Is Slash really a better guitarist today than he was in the 90s?

[El Guapo]

16 minutes ago, moreblack said:

The dude can play for sure. But in the era that he emerged, at the peak of punk and with the big players in rock being stuff like the Stones and Bad Company, EvH must have come across as the ultimate wanker. 

But he wasn't, it was always song oriented, apart from stuff like eruption of course. But that was short.

You could say the same about Hendrix then, he blew everybody away. But he had the songs and the taste. That's exactly the big difference. Could Slash come up now with something like Little Wing? I don't feel it.

[jacdaniel]

Noodling is a thing that Fortus, Bucket and Bumble did. Half the solos on CD are pure shite and just mindless noodling. 

Look at Fortus butcher the opening solo in Nightrain every night. Just tries to play as many notes as possible. His other solos are all similar.

I feel like sometimes CD fans get bitter that Axls vocals are going bad, Frank's drumming is bad and not many care much for CD so they open a Slash thread to try even the score.

[moreblack]

Just now, jacdaniel said:

I feel like sometimes CD fans get bitter that Axls vocals are going bad, Frank's drumming is bad and not many care much for CD so they open a Slash thread to try even the score.

And in reality, he's the one saving every show because of said Axl voice.

[TheGeneral]

I have no idea how they do it. I would be incredibly bored and sick of playing the same songs for 30 years.

I think it was Cher who was honest and said that she is so bored of doing her old songs and that she only sings them because she is expected to.

[Tom-Ass]

12 minutes ago, moreblack said:

And in reality, he's the one saving every show because of said Axl voice.

Truth

[Eric Cantona]

Not a fan of the 10-note per second improv he does on the main It's So Easy solo (haven't been watching videos from this leg so i don't know if he's back on track)

Could do without the clean guitar improv before Johnny B. Goode too, not because it's bad, just because it's anticlimactic after the crowd eruption due to his introduction, it'd be so cool if they jumped straight into Johnny B. Goode instead, and kept the energy going

[moreblack]

4 minutes ago, TheGeneral said:

I have no idea how they do it. I would be incredibly bored and sick of playing the same songs for 30 years.

It's their first tour playing them together in forever so there's that. Also they haven't been playing the same songs for all those 30 years, infact until Myles K, Slash probably hadn't played some of those songs for at least 2/3 of that time.

[Jw224]

56 minutes ago, jacdaniel said:

I feel like sometimes CD fans get bitter that Axls vocals are going bad, Frank's drumming is bad and not many care much for CD so they open a Slash thread to try even the score.

I think this is pretty silly 

[Nicklord]

I think Slash had 2 peaks - UYI tour and 2011-2015 SMKC tours. Maybe I would even give a SMKC a slight advantage, his tone wasn't as pretty like in the early 90s but his playing was off the fucking charts. This reunion tour is good but not that amazing and I think the main reason for that is the big ass stage and too much preplanning which means no amazing chemistry. SMKC shows are planned too but not to this extent like for example in Rocket Queen during the same 2014 tour middle jam lasted from 3 to 20 minutes (Paris was the longest I think?) and those are things that create chemistry between members and that's missing here

Edited July 3, 2018 by Nicklord

[Ericstacey]

I went to the Ford Field show and thought he was amazing. It's 5 O Clock Somewhere to me has not aged well-I think the stuff he is doing in the studio also is much better. The first Slash solo album was his best IMO

[Tom-Ass]

31 minutes ago, Nicklord said:

I think Slash had 2 peaks - UYI tour and 2011-2015 SMKC tours. Maybe I would even give a SMKC a slight advantage, his tone wasn't as pretty like in the early 90s but his playing was off the fucking charts. This reunion tour is good but not that amazing and I think the main reason for that is the big ass stage and too much preplanning which means no amazing chemistry. SMKC shows are planned too but not to this extent like for example in Rocket Queen during the same 2014 tour middle jam lasted from 3 to 20 minutes (Paris was the longest I think?) and those are things that create chemistry between members and that's missing here

There was a 30 minute Rocket Queen jam one NYE I believe.. I agree with all your points though. Slash was absolutely on the top of his game prior to the reunion.. There is no chemistry between Slash, Fortus and Frank.. That was apparent right from the April 2016 shows.. The band tightened up since then but the only thing amazing about the performances is that Slash, Duff and Axl are performing together.  That said Slash is still pretty fucking solid and the highlight of these shows.

[Tom-Ass]

2 minutes ago, Ericstacey said:

I went to the Ford Field show and thought he was amazing. It's 5 O Clock Somewhere to me has not aged well-I think the stuff he is doing in the studio also is much better. The first Slash solo album was his best IMO

Yeah, I have a ton of friends, family and acquaintances that went to the Foxboro shows and there was a ton of people posting on facebook about how much Slash kicked ass.  I also agree that a lot the Snakepit stuff didn't age so well.  I think that is more so due to the singers though. 

