THE CUTTING EDGE

HOW THE EDGE INFLUENCED MODERN GUITAR

OVER THE PAST four decades, the Edge has influenced generations of music lovers to go that extra step and pick up a guitar. For many of those music lovers, October and Achtung Baby played important roles in their introduction to U2. Below, a host of guitar greats discuss the influence of the Edge, through an October and Achtung Baby lens.

TOM MORELLO

The Edge has challenged conceptions of what an electric guitar should sound like — and constantly pushed the boundaries of what an electric guitar can sound like. One of my favorite Edge moments is on “Love Is Blindness” on Achtung Baby. Apparently recorded in the midst of a rending divorce, Edge’s playing is deeply emotional and sonically confrontational. The song has two very different solo sections. When I first heard it, I was blown away by the second solo, a passionate machine-gun flamenco assault. The first solo, on the other hand, sounded like someone had made a horrible mistake and left the tape running while Edge absentmindedly played a few disjointed notes (maybe lefthanded?) and then kinda stopped and dribbled another couple notes awkwardly across the remaining bars. I later realized this was the genius solo on the track, capturing the artist’s broken emotional state in a way no traditional solo could.

JOE BONAMASSA

There are few guitarists who can identify themselves with chords alone. The Edge can — with a single strum and inflection. Following in the footsteps of Link Wray and Pete Townshend, the Edge and U2 created classic song after classic song based on original, forward-thinking and simple concepts that were based on the classics. He’s an innovator and a humble man.

JOEY SANTIAGO (Pixies)

He’s influenced me to try to be different. I didn’t necessarily try to copy his style, but I appreciate the way he stood out. On “Even Better Than the Real Thing” I liked that octave thing he used. But he was probably using the Whammy pedal — and I like that effect. “Gloria” showcases the way he uses his delays. He was really one of the first ones to play with a delay pedal, where he’d use the effect as an instrument.

ALEX STIFF (The Record Company)

I always look to U2 in my own writing process, in terms of how to turn the basic building blocks of “chords and riffs” into something more interesting. U2 has always made a sound that suggests that they reject anything conventional. The Edge has so much to do with that musical ground that is both avant-garde and rock n roll and is as memorable as the lyrics. They go hand in hand. Bono sings, the Edge answers.

An example would be “Even Better Than the Real Thing.” That chorus guitar — “dee da da dee da da dee, dah dah dah dah” — is as vital to the song as the lyric, each answering the other. Anytime I’m working out a new song, I’ll ask myself, How do I “Edge” this?

MYLES KENNEDY (Alter Bridge, Slash)

Achtung Baby was a reinvention of sorts. For the most part, musically speaking, the record was a rejection of the identity established during their incredibly successful run in the 1980s. You can hear their evolution on tracks like “Mysterious Ways” and “The Fly,” which manifest a hybrid of rock ‘n’ roll with the Euro dance music happening at the time. For me, there was another dynamic that was even more compelling. “One,” “Acrobat” and “Love Is Blindness” showcased a darker side of the band that allowed the Edge to incorporate a melodically haunting and sparse approach. The end result were guitar parts that brought the perfect amount of drama without screaming, “Look at my fancy fretwork!”

CHRIS ARNDT (Jocelyn & Chris)

I’ve always admired the storytell

ing approach the Edge brings to his guitar playing. He’s an amazing technical player, but he rarely plays parts that completely show off his speed or skill; you can tell his primary focus is adding to the music. That’s the approach I try to bring to my own style. I’m a firm believer that the best guitar part isn’t necessarily the fastest or the coolest — it’s the one people remember.

Of course, it also helps that he’s a creative genius with effects. It’s kind of impossible to talk about the Edge without mentioning effects. He really pioneered new ways of thinking about guitar parts, using effects to turn a simple line into a rich, layered texture. I’m partial to the guitar solo from “The Fly” on Achtung Baby.

It starts out sounding like a pretty standard — but awesome — guitar solo, but the effects sneak up on you. Before you know it, you’re surrounded by a cosmos of guitar sound, with runs and licks overlapping and melodies popping out here and there.

CLINT LOWERY (Sevendust)

The main thing I’ve always been fascinated with — in terms of the Edge’s evolution as a writer/player — is the way he’s incorporated his influences into U2 songs. On “Mysterious Ways,” it’s the perfect blend of funk and Motown drenched with effects that modernized the sound and made an old blues riff seem futuristic and current. The intro for “One” has the authentic feel of a Hendrix riff. It has a hook within itself but sets the stage for an amazing vocal performance from Bono. It’s a complex riff, yet it doesn’t distract the listener from the vocal. The Edge is a master at that.

ZACH BLAIR (Rise Against)

I had never really heard anybody use pedals, specifically delay, the way the Edge had. I didn’t know what it was when I was a kid — I thought it was just the way he was playing guitar, so it didn’t make sense. I had no idea what was going on, and it blew my mind. Then, to hear where the Edge progressed, and took those initial ideas he was doing, with just simple pedals that everyone else had — and then they became the biggest band in the world.

Then, on later records, like Achtung Baby — hearing where that went with modern technology, but with the same concepts and genre-

pushing ideas, that was equally as mind blowing. I love that he never did what everyone else did. He never was going to go for the patented rockstar thing and do a guitar solo here or whatever. He was going to make what he was doing really interesting and genre-pushing — and he was going to challenge you.

