Slash

You undoubtedly recognize our May cover artist-the inimitable Slash! Following the success of his first solo album, 2010's Slash, he's reformed the group with Myles Kennedy of Alter Bridge handling all the vocal duties and his touring band backing him up. Slash invited us to Barefoot Studios in Hollywood during the recording of his new album, Apocalyptic Love, where we asked him questions submitted by Musician's Friend customers. Don't miss our exclusive video interview and tour of the studio-guided by Slash-for the lowdown on how he records, the gear he uses to craft his signature sounds, his practice regimen, and much more. YOU provided the questions and we got the answers, so watch now to see if your questions made the cut!

Featured Gear

Slash Gear »

You Interview Slash

By Ara Ajizian, Musician's Friend Managing Editor

Few artists are as instantly recognizable both visually and sonically as Slash. Since storming onto the scene with Guns N’ Roses in the ‘80s, Slash has never rested for long, releasing albums with Slash’s Snakepit, Velvet Revolver and under his own name with 2010’s self-titled Slash. Through it all, Slash has remained true to the bluesy, melodic roots that were apparent from the start on the classic Guns N’ Roses albums Appetite For Destruction and Use Your Illusion I and II. Slash recently invited us to his studio, where he was finishing up tracks for Apocalyptic Love, the follow up to Slash. Once again we asked you to provide questions for this iconic player, and you delivered. Read on to see if your question made the cut!

MF: How’s the new album coming along?

Slash: At this point we’re nine songs into it, so we still have another four to go. It’s going great! It’s been a really awesome session. The guys I’m playing with are fantastic and the material is great. We’re doing everything in as live a setting as possible. I’ve always been partial to doing everything live, but this time I’m playing live and keeping all the rhythm tracks. I used to go back in the control room and redo them all. It’s been a lot of fun doing it that way, and it’s relatively quick. The album should be out in April or May.

MF: You’re working with the band you toured with for the last album right?

Slash: Right. It’s still going to be under the Slash moniker, but the band is the same band that I’ve been playing with live. I figured I’d just keep it the same as what people are used to. So it’s Slash featuring Myles Kennedy, and I’m calling Brent (Fitz, drums) and Todd (Kerns, bass) The Conspirators

MF: Did the response to the last album and tour make it a natural decision to stick with the same guys to make the next record?

Slash: From the first day that the five of us got into a room Bobby Schneck was playing guitar with us at the time and started to rehearse for the tour, we had a certain chemistry. The guys are all great players. They’re all great rock and roll musicians and fans, and Myles is such a terrific singer. We started playing gigs and it all came together so naturally. So the chemistry was there from the very beginning and for me, having so much experience working with different people, that’s a rarity. So we kept touring and touring and the demand for the band was really good. At some point it occurred to me that I should just make a record with these guys, so here we are..

At your level of playing, do you find it necessary to practice as much as you used to? Ed Konopka – Las Vegas

Slash: I love that question! I hear it all the time do you still practice? As if I’ve eclipsed some point and I don’t have to practice anymore. I probably play as much as I ever have. The longer I’ve been at this the more I find I need to work at it. When you call it practicing…I’m not a studious guitar player who sits there and goes over patterns and works out on the guitar. I don’t have the patience for it. The way I practice is in context. I play a lot. I think maybe subconsciously that’s one of the reasons I put myself into so many situations where I’m recording or jamming. I find that when I put my feet to the fire, that’s when I improve as a guitar player. If I sit around, anything I apply while I’m sitting there practicing never sees the light of day in a live situation because they’re two completely different animals. There’s the scales and arpeggios, the picking technique and stuff, and there’s the guttural, emotional aspect of actually playing in the context of a song or a band. I try to do that as much as possible. Touring especially is where my chops really come together. And that’s where new ideas come from. Whether it’s licks, patterns or styles, they come out of that spontaneity where you have the opportunity to keep playing every night. If something sticks with you, you can try and see if it comes up the next night and becomes a part of your thing.

So yes, I practice a lot, but I practice by playing as much as possible, not sitting around and playing exercises. I still do that, but it’s really boring and I don’t seem to get much out of it. When I’m not playing live I make myself pick up the guitar, because every time I do, something song or a riff comes out of it, nine times out of ten.

Can you speak to a time when you were stuck on something frustrating, and how you got through it? Jeff Hilts – Boca Raton, Fla.

Slash: That’s a good question. If I run into a brick wall with something I’m trying to accomplish, and I’m working at it and working at it and I’m not achieving the goal…I think you can only do it so much before you run it into the ground and you just frustrate yourself and take your mind off of what you’re actually concentrating on. You stop hearing things properly. I think at that point it’s best to just move on to something else and come back to it, even if it’s ten minutes later or later on in the day. I always find that helps me relax about it and come back fresh. Usually it presents itself.

To what do you most attribute your sound? Is it your guitar, your amp, your fingers? Jeff Chandler – Portland, Tenn.

