“That’s how I like to play”: The musicians Dave Grohl has the most respect for
Despite being best known these days as the frontman and guitarist for Foo Fighters, Dave Grohl will always think of himself first and foremost as a drummer. Having begun his career behind the tubs and cymbals as a member of Nirvana on their final two studio albums, Nevermind and In Utero, he went on to establish himself as a multi-talented songwriter in his own project after the death of Kurt Cobain in 1994.
It’s highly unlikely that someone of Grohl’s talent would have stopped himself from exploring other avenues had Nirvana not disbanded under such tragic and abrupt circumstances, and that he would inevitably have ended up releasing his own material and pursuing other creative outlets somewhere down the line. While he’s remained active as a drummer in other projects, enjoying stints with the likes of Queens of the Stone Age and Them Crooked Vultures, his primary focus has been writing for Foo Fighters and establishing them as one of the most dominant forces in rock music over the last 30 years.
Despite now spending more time standing in front of a microphone and churning out riffs, his approach to playing other instruments has constantly been informed by his experience as a drummer, and some of the unorthodox techniques he has brought to his guitar-playing style are something he attributes to this. Grohl is largely recognised as a rhythm guitarist rather than a lead player, instead leaning on the talents of Chris Shiflett to provide the knottier melodic components, and considering that the drums are a rhythm-oriented instrument, it makes complete sense that he sways towards playing this way.
In a 2010 interview with Louder Sound, Grohl detailed this approach to rhythm guitar playing further, and stated how crucial it was to establishing the Foo Fighters’ sound. “For me,” he began, “it’s important in the Foo Fighters that we have that textural side and there’s colouration of what we do, but I consider myself Malcolm Young, that’s how I like to play guitar. I like to play guitar like a drummer. If you listen to a song such as ‘Everlong’ or ‘The Pretender’, they are good examples.”
While comparing himself to the legendary AC/DC guitarist, he then went on to explain that he even views each guitar string as a separate component of the drumkit, with the low E string being the kick drum, the A and D being the snare, and the three highest strings being the cymbals. “If a chorus comes up,” he continued to explain, “you can imagine me washing on the cymbals, so when I play it on guitar, I’m usually letting the bottom strings ring out underneath a chord that moves around.”
Grohl himself may be regularly hailed as an excellent rhythm guitarist, but he believes that there are so many others who are way out of his league when it comes to celebrated rhythm players. “I have the most respect for the rhythm guitarists of the world,” he told the magazine. “James Hetfield? That guy is a fucking unbelievable rhythm guitarist. Malcolm Young, he’s amazing. Keith Richards too – he’s got swing and groove in the way he plays. It’s a big part of the song, so I don’t fuck around too much – just get in there and go.”
These icons may well often be regarded as the finest rhythm players to have ever graced rock history, but that doesn’t mean that Grohl doesn’t deserve to be recognised in the same breath as such stalwarts of the genre. His playing has likely influenced just as many young players from later generations, and while he might think of himself as a fraud, or as a drummer with a guitar in his hand, he’s still just as noteworthy.
