What happened to Slash's guitar playing?

[Rovim]

1 hour ago, Voodoochild said:

So the whole thing is: I love Slash, if you see my YouTube channel is 90% of Slash covers. But I can't criticize the guy in a single thread, for one particular reason that wasn't even really a complain, but the assumption that he could do it properly (meaning in the sense of the arrangement and tempo of the song) and much better (and he in fact improved the SOD solo, although I still think ). And because I am on the minority, I can't voice this opinion either, because look at how bad Axl is.

Yeah, there's other users here going a bit too far from the original thread, but man, my honest and surely biased opinion (because that's what opinions are, right?) is that Slash in GNR lacks the same energy he has with SMKC. And sometimes that shows with literally uninspired improvisations, especially on top of the songs he didn't write.

is it really that surprising though? with SMKC, which is kinda his baby, he gets to always expand the catalog and he has total control over the musical direction with band members that will do anything he asks for and there is no need to wait for the lead singer to get in the mood to do something other than play the old shit.

it sounds more exciting in some ways compared to playing the same old shit all the time. Having said that, Slash seems excited to play some tunes with Gn'R live and it seems he loves to perform to huge crowds as well.

he's not even close to what he accomplished so many years ago in his peak, that is obvious imo, he's not as inspired but he's still great I think. The effortless instinct of knowing what to play and when to play it is not really there anymore, but there is still only 1 Slash. I choose to accept it and enjoy the moments of brilliance when he's in the zone.

Edited June 30, 2022 by Rovim

[Voodoochild]

6 hours ago, Rovim said:

is it really that surprising though? with SMKC, which is kinda his baby, he gets to always expand the catalog and he has total control over the musical direction with band members that will do anything he asks for and there is no need to wait for the lead singer to get in the mood to do something other than play the old shit.

it sounds more exciting in some ways compared to playing the same old shit all the time. Having said that, Slash seems excited to play some tunes with Gn'R live and it seems he loves to perform to huge crowds as well.

he's not even close to what he accomplished so many years ago in his peak, that is obvious imo, he's not as inspired but he's still great I think. The effortless instinct of knowing what to play and when to play it is not really there anymore, but there is still only 1 Slash. I choose to accept it and enjoy the moments of brilliance when he's in the zone.

Not a surprise. I'm certainly not judging him. It doesn't mean that he will be like that forever, or if he couldn't be any different if he wanted. It is what it is.  At the end of the day, maybe what bothers me is that I still believe he's an awesome player. And I guess his skills can't be depreciated within the years, differently from the voice of any human being.

[El Guapo]

1 hour ago, Voodoochild said:

Not a surprise. I'm certainly not judging him. It doesn't mean that he will be like that forever, or if he couldn't be any different if he wanted. It is what it is.  At the end of the day, maybe what bothers me is that I still believe he's an awesome player. And I guess his skills can't be depreciated within the years, differently from the voice of any human being.

Yeah, who knows what the future brings...maybe his best stuff is yet to come, with Axl or somebody else. 

Now is just not the time it seems.

[Rovim]

10 hours ago, Voodoochild said:

Not a surprise. I'm certainly not judging him. It doesn't mean that he will be like that forever, or if he couldn't be any different if he wanted. It is what it is.  At the end of the day, maybe what bothers me is that I still believe he's an awesome player. And I guess his skills can't be depreciated within the years, differently from the voice of any human being.

yes, I think aging guitar players are in a better position compared to vocalists in that they are mostly still physically able to achieve more or less the same results if they are still inspired and put in the work.

but is Slash really interested in leaving his comfort zone? changing his approach? in the studio and live he seems to be even more intersted in improvising as much as he can when it comes to lead playing and while I still like his live playing and solo studio output, it does sound stale sometimes and he doesn't seem to mind which is why I don't expect the quality of his playing to change much, if at all. He seems perfectly satisfied with playing more notes at a faster speed much of the time.

hell, he recorded his latest album live and I think his goal is to think as little as possible about his music and move on to playing live asap. What you're talking about, I think, involves doing shit that I'm guessing Slash doesn't want to do.

Edited July 1, 2022 by Rovim

[El Guapo]

2 hours ago, Rovim said:

yes, I think aging guitar players are in a better position compared to vocalists in that they can still physically able to achieve more or less the same results if they are still inspired and put in the work.

but is Slash really interested in leaving his comfort zone? changing his approach? in the studio and live he seems to be even more intersted in improvising as much as he can when it comes to lead playing and while I still like his live playing and solo studio output, it does sound stale sometimes and he doesn't seem to mind which is why I don't expect the quality of his playing to change much, if at all. He seems perfectly satisfied with playing more notes at a faster speed much of the time.

hell, he recorded his latest album live and I think his goal is to think as little as possible about his music and move on to playing live asap. What you're talking about, I think, involves doing shit that I'm guessing Slash doesn't want to do.

Which might be one more reason why we will never get truly new music from GnR.

Axl's approach and Slash's approach, how do you unite that?! 

