Slash on Instagram guitarists: “Techniques are cool, but they’re only great if they fit into the music”
Social media shredders are a huge talking point among the guitar world right now, and though not to everyone’s taste, there’s undeniably some crazy techniques being flaunted across news feeds everywhere.
Slash is one of many who stumbles across such content, and he’s fairly impressed with a lot of the videos he sees, though he’s not too keen on how articulated and planned-out these compositions are.
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The Guns N’ Roses guitarist released his solo blues album, Orgy Of The Damned last May. The record features a range of collaborations, with guest artists including Billy Gibbons, Iggy Pop, and Demi Lovato.
Speaking of the album and his current thoughts on the guitarsphere, Slash tells Guitar World in its September print issue what he thinks of ‘Instagram shredders’: “You know, there’s a lot of really great players out there that I’m aware of in that sort of world, but I don’t necessarily know their names.
“They’re really amazing and doing all kinds of crazy shit, and a lot of it is interesting or entertaining to watch for a minute. It doesn’t necessarily stick with you, but it’s bitchin’,” he says.
“You’re like, ‘Whoa, that’s pretty tricky!’ For me, I think it’s when somebody is playing in such a way where there is a mix between some new-school technical stuff and some old-school styling, that’s what catches my attention. Techniques are cool, but they’re only great if they fit into the music in an emotional context, or if it’s a fluid part of a melodic run, like it just came naturally.”
Asked for an example of this he replies, “I can’t remember the name of the song, but there’s a B.B. King song where he plays a lick and then he throws in a diminished scale. I mean, I know what that is, right?
“I recognise it, but it’s part of the solo so you don’t really think about it in technical terms; you just hear melodically that there’s something really cool going on. And really, he’s just playing a regular pentatonic thing, with three notes or four notes of a diminished scale added in. But it’s right between keys, and it’s so perfect. I don’t hear guys doing that so much.”
He concludes, “It always seems so planned out and articulated. Whereas sometimes the natural sort of passing tones that you do as you’re playing produce these really interesting things, when you’re not thinking about what scale it is or what technique you’re using. I think I tend to like that more.”
Slash is currently touring until mid August. Orgy Of The Damned is still available to buy on CD and vinyl.
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