play a lot of amazing stuff that’s still very emotive. It’s one of the reasons why when Guns N’ Roses started back up, I really leaned towards playing with him. Because there were a couple of other guys who used to be in the band too that were being considered, but I jammed with Richard because he was the first guy there and I knew he was fuckin’ great. He helps me out because we do a lot of soloing off each other. When he’s doing his own cool stuff, it pushes me into doing something
different that’s the exact opposite. And vice versa, sometimes I’ll go for something really fast and he’ll do something bluesy to counteract that. It’s a good natural relationship. We never sat down to work things out, that’s generally how I like to work with other guitarists… it’s all I’ve ever done. It’s nice that we can pick off each other’s feel.”
We heard on the grapevine that you were stockpiling ideas into Guns and Conspirators folders. Clearly, it’s early days, but how is that potential new Guns stuff shaping up?
“There are a couple of ideas that I’ve earmarked for Guns that I won’t be using for anything else. But I don’t know where we are going with this, it remains to be seen what we’ll end up doing. I think the other guys would agree we’re just going to see what happens. When you think about it, we’ve been working this entire time, so there’s been no chance to map out what we’ll be doing once this tour is over or what kind of approach we will take. Now we’ve gotten past all our shit from 20 years ago, we want to keep this thing going and keep it fresh and so on and so forth. Let’s see what happens! Should that wheel start turning, I have some cool riffs ready.”
How did it feel coming back to some of these songs after all these years and what were the biggest challenges for you?
“It’s been 20 years since I’ve played some of these songs. Estranged was fun to do again. I hadn’t done that in a while! Even the material I had been playing in other bands, I had kinda adapted them to take on a unique feel in a new context. I had to reacclimatise to the whole Guns N’ Roses vibe having not done it for a while. I realised just how unique it is when Duff and I are playing together while Axl is singing. There’s a chemistry there that’s so powerful and on its own… after being away from it for so long, you almost forget just how massive it is. So that definitely retooled my approach to particular songs. There was nothing that felt daunting, but I did drive around listening to the records to remember the parts. That way I could walk into rehearsal and people wouldn’t have to stand around while I tried to remember the fingerings, ha ha! The other side of it was figuring out what my version of Thechinese Democracy stuff would be like, because that was a whole different Guns N’ Roses animal in terms of the musicians involved. A lot of it I thought was really cool, like Buckethead did some cool shit so I would stick to that but do it in my own way so it didn’t feel too foreign or like I was squeezing a round peg into a square hole. That was interesting and fun… more fun than it was intimidating.”
On the song Better, instead of trying to play like Robin Finck trying to play like you – as per the recorded version – you chose to do your own thing…
“Some of the stuff I won’t do note-fornote because it doesn’t have a serious melodic significance to the song. It sounded like they were making it up...”
What about practice regimes being such an accomplished...
“...ha ha that’s bullshit! I’m playing my guitar all the time because I’m trying to keep this shit going. I don’t know what your question was going to be but there’s no sense of accomplishment. You have to constantly play and play, that’s the only way I can feel confident and comfortable in what I do. If I go for a long time without playing, I start to feel really insecure as a guitarist. When I’m on the road is when I’m happiest, because after a few weeks that’s when you start falling into a groove and can be really spontaneous, coming out with freeform shit that you simply wouldn’t have sat around jamming at home. It’s really been a fun run with Guns N’ Roses. Right now, I feel like there’s no limit to what I can do. We have this huge stage on which we can play for as many hours as we want – obviously, we use them all! There’s all this space to do stuff and if you love playing guitar, getting to do that everyday is just the fuckin’ best.”
What do you think are your biggest weaknesses as a guitarist?
“Playing rhythm is one of the main ones. There are specific things I practise before a show, for the first 20 minutes I won’t do anything too outrageous and just loosen up. I think it’s important to remember those techniques are a key part of what I play. You don’t want to be stiff when it comes to those right-hand patterns, so I might play any number of songs. Pinballwizard is always a good one! And then for lead stuff, I might try to find things that move up and around the neck, random patterns I’ve picked up from other players that sound interesting. It’s about finding the things that help you do whatever it is you do before you walk out there and play. Don’t think about set rules or anything – just try to focus on your weaknesses.”
Livingthedream is out 21 September on Snakepit / Roadrunner
“i’m playing my guitar all the time... trying to keep this shit going”