Duff McKagan on the most “perfect three-chord song ever”
Guns N’ Roses aren’t known for simple chord structures. One of their defining features as a band was the complexity with which they made their music. They weren’t afraid of intricate riffs, key changes and varied tempos.
Duff McKagan had a considerable influence on the complexity with which Guns N’ Roses performed. His exceptional bass-playing ability and keen ear meant the band were always in safe hands regarding whatever sound they were trying out. Of course, just because Guns N’ Roses had success with that intricacy doesn’t mean that they didn’t appreciate the bare bones of a song and understand that a simple chord structure can go just as far as the most complex instrumentation in the world.
McKagan has never been one to shy away from citing his influences. During an interview he held about the records that changed his life, he got to 12 and was frustrated he couldn’t go on any further. “I left out Jimi Hendrix. I left out Marvin Gaye. I left out so much stuff. Mother fucker!”
Some inclusions on the list were The Sonics album The Witch, Sly and the Family Stone’s Greatest Hits album, and the Sex Pistols genre-defining Never Mind The Bollocks. One of his stand-out aspects of songwriting shines through throughout his selections: the “three-chord song”. McKagan has a tremendous appreciation for creativity found within simplicity and likes to point out just how much of an impact it has had on him.
Kiss are one of the first bands Duff mentions who are good at the three-chord songs. “I’d been listening to Kiss’s Alive! A lot,” he says, “Great three-chord rock. ‘Strutter’ and ‘Firehouse’ and all of that.” But his favourite three-chord rock song comes from an artist who mirrors Kiss in flamboyancy but not in sound, Prince.
“1999 came out in 1982, and I just dove into the record,” he added. “I loved ‘Little Red Corvette’, it may be the most perfect three-chord song ever written. But it was the deeper tracks that I loved most. I would get off work and come home and just play the record, and it was my escape.”
It’s likely the combination of straightforward chord structures in some songs and more profound, complex approaches in others contributed to the sound of Guns N’ Roses. They loved something heavy and hard-hitting, which three-chord rock tends to provide, but they are happy to become much more intricate with their sound.
Duff’s affiliation with these different approaches to music shows why the albums he has been involved in throughout his career are so varied. Musicians should listen far and wide and not just restrict themselves to the kind of sound they want to make at risk of becoming copies of other artists; Duff McKagan embodies that ethos well.
