“Slow down for Christ’s sake!”: Europe’s John Norum admits that he played too many notes too fast in the 80s
From The Final Countdown to Rock The Night, the ‘80s saw Europe carving out some mega riffs, courtesy of John Norum. At the time, the youthful Swede was full of piss and vinegar, keen to play as fast as he could – however, looking back, the guitarist winces at his shredding addiction.
In a new conversation with Guitar World, Norum admits that he should have toned it down a notch back in the ‘80s. “Mindless noodling and showing off is a bit pointless for me,” he says. “I don’t need to show off – I did plenty of that in the Eighties, especially live. I watch the footage now and think, ‘Take it easy and slow down, dude, for Christ’s sake!’”
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While we don’t think he has anything to worry about, Norum seems mortified recalling his younger self shredding up a storm. But he also acknowledges that every guitarist needs to go through their shredding phase. “But that’s how it is when you’re young,” he says.
While shredding has a time and a place, plenty of guitarists have expressed similar sentiments to Norum. Back in 1991, Eddie Van Halen told Guitar Player journalist Jas Obrecht, that shredding was a young man’s game. As a more mature player, the Van Halen legend admitted that his years of shredding were well behind him. “A lot of people just do all kinds of crazy shit, and fine and dandy when you’re young,” he said.
“[Nowadays] playing as fast as you can doesn’t really hold much water for me…” he added. “To me, a solo is to highlight song. It’s not to show off.”
Speaking to Ultimate Guitar in 2023, Marty Friedman also noted that he wasn’t a fan of shredding. He described shredding as something that “looks cool on the fingers, but it doesn’t sound cool”.
As for Europe, the band are set to release their 12th studio album, Come This Madness, later this month. The record comes nearly nine years after their last record, 2017’s Walk The Earth, and Scandinavian Eyes comes as the latest taste of the record. It’s got a fabulous Deep Purple flavour to it.
Come This Madness is out 25 September 25. You can pre-order it now.
The post “Slow down for Christ’s sake!”: Europe’s John Norum admits that he played too many notes too fast in the 80s appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Source: www.guitar-bass.net