JOHN PETRUCCI (Dream Theater)

I remember hearing “Sunday Bloody Sunday” on the radio for the first time. I’d never heard a guitar player orchestrate before — and it was so cool. He has such a big, unique and unmistakably identifiable voice on the guitar. It’s the way he orchestrated his guitar parts; it wasn’t the typical way a guitar player would play in rock. Sometimes he’d play power chords and stuff like that, but he’d also do more rhythmic things, using harmonics and muted notes for rhythms.

The way the guitar was used on “One” was so unique; the progression and the lyrics were the focus, with the guitar part just sustaining the high notes — and then the way the delay came in later in the song to build it up was incredible. It’s one of the most incredibly built songs, kind of like a “Bolero” type of thing. By the end of the song, it’s so huge, but it’s so repetitive in a really hypnotic way.

And “Love Is Blindness” is another great one for sure!

DAVE KEUNING (The Killers)

Achtung Baby is probably my favorite, and I used to play along to every single song on the record. It’s got delay and these great chord voicings — and it’s a whole different thing. It kind of opened my eyes to a different way of thinking and made delay pedals such a cool thing to have on your pedalboard.

“Ultraviolet (Light My Way)” influenced my playing the most. Funnily enough, I think that’s the one the Killers coincidentally covered for a CD where every band does a song of theirs. “One” kind of influenced some of the way I did things, too. The kind of changing the voicing of the chord as you go — like, he’s playing off the third and the second. That’s something I kind of took with me, for sure.

SATCHEL (Steel Panther)

At a time when guitar acrobatics were the norm, when Eddie and Yngwie

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and Vai and countless guitar gods were playing as many notes as the human ear could register in a solo, there was the Edge. Fewer notes, more space. Awesome notes. Amazing tones. Vibes. I don’t think there was any guitar player who heard the Edge back then who didn’t get inspired. Who didn’t want to play “less” after hearing him? He came up with two- or three-note riffs that were the sound of U2 — one of the defining sounds of the Eighties and Nineties as well.

October is full of classic Edge riffs and sounds. “Gloria” is one of the most memorable guitar riffs of the era, but every song is a master class on the use of space. Listen to the huge tones on “I Threw a Brick Through a Window” and how he lays out in the verses in all the perfect spots. “Scarlet” gives a taste of where he’s going with his genius use of delay. He’s one of the few guitar players in the history of rock that has defined his sound so clearly. He’s the guy who makes you realize it’s not your fingers holding you back — it’s your mind.

TIMOTHY SHOWALTER (Strand of Oaks)

There’s an emotional factor to everything U2 does; it just plays into everything I love. I’m not a shredder, and it’s never been my goal to be an acrobat on the guitar. I want to convey emotion — and that’s what the Edge does.

He gave a lot of inspiration to guitarists who may never be the premier shredders of the world — but [they’re] guitarists that know how to play and want so desperately to take the emotions in their heart and move them to their fingers and out of the amp and to people’s ears.

JOSH KENNEDY (The Black Moods)

It’s hard to be a guitar player and not have at least a little inspiration from the Edge, even if it’s subconscious. He’s not up there being flashy and playing a million notes. His “flash” is in the melody and beautiful notes he chooses. His use of his delays and his self-control are unparalleled. Hearing his style progress from October to

Achtung Baby — it’s amazing. It’s akin to watching a childhood actor grow up in film or TV in front of your eyes, then go on to become this amazing

artist and win an Oscar.

SCOTT HOLIDAY (Rival Sons)

Diving deep into the Edge’s sonic environment and his interesting percussive approach was something to behold — and to really relish in all its “freshness.” This was at the height of hair metal and big, decadent powerrock ballads. What the Edge was doing couldn’t have had less to do with all of that. And that idea, the idea of going right when everyone else was going left — it stuck with me. It really got in my heart.

Achtung Baby is just a monster album — a beautiful monster at that. From the first seconds into “Zoo Station,” the giant aggressive guitar off the top, we can hear that something different is about to happen. Even before the album is 30 seconds deep, I’m thinking, “Would we have a Radiohead without this album? Not likely.” Then again on “Even Better Than the Real Thing,” right outta the gate, there’s that huge whammy riff, something very new and progressive at this point in the game. There’s so many interesting, radical, forwardthinking tones and riffs on just the first two songs alone! I’ve always been partial to “Tryin’ to Throw Your Arms Around the World” too. A tonal callback to a classic Edge tone — that classic bouncing clean delay sound. His sonic palette grew so exponentially. To accomplish that expanse of tones, the Edge seemed to employ just about every new gadget and toy available, while simultaneously incorporating all the good ol’ stuff too. Technical stuff aside, I’ve always considered the Edge a “painter of sound” — a description I’ve shamelessly pointed to in my own work. I say “painter of sound” as he’s not so much a “technical virtuoso” in the way that we don’t listen for tricky scales or runs, modes or arpeggios. Yet he’s using sound like color. It’s this sonic atmosphere we’re swimming in when we listen to U2.

ZAC BARNETT (American Authors)

There’s no denying that the Edge is one of the greatest guitar players of all time. And when you listen to his playing on Achtung Baby, one could argue it’s his best. Not only does the Edge bring his classic signature U2 sound we all love from The Joshua Tree, but the way he experiments with melodies, effects and an overall