Slash’s secret to being a great guitar player
One of the most exciting things about music is that despite the constantly changing technology available to us, different genres being created and eventually overlapping, and how different it looks now compared to hundreds of years ago, the mindset behind music remains the same. From Mozart to Guns N’ Roses, the philosophy that goes into making different kinds of music is constant.
One of the most significant artistic movements in history is the Romantic period. Prior to romanticism, music was all about flexing creative muscles. Composers would create complicated passages to show they could, and people would sit in awe at the talent on display. However, when romanticism came into play, it stopped being that people were impressed by the complicated nature of music and instead started resonating with listeners on a deeper level.
Romanticism has withstood the test of time. Granted, there are many artists who make complicated music to flex their artistic muscles, and that’s lovely, but most of us, as listeners, want to feel a deep connection with the music that we listen to. Music can touch us in a profound way, and we can become obsessed with the fact that our internal emotions are put on display in the most beautiful way.
It’s difficult to pinpoint where Romanticism began, but Bach was undoubtedly a big part of its development. He was a big believer that if somebody were going to play sad music, they themselves should play in a way that makes them feel sad. Equally, he said if you were playing a piece rooted in joy and happiness, those feelings should be linked with your piece as you play.
Centuries later, and that mindset still stands. The way that music sounds and the instruments that go into making it look vastly different, but the attitude that should be used to create it hasn’t shifted at all. This is clearly seen in Slash and what he believes is the secret to being a great guitar player. Yes, you need to be technically proficient, but that’s only half the battle, as the Guns N’ Roses guitarist believes that someone can only achieve greatness when they allow their emotions and personality to come through in their style of playing.
“What really makes a great guitar player is a guitar player who expresses their true personality in their music,” he said, “So, what you’re hearing is one individual. All people are different, and all players are different, and the people that I really enjoy the most, it’s not a skill set or a focused skill thing about how fast, how schooled and how insanely gifted anybody necessarily is; it’s all about how much of that unique person comes out in their instrument.”
He continued, “You actually really appreciate the way that they sound, you know what I mean? I think that, to me, is what really makes a great guitar player.” His mindset is akin to Bach’s, showing that while music changes, what connects us to it and makes us love it persists.