Slash: I attribute my sound to what I want to hear and what basic gear provides that. The rest of that is yourself. I’ve found that I tend to sound like myself no matter what I’m using. Sometimes it’s better or worse, but it always sounds like me. It’s mostly the individual and that’s accented by the gear they choose to send it in the right direction.

Short of practice, what’s the most important thing that’s helped you hone your skills as a player? Matt Williams – Shreveport, La.

Slash: I think what’s really put a finer point on who I am as a guitar player is just constantly playing, and having the enthusiasm to get better at it. Also being humble enough to know that you need to get better. That keeps me going and puts me in a lot of situations where I’m forced to perform not against my will, but I have to show up. A lot of live playing, a lot of session playing, and a lot of playing in situations where I might be a little outside of my comfort zone. Just sticking with it 24/7, that’s basically it.

Do you experiment with different styles outside of blues and rock, even if it’s just for personal enjoyment? Milo Dailey – Belle Fourche, S.D.

Slash: My guitar style, the way that I play, is usually rooted in rock and roll. But I seem to have pretty diverse taste as far as that’s concerned…it doesn’t all have to be really loud, aggressive, fuzzy, distorted stuff. But it definitely all has a blues or classical influence to it, which can be applied to many different genres of music. I have a lot of things that I like to do, but it all seems to fall under the umbrella of rock and blues. I’m not turned on to fusion jazz or really way-out stuff. There’s some stuff that I listen to that might seem out of the norm to someone who’s familiar with what I do, but whether I apply that to how I play really depends. It might be little bits of it that I might pick up on that really speak to me as a player. Otherwise I just enjoy listening to it and don’t try to adopt it.

Do you vary your string gauges for different sounds? Ronald Harless – Church Hill, Tenn.

Slash: I haven’t changed string gauges since I first started toying around with what I felt comfortable with back when I was like 15, 16 years old. I started out with 9s, because they were “normal,” but they bent too much so I moved up to 10s, then eventually settled on 11s, and I’ve been there ever since.

What would your rig be like if you played a more intimate gig, say for less than 100 people? Gary Poe – Corsicana, Texas

Slash: I basically play through a half stack, and augment that in a bigger venue with another cabinet. In a club situation, I’m fine using a half stack. I’ve played with different people and used their gear, and I found like with a blues band, if they have a Fender Twin, that’s great. I played with B.B. King recently and that’s what he had, so I just brought my own Les Paul and it fit perfectly. So I can adapt to whatever, but if it’s up to me I’ll just bring a half stack.

I notice you use Heil PR Series mics in a couple different spots on your cabinet. Is this because you have different speakers in the cabs? Don Lanier – Godfrey, Ill.

Slash: All four speakers are the same. My setup is really simple, and you can’t overthink it. People ask a lot of questions looking for intricate details but they’re just not there.

MF: What led you to Heil Microphones?

Slash: Well Bob Heil turned me on to his mics, and they’re just great-sounding mics. I’m not a real stickler for detail…you know, put the mic against it and if it sounds good, use it. If not, use something else. I don’t mess around with a lot of different mics per se. Sometimes producers or engineers I’ve worked with have different ideas, but I’ve found that you always have to have for the Marshall/Les Paul thing an SM57, and you can add to that with different mics. There’s only a handful that I’ve found over the years that add something special.

I am in my first real band and feel a real magic with the people I play with. Is that sort of chemistry something you felt from the start with your respective bands? Mary Davidson – Lakeview, Ariz.

Slash: In a band situation, the initial spark that happens that combustible energy that happens with a combination of people from the very onset is really important. Because if it’s not there from the beginning, it’s not going to get much better. It might get tighter, or you might be able to develop a way of playing with each other that works, but that thing that makes the amount of work you put into it exciting is really something that’s there from the very beginning.

MF: How important is it for you to have good chemistry with bandmates outside of what happens musically?

Slash: For me it’s imperative to be able to get along with and feel some sort of camaraderie with the people you work with. I’ve never been able to say that you don’t have to like the people you work with and sort of get by with it in a long-term situation. I think that it’s much more inspiring to appreciate and respect the people you’re working with than the opposite.

Can you recall the most moving live experience from your career? Steve Sullivan – Pocatello, Idaho

Slash: There’s no one experience, thank God, that’s the ultimate live experience. What keeps me going is chasing that high of having great live experiences all the time. That’s what keeps me doing it. Kinda like being a drug addict…you’re constantly trying to recreate that buzz you had early on. Fortunately with music, you can do that all the time. That’s something that is reoccurring as humanly possible. You don’t have that much control over it, but it’s one of the ultimate feelings for a musician when it happens.

What really sticks out in my head as being one of the most memorable live experiences in front of a big audience, where you were just overwhelmed with the beauty of everything, was the Monsters of Rock Festival in Castle Donnington in 1988. It was the first time we played to an audience of that magnitude. It was a huge career high for the band, and at the same time we found out that kids had died attending that concert while we were playing, which we found out about later. It was a good example of the ultimate high point going to the ultimate low.

