The Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash called better than him: ‘I’ve never been a technical player’
Whenever someone thinks of a traditional idea for a guitar player, Slash is normally the first person that comes to mind. There may be people who are technically better than him, but in terms of playing style, tastefulness, and overall image when performing, the top-hat-clad guitarist is still one of the definitions of why rock and roll is still so cool, to begin with. Although Guns N’ Roses had a long separation period with Slash, even he admitted that his replacement, Buckethead, had him beat from a technical standpoint.
At the same time, Slash was always one to downplay his ego whenever he got the chance. He knows that he could hold his own next to some of the greatest of all time, but there had never been a guitar player as willing to downplay his ego as much as he does, to the point where half of his time onstage is spent with his hair in his face and avoiding eye contact with anyone in the room.
Then again, Buckethead could certainly respect that need for privacy. This is a man who hardly anyone has seen the face of outside of his collaborators, but the fact that he goes out of his way to where a KFC bucket on his head every time he plays doesn’t exactly scream ‘Don’t Look At Me’.
While it’s a wonder how Buckethead landed on Axl Rose’s radar when making Chinese Democracy, the amount of leads he put on every song is absolute God-level stuff. Finding a weird middle ground between Steve Vai and Joe Satriani, Buckethead managed to make the kind of sounds that no one had thought could come out of a guitar before, leading to Slash having to give it up for him.
In an interview with LA Weekly, Slash admitted that Buckethead could play circles around him if they were to perform together, saying, “Anybody who knows me knows that technically I couldn’t play my way out of a paper bag. [Laughs] Or a Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket, for that matter. I manage to do what it is I do, based on a certain kind of feel and sound. I’m getting better at it, but I’ve never been what you’d call a technical guitar player, so he’s totally [better].”
Although Buckethead might have more awe-inspiring moments, those moments weren’t exactly used the best on Chinese Democracy. Don’t get me wrong; the leads still sound fantastic, but oftentimes, listening to Buckethead lines is like looking into the sun; you’re bound to hurt yourself if you look too close. Since Rose thought that any Buckethead solo would do, though, the entire record can be a chore if you’re trying to put everything under one roof.
It didn’t matter one bit to Slash, either, electing to work on his own with his own round-robin of singers on his solo album before forming Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators to back him throughout his solo career. Buckethead certainly had technical chops and could put most guitarists to shame every time he played, but when looking at the glory years of the group, Slash might be the best guitarist for Guns N’ Roses’ style of music rather than the most talented musician the group ever had.
