From: juggle@athena.mit.edu (???)
Subject: Re:  Sounding like Slash:
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 20:32:25 GMT

In article <1992Nov10.154756.21791@lmt.mn.org> alexa@county.lmt.mn.org (Alex Alexander) writes:

>A while back, someone posted on alt.rock-n-roll.metal.gnr a response to
>a question about how to sound like Guns N' Roses' Slash when you play the
>guitar.

>A fairly knowledgeable guitar player answered that you need a Gibson Les
>Paul blasting through a huge Marshall stack and play using only the
>pentatonic blues scale (or something like that).

>Not being a guitar player, this sounds forumlaic to me. Is it really that
>easy to sound like Slash? Mind you, I don't think Slash is the best guitar
>player in the world or anything. I just *really* like his style.

That was me, actually. (Though I am rather flattered to hear myself called
"fairly knowledgeable.")  I did basically respond as you commented, saying 
that Slash achieves his sound by using A Les Paul, Marshalls, and using
a lot of pentatonics.  It's true on the most basic level, and I think it
was a adequate answer to the questioner, who just wanted to know how to 
get his axe to sound like Slash's.

I think you missed some of the sarcasm of my original post though.
(Which included a tiny harshing-on of Slash, who in my opinion, has a 
reputation taht exceeds his ability). I didn't mean that if you
wanted to *play* like Slash that was all you had to do, OF COURSE my
answer was over-simplistic.

It's just if you use that set-up your guitar will SOUND like Slash does 
on the GNR albums (or close to it). (The same way if you use the right 
combination of delays and flange/chorus your guitar will sound like 
U2's The Edge, etc.  Or if you combine extra-thick chorus with heavy
distortion you get that NIRVANA "grunge" sound.) 

Getting the *sound* of a particular artist is quite a different matter than
*playing* like that artist.  For example I could, if I wanted, screw around
with effects, amplifiers, funky string guages, etc, and eventually I could
get my guitar to sound just like Eddie Van Halen's.  (Or I could even walk
on stage and say, "Eddie can I borrow your guitar?", and nice guy that he
is he would say "sure Joe, here you go" and hand it to me.)

Of course once I picked it up, I would NEVER be able to convince
anyone that I was him, (even if their eyes were shut).  That's because
I have never tried to learn any of his songs or copy his style.  If I
locked myself in my room with all the Van Halen cds, a huge book of
tab, and my guitar, then probably I could emerge in two years and pull
off a convincing Van Halen impression.  (Not that that would be an
interesting thing to do, there already is an EVH, and at best all I
could do was be a pale imitation).

Same thing with Slash.  Sure I can plug in my Les-Paul-a-like guitar and 
run it through overdrive and play the Sweet Child intro, and it will sound 
just like it when he plays it, but then when I can't play the solo with
wah, it will seem that I really can't "sound" like Slash after all.


>People like Vai and Van Halen and Malmsteen and Satriani make me say: "WOW!"
>But Slash kinda melts me in the same way that Santana does. Any knowledgable
>guitar players or music theorists out there care to try to explain this to a
>non-music reading, scale brain dead drummer?


Well, in music as in all other things, there's no accounting for
taste.  Some like Slash citing his emotional licks and solos, others
think his playing is cliche and stale.  It's just personal preference.

Objectively, his playing is very much in the "classic rock" style,
using a wah, pentatonics, Gibson plus Marshalls, etc.  So probably if
you like Slash you will like other music of that Genre.

I happen to be fond of Slash as an artist (if not as a person) (No
flames please), and even if he isn't nearly in the same league as Vai
and all the rest, you have to admit that he is a *good* guitarist.
(Same thing with The Edge from U2 as regards that other string of
posts on alt.guitar.)


	Sincerely,
	Joseph Grossman


Sorry for the length of this post.  What can I say, I got carried away.

And just one last thing about Slash, completely unrelated to guitars.
For those of you that think that "Slash" is a stupid name, I just
found out the other day that his "real" name is a rather bland "Saul
Hudson."  So I guess I can see why he likes to be called "Slash" a bit
better.

From: khe@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Keith Erskine)
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 18:51:47 GMT
Subject: Re: On tubes vs. transistors; a few misconceptions revealed
Organization: Hewlett-Packard, Fort Collins, CO, USA