[Tom2112]

Slash hasn't really impressed me since Contraband as a lead player. That was the last album with a great Slash solo, since then it's overly busy or slow and meandering. Same goes for his live work, just add in hit and miss bending intonation which I've talked about far too often to detail it again.

[-W.A.R-]

Ashba truly is better than the old one.

[tkarmy]

technically he is a beast these days but yea over noddley at times and I can't stand his take on this I love, TWAT, Sorry or better. I mean those solo's are some of my favourite gnr solo's and he takes all the emotion and feel out of them with his shredding over the songs.

But on the whole he is still one of the best there is for sure!

[Gordon Comstock]

Slash is the star of the tour, IMO. And I say that as an Axl & CD-era fan. But this tour isn't perfect and I see where the OP is coming from... a lot of the things Bucket, Ron and even DJ got bashed for, Slash is now guilty of. He does mindlessly noodle sometimes, and he's (occasionally) completely phoned in/butchered solos like TIL, Sorry, Yesterdays, among others. I'm no Ashba fan but somehow, he managed to write a better solo for TIL than Slash could. So credit where it's due for that.

It's an odd thing though, because Slash is technically better than he used to be, and his tone is still great, but (even before the reunion, though to a lesser extent) he's increased the tempo of the old songs to a point where it's like he's trying to push himself, but can't always keep up, or gets too far ahead, and it just leads to a shredding style he's generally not suited for. (DTJ being the exception). On the slower songs it's like he's just trying to keep himself interested so he noodles around.

[default_]

15 minutes ago, Gordon Comstock said:

It's an odd thing though, because Slash is technically better than he used to be, and his tone is still great, but (even before the reunion, though to a lesser extent) he's increased the tempo of the old songs to a point where it's like he's trying to push himself, but can't always keep up, or gets too far ahead, and it just leads to a shredding style he's generally not suited for. (DTJ being the exception). On the slower songs it's like he's just trying to keep himself interested so he noodles around.

He's probably bored as fuck with the whole thing and knew since day one what and how the tour was going to be, Slash has always been a simple guy that just wants to play rock n roll, but now he sees himself caged while doing what he loves the must, it probably turns him off. 

He cant talk, he has to follow strict rules, he cant play new songs, he cant change the setlist... He is basically a prisoner. I would feel extremelly bored too. 

And he probably doesnt care for the Chinese songs, we all know those arent the kind of songs Slash would even consider listen to at his car and thats probably the reason he never bothered on writting a decent solo and thats why he always change em, cause he didnt care to writte one. 

[zepsun]

I've been a Slash-a-holic since I started playing guitar 24 years ago.

He is a more advanced player now - technically speaking. He likes to shred more - this also might be a result of the songs being played much faster - it does take away some of that breathing which usually allows for more melodic phrases. 

I used to admire his ability to make bad notes sound so cool and metal. Long steel bends off-pitch that end up sounding like sound effects rather than notes. Like in It's So Easy Tokyo 92 - starting here almost at the end... albeit he is running, but it fits in so good... and then there's the similar style notes starting the outro at 3:22. I think he is just feeding off his studio solos, enabling him to play around with it live.

TIL would have been way better if he had been the original guitarist on it and did a Don't Cry/Nov. Rain type of thing. The chord progression in TIL fosters repetitiveness in a solo, so my guess is, if Slash, Axl, Izzy had wrote it together the chord progression would have a different feel behind the solo, and Slash would have come up with something more suitable. There was one night in 2016 where be basically did a perfect solo - forget what show.

He still does some cool things, like the sustained bits in Estranged - he bends down to the sustained note instead of sliding... kinda sounds cool. Slash's best moments to me, are the ones where he is going outside of a scale to hit some insane bends, he is using melody, stops and sustains, to create unique phrasing end of Estranged solo (like at 6:36 in the video), OR sweet phrasings like the outro extended solo in Rocket Queen behind "don't ever leave me...."

Also Fortus needs to stop copying what he's doing an octave lower though - it's a bit annoying, at least to me.

 

[pumpkinfarthrh]

12 hours ago, jacdaniel said:

He's the star of the show. Without him, the tour goes back to bowling alleys. 

Of all things to complain about, this is not one of them.