What qualities do you look for in the musicians you choose to play with on a regular basis? Denny Myers – Houston

Slash: There aren’t specific criteria that I have other than the obvious. You’re looking for someone who’s into more or less the same music or similar music that you’re into, someone who’s a capable player that brings something to the table as far as originality is concerned, or ideas that aren’t run of the mill. And somebody whose got their trip together so you don’t have to help them along. And somebody who’s really into it, who’s very passionate about playing.

When you are writing a solo, do you prefer writing to an existing progression/melody, or do you prefer to contour the song to meet your solo? Craig Carilla – Garnet Valley, Pa.

Slash: Solos are a constant subject of speculation as far as how they come together. To me the song always dictates the solo, so I would never change the song to make the solo fit. You can change things around within the context of the chord changes as long as it fits the song. At the same time, with as much improv as I do, it’s all within the context of what the song’s about, and that’s what drives it. As far as writing solos, that’s a good question because I’m right in the middle of recording right now. I don’t sit down and write a solo note for note and work it out and so on, but what I have found that I do is write the song, figure out the solo section, put the chords together that fit the theme of the song, and you just go for it. The more you play the song, the more the solo starts to present itself. So if you rehearse the material a lot, by the time you go into the studio you should have a basic structure for what you hear as the guitar solo, then you just sort of play within that realm. Sometimes you can have a solo that’s almost note for note by the time you record it, or sometimes you just keep making it up every time you play it. So the solo that’s on the record isn’t the same as any take before it. It sort of speaks to me, as far as the solo’s concerned, as what I hear within the context of the song, and every time I play it, it comes out more or less the same.

MF: Do you have solos that you feel obligated to recreate as you did on the recorded version?

Slash: When I’m playing live, we do a two-hour set and there’s a lot of material. And the solos tend to become such a signature part of the song that it feels weird for me to go off on a tangent. On certain songs that works, where you can improvise around it, and that’s usually one of those solos where it was a spontaneous, off-the-cuff moment when it was recorded. But songs like “Sweet Child of Mine,” if I hit a different note, more or less, if I totally go off the melody, it f*** s with me along with everybody else. (laughs) because I’m so used to hearing it that way. And that’s what I’m going for what my head hears. So it varies from song to song, depending on how signature the solo is to the song itself. It’s like changing the lyrics or the vocal melody.

What do you do to get inspired if you find yourself in a songwriting rut? Warren Cureton – Belleville, Mich.

Slash: To get motivated when you have writer’s block, like I was saying earlier about any kind of obstacle you hit when you’re playing, is do it to the point where it becomes redundant, then just put it down and get off that subject. Come back to it when you’re inspired to come back to it. Then you’re basically starting over with fresh ears. That happens with songwriting all the time. If you sit down and say, “I’m going to write a song,” chances are it’s not going to happen. It has to come from within, and it will force you to pick up the guitar, or sit down at the piano or whatever instrument.

Who or what was the main factor that influenced you to pick up the guitar? Manuel Nieves – Enfield, Conn.

Slash: I was hanging out with my friend Steve Adler, who at the time had a cheap guitar and amp and a cheap stereo. He would put KISS records on, blast the stereo, blast the amp, and just band on them. That was really f*****g exciting! So originally I was going to play bass. I figured if he was going to play guitar, the natural course for me was to play bass. In learning the difference between bass guitar and six-string guitar, I decided it was the soloing and the more complex stuff that I wanted to do, so I ended up picking up guitar. So when it comes down to it, it was Steven Adler and KISS that got me to pick up a guitar. Once that happened, there were myriad great rock bands that I got into. Prior to that I had always been into music, I had just never aspired to pick up an instrument. It’s interesting how that happened.

What are some of the challenges you face as a player at your level and stature? John Crossman – Madison, Wis.

Slash: It’s embarrassing to even think that people would think I have it so together that I’m not presented with challenges. I’m just not that developed a player to even be close to thinking that I have it down. It’s a constant struggle to achieve. I try to push myself to get to places. I don’t want to sit at one level and just go, “OK, I’m comfortable with this.” I don’t feel like I’ve achieved anywhere near the stuff that the guitarists that I either know personally or that I’ve been listening to for a long time…I just haven’t even gotten there. It’s flattering in some ways when fans think that I’ve achieved some sort of musical grandeur, but it’s so far from the truth. (laughs)

How I keep pushing and working at it is basically just keeping at it and being honest with myself about where I’m at.

MF: Have you ever hit a point where you’ve thought about just putting the guitar down for a while?

Slash: I’m fortunate in that I’m more into it now than I was when I first started. I’ve never come anywhere close to feeling that I wanted to pack it in. I don’t see that happening in the foreseeable future. I live very much in the now, so I don’t look 15 years or even five years down the road, but I’ve never gotten to a point where I was sick of it or tired of it, or just stopped loving it.

Featured Gear

Slash Gear »

Slash invited us to Barefoot Recording Studios, where he was finishing his upcoming album "Apocalyptic Love" which features Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators, and gave us a little insight into his gear and recording process.