The fastest guitarist in the world, according to Joe Perry
Joe Perry didn’t set out to be the most mind-bending guitarist when he first formed Aerosmith.
Ever since he began working with Steven Tyler, the focus was all around rhythm on their greatest tracks, and even on their first song, ‘Movin’ Out’, they were already toying with adding a little bit of swing into their music. They were clearly following the lead of some of their heroes with a more rhythmic twist, but that didn’t mean that Perry couldn’t appreciate when a guitarist was absolutely changing the game when they began playing.
But Perry was already restructuring what it meant to be a guitar hero whenever he performed. He did have the same kind of rock and roll swagger that you’d normally expect out of someone like Keith Richards or Jimmy Page, but you wouldn’t mistake his style for anyone else’s when you heard ‘Walk This Way’. This was the sound of blues getting a healthy dose of funk put into it, and while everyone likes to compare them to The Stones, there are some grooves that the Meters would have been proud to play on some of their records.
And while Perry was a great riff master whenever coming up with their best tunes, he wasn’t exactly looking to be the greatest rock and roll lead guitarist in town. He had a sound that worked for what he was trying to do, but when looking at the greatest artists of all time, there was no way that he could have even thought of making the same kind of licks that Jeff Beck was doing around the same time.
That simply wasn’t how his brain worked, and when looking through his discography, that’s probably a good thing. Not all of Aerosmith’s music was meant to have the fastest leads by any stretch, and when they did kick up the BPM on tunes like ‘Rats in the Cellar’, the messiness of some of the riffs felt a lot closer to what the biggest names in punk would be doing only a few years later.
But compared to all the other guitarists in his field, Alvin Lee was one of the first people who truly stunned Perry when he saw him. Since this was years before Eddie Van Halen came on the scene, hearing Lee go through every single lead lick at lightning speed didn’t even seem possible, and while it was inspiring, Perry felt that no one could really catch him when working on their own blues solos.
Blues may have been about playing from the heart, but Perry had to appreciate the craftsmanship that Lee put into every one of his tunes, saying, “I remember sitting in the audience going, ‘God, how the fuck is he doing that?’ Because for about five minutes, he was the fastest guitar player on the planet. That was his thing. But listening to him play now, I know exactly what he’s doing, and I can pick it apart. I can probably learn the riff. Because like I said, back when I saw him, I was stunned.”
Even if the licks weren’t the hardest thing in the world, the fact that he was putting that passion into it was something that Perry needed to strive for if he wanted to join a band. It’s one thing to jam with friends, but having the kind of fire in his belly as Lee had was what got people in seats and their eyes glued to the stage.
Because while so many people like the idea of singing along to beautiful melodies, it’s not always about getting a sing-along going whenever a band goes out onstage. Most artists know how to go for the throat, and Perry wanted to give the audience a night they wouldn’t soon forget whenever he launched into one of Aerosmith’s anthems whenever they performed.