Totally agree.  I saw them twice during the cover band years.  I can say this, listening to DJ butcher SCOM was even more painful than Axl’s weak voice back then.  A number of the songs from the 87-92 era (meaning all of the band’s songs of any consequence) sounded just weird with the other guys playing them.  DJ, Buckethead, and especially Bumblefoot are amazing, world class players I like and respect.  But those songs weren’t theirs. There is something to be said for that.  A lot in fact. Slash has never claimed to be the world’s most technical or cleanest player. But frankly those CD songs are just that.  I get the sense he’s tryjng to make them sound like they should but it’s just not a natural style for him to pull off.  

But like jacdaniel said, if we’re complaining about the solos of songs a weirdly vocal minority of fans care about I think we’re way down in the weeds. Who gives a flip.  I’ll take Slash mailing it in on TIL during my piss break any day over DJ playing SCOM like a School of Rock band any day. 

That said, I do think Slash would do well to stretch his wings a bit on his new material. Apocalyptic and World on Fire were cool but I’d like to see him mix it up a bit.  It’s kind of funny that what he really excels at is different than what he really likes.  

In the end, I’m 43 yrs old. I remember the day Slash left the band.  Up until a few yrs ago we all know how impossible a reunion of Axl/Slash seemed.  We’ve gotten to witness an unbelievable few year run of great shows and zero problems.  And because of tech today we’ve gotten to witness every single show via scope or tube. Zero complaints.  Certainly not a subpar Madagascar solo. Lol. 

[UsedYourIllusion]

It’s weird, his jams with Gilby and Izzy on the UYI tour seemed so natural and organic. I definitely still love his playing; but at times I have to agree with the thread. Velvet Revolver and his initial solo stuff seem far away better from his recent works. 

 

I think his tone sounds worse than it did during the UYI tour. It sounds so weak, no depth which percolates Appetite and the UYI tour. 

 

I think a lot of times he tries to just improv the CD songs and NITL shows too much. I feel like him and Fortus need more time to gel and also replace Frank.. 

[appetite4illusions]

He's definitely a guitar player that peaked when he was about nineteen/twenty years old.

That's not to say he's not still the same amazing musician, but look at what he did when he was at that age. To come up with so many iconoclastic riffs and leads at that time, his musicality and intuition had to be absolutely razor sharp.

In terms of pure emotion, the best stuff he ever did was between 86-87. That's when the Sweet Childs and Rocket Queens and November Rains were written. He was way in touch with something powerfully melodic back then, there didn't seem to be a wasted note. I think nowadays, he isn't as sure about where his leads are going. There are interesting flourishes in his playing, but I guess they're not as coherent or heartfelt.

[dario27]

Slash has always been a band player/musician. and tbh in GNR there's a weaker link than Axl and it definitely influences his playing. Frank.

He HAS improved a lot as a guitarrist, and he has released very good music even after GN'R. I'm 100% sure if we see new material in GN'R, serious material he'll deliver. in a live environment i think he needs another drummer to be more dynamic. 

[Chester 524]

it's funny, when people brought this up in 2012 they said his playing wasn't up to par with the old stuff bc he doesn't have a singer that inspires him.  well now he has his Axl back and I agree with those that say he sucks at TIL.  he should have done way better with that solo

he is still the star of the show though.  hard to deny that. 

 

in my opinion, his life has changed so much since he was a 21 yr old boozing needle and spoon, broke dude with high aspirations.  millions of dollars and never having to open your own door and believing your own hype (and being critized by thousands of strangers) for 25 yrs will change you and I would have to think that would impact your songwriting to a major extent. it's not like he's a naive guitar player with these huge aspirations.  he already accomplished them.  easy to get comfortable 

Edited July 4, 2018 by Chester 524

[Ant]

As a ton of people have said he's technically more proficient than ever but his style and approach has changed. I think a lot of it is the musicians who surround him.

SMKC has this sort of faux-metal washed up sunset vibe -- I think they're all incredibly talented musicians I don't really care for their output and I think it brings out the worst in Slash. Fortus and Frank aren't any better in that respect. 

Slash is funnest when he's got a loose band around him so he can get raunchy and emotive... when he goes for shred and proto-metal he just doesn't play to his strengths. It's weird 'cause I actually really like a lot of what he did in VR... it was more modern rock, less try-hard... sunset metal? haha... I found it way more compelling. It felt less cheesy? for lack of a better word than his solo stuff. I'm not exactly sure why that is the case. 

In the end I just grow more and more appreciative of both Snakepit albums... gritty southern rock and R&B/Soul tinged stuff... way funner to listen to. 

(I play guitar because of Slash).

Edited July 4, 2018 by Ant

[Smokin' Cigarettes]

Not to be judged wrong, the dude can still go and plays at a high level, but it's just different now.  He's trying to play like a 'virtuoso' blues guitarist which by default takes some of the shine of his style away.