The guitarist John Frusciante could never match “in a million years”
Every guitarist can benefit from learning from the old school every now and again. Many people might only be concerned about pushing themselves forward and not worrying about the countless other guitarists that came out before them, but anyone who ignores history is condemned to repeat it, even when it comes to the greatest musicians of all time. And while John Frusciante was more than willing to look back, he understood when some artists were truly gifted with something that no generation was ever going to see again.
But the same could be said about the way Red Hot Chili Peppers work. Really, there’s no true explanation for how every piece of their sound works, and while a lot of it sounds like it ould be a trainwreck half the time, their classic albums are proof that bands can flourish as much as they want if they have the right idea, like the massive healing process they went on when putting the finishing touches on albums like Californication.
By that point, though, Frusciante had worked himself down to ground zero again as a guitarist. Nothing that he played was necessarily bad, per se, but knowing the amount of time that was lost to years of heroin abuse, a lot of that album was about him fine-tuning his motor functions again so that he would be able to shred like he once could. It was minimalistic in some respects, but when he found his groove again, no one could stop him.
Although not everything he played was flashy, an album like Stadium Arcadium was a love letter to everything that Frusciante had learned on guitar. Outside of the endlessly catchy finger-twister that is ‘Snow’, songs like ‘Turn It Again’ were where he truly began to stretch out, usually throwing in different overdubbed parts that felt like a swirling tornado of guitars playing through both speakers.
“I don’t think somebody has to be technically advanced to be soulful at all, but I really don’t think there’s anyone better than Allan Holdsworth.”
John Frusciante
Although the band was informed by genres like funk and hip-hop, Frusciante also loved jazz players. Flea had already started with jazz before even playing rock and roll, but when his fellow guitarist started exploring what could be done with the instrument, people like Allan Holdsworth were carrying the torch for artists who weren’t afraid to get weird with what could be done on guitar.
Frusciante may have had endless love for Holdsworth, but he knew that there was no way for him to match what he did, either, saying, “I don’t think somebody has to be technically advanced to be soulful at all, but I really don’t think there’s anyone better than Allan Holdsworth… I’m sure I’ll always learn from him and never in a million years will I be able to do what he did.” And regardless of his simplistic approach to many Chili Peppers songs, Frusciante does have a more tuneful way of showing his love for Holdsworth.
Not everything he played was technically challenging, but the way he framed many of his guitar parts was always about pushing them forward. That could mean throwing in a strange chord they hadn’t used before or making the kind of sweeping solo, but it was done in the service of making a guitar speak rather than trying to make the most nuanced lead break that would leave guitar enthusiasts scratching their chins with respect.
If there’s one thing to glean from any guitarist, though, it’s the inspiration that comes with hearing them. No one should ever look up at the posters on their wall and feel discouraged, and even if Frusciante knew he couldn’t even touch the ground that Holdsworth walked on, he could still make his own sonic identity.
