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Long Slash Interview (2)
What's the secret to playing a great solo?
The most important thing is to be able hear it in your head and apply it through your fingers to your neck In a split second. That's what people miss out on. Instead of playing patterns, hear the melody you're going for. You need enough experience to know where it on the neck. I'm still learning this; it's something that very few guitar players of my generation even paid attention to. You have a better chance of reaching your goal if you hear the solo before it happens, rather than just flip ping around.
In concert, do you try to recreate your recorded solos?
For certain songs, it's out of the question because I have no idea how I did them. It only works if the melody is so stuck in my head that I just hear it when I'm playing.
Do you practice much these days?
I hate playing at home. I'll do it to write songs, but I love to play really loud and I don't like my neighbors listening. If anything, I'll crank up the stereo and jam along with a record. I always have a guitar around, but the chances of seeing me just sitting around playing are pretty slim. I'm either at rehearsal - writing stuff there and playing at mega-decibel volume or in the studio.
Do you carry a tape recorder to keep track of ideas?
I never have , I remember everything. If I play a riff, like in the dressing room before a show~ somehow I can retain it in my head. If I do tape anything, it's gotta be on some little blaster. I hate getting into 4-tracks and 8-tracks; the whole headphone bit just doesn't gel.
Describe your picking technique.
It's probably my weakest point. "Locomotive" [illusion II] has this ongoing riff; I have to be really consistent with it If I don't concentrate on my right hand-really watch the angIe, I can lose it. I always grasp right underneath the treble pickup with my pinky. Sometimes I'm heavy-handed in my strumming; I hit the guitar really fucking hard. Here's howl hold my pick [grabs pick with an extended thumb and index finger].
Your thumb is curved back and the movement is mostly in your fingers' first joints. For intricate stuff, otherwise I just slam it.
Do you break many strings?
I used to all the time, but it's pretty rare now. If I do break a string onstage, it fucks up my whole trip, because it's always a D or B. I have to grab another guitar.
Do you play much fingerstyle?
I pluck strings with my fingers a lot, like, say, Mark Knopfler~specially for blues and solos. During the show, I just use my thumb and forefinger for the Hendrix bit [the "Voodoo Chile" riff].
STUDIO GUITARS
Rumor has it you've got a pretty righteous guitar collection.
About 50 guitars. I'm really a guitar freak I spend money on what-snakes, guitars, and cars? I try not to spend too much on women. I keep everything in storage; I don't take the really good shit out on the road because things get too banged up. There was a point when I had to take the guitar that I used for Appetite on the road, 'cause it was the only guitar I had. Now, it's beat to shit
The '59 repro?
Yeah, the handmade yellow flame-top with zebra [Seymour Duncan] Alnico II pickups. For the first record, I must have gone through 10 guitars trying to find one I liked. And I couldn't afford to buy some ridiculously expensive Les Paul. When our former manager showed up,with this one, it became my main studio guitar.
Did you use it on "Sweet Child O'Mine"?
Yeah. For almost everything on Appetite and then for most of the heavier songs on Use Your illusion
You used other guitars on this album?
Some fucking great guitar~ '58 V and a '58 Explorer. There's a certain nasal sound that you can hear on "Heaven's Door," "Locomotive," and a couple of other songs, ifs almost [Michael] Schenker-sounding. That's just the tone control on the V; no wah pedal. There were a couple of other guitars that people aren't used to hearing me play: I used one of those small-scale Music Mans like Keith Richards has. There's a Travis Bean that I use for slide on "Bad Obsession" [illusion 1]. When I first got into slide, I went to a Joe Perry Project show; he had a Travis Bean, and it sounded killer. So when I saw one in the paper, I bought it. It has a gorgeous mahogany body with this real subtle rainbow in the finish-it's almost airbrushed. I played maybe 20 different guitars on Use Your Illusion: a Strat, a Dobro, a 6-string bass, a banjo, some acoustics. But the sound that I'm recognized for is my Les Paul through a Marshall half-stack.
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