[Rovim]

27 minutes ago, El Guapo said:

Which might be one more reason why we will never get truly new music from GnR.

Axl's approach and Slash's approach, how do you unite that?! 

we don't really know what Slash would be willing to do in the studio if Axl would be interested in recording completely new material. Maybe he would have made a bigger effort for Axl and compromised at least a little bit when it comes to recording approach.

Slash mentioned that he saved a couple of new riffs for Gn'R just in case. I think that maybe the bigger issue is that we don't even have the rest of the Chinese era material that Axl seems to still want to release first, so even if Axl and Slash can find an approach that works for both of them in regards to new material, how long until Axl decides it's good enough for release and how long until he actually releases it? 

not holding my breath for brand new music. The reunion took place 6 years ago. No one seems to be in a hurry to explore what this lineup can come up with from scratch.

even incorporating some of the 1996 Slash recordings Axl raved about would have been interesting. I think there's no shortage of cool shit to do and ideas and talent to work with but again, Axl seems to be focused on the old Chinese tunes and touring, making money.

Edited July 1, 2022 by Rovim

[SoulMonster]

Alan Niven once paraphrased Slash saying he would be willing to make any compromise to ensure that the checks kept coming. Granted, this was likely said in the 90s.

[axl666]

If they release 1 cd song in the next year I'll be happy to be honest. 

Saying that Slash, Dizzy duff and axl have all shown that they cal still write good/great songs. If axl woke up in the morning and said that gnr will release a new album in 12 months time I think they could write 12 good songs in short order. On the other hand I realise that I sound like Duff in 1995. He thought a 12 song hard rock album was coming in the near future.

Poster above is right. Slash is ultra productive with not so strong editorial control. Axl is ultra not productive with super strong editorial instincts.

 

 

Edited July 1, 2022 by axl666

[Free Bird]

1 hour ago, SoulMonster said:

Alan Niven once paraphrased Slash saying he would be willing to make any compromise to ensure that the checks kept coming. Granted, this was likely said in the 90s.

For example touring the world for beers with Slash's Bluesball? Niven proofed overvthe years that he's full of shit.

[SoulMonster]

41 minutes ago, Free Bird said:

For example touring the world for beers with Slash's Bluesball? Niven proofed overvthe years that he's full of shit.

He does seem to get carried away at times with his emotions.

[Voodoochild]

11 hours ago, Rovim said:

yes, I think aging guitar players are in a better position compared to vocalists in that they are mostly still physically able to achieve more or less the same results if they are still inspired and put in the work.

but is Slash really interested in leaving his comfort zone? changing his approach? in the studio and live he seems to be even more intersted in improvising as much as he can when it comes to lead playing and while I still like his live playing and solo studio output, it does sound stale sometimes and he doesn't seem to mind which is why I don't expect the quality of his playing to change much, if at all. He seems perfectly satisfied with playing more notes at a faster speed much of the time.

hell, he recorded his latest album live and I think his goal is to think as little as possible about his music and move on to playing live asap. What you're talking about, I think, involves doing shit that I'm guessing Slash doesn't want to do.

I know. This approach is a bit normal, though. What he used to do (and me too, actually) is to improvise through sessions and live performances and eventually sticking to a base line that feels better and more catchy. The problem here is that they are not interested in creating music live on the get-go, but only in studio environment with less experimenting organically and more in editing on a computer. Certainly Axl is a lot more keen on this approach.

Slash's lead solo in Fill My World on SKMC's latest album is very well thought out, IMO. It's not mind-blowing, but way above average. I do wish that he could regain (literally) his tone from the 80s/90s. The more distorted sound, with a lot of feedback, makes the notes naturally ringing a lot more, thus leading to a more melodic and economic playing. The less gain in his actual tone leads to more notes to fill the spaces. 

[TheGeneral]

It's not just Slash. Listen to bands like Aerosmith live. They are absolutely tight.

The instrumental section of GNR, which is everybody but Axl, sounds terrible. I don't know if it's the mixing, but holy cow they sound bad together. It's like everybody is playing for themselves.

[AxlRoseCDII]

1 hour ago, TheGeneral said:

It's not just Slash. Listen to bands like Aerosmith live. They are absolutely tight.

The instrumental section of GNR, which is everybody but Axl, sounds terrible. I don't know if it's the mixing, but holy cow they sound bad together. It's like everybody is playing for themselves.

I disagree. In 2016/2017 I thought the band was pretty awful honestly, but ever since 2018/19 I felt the instrumental section of GNR has been fairly tight. The only time I notice failure is when Slash bullshits solos, and of course Axl is extremely hit or miss.

[Beto 22]

23 hours ago, Free Bird said:

For example touring the world for beers with Slash's Bluesball? Niven proofed overvthe years that he's full of shit.

As Slash is too... Niven aint the first to say something like that

[Free Bird]

27 minutes ago, Beto 22 said:

As Slash is too... Niven aint the first to say something like that

Right, I've read it here, too, by people with sciolism.

[Beto 22]

2 minutes ago, Free Bird said:

Right, I've read it here, too, by people with sciolism.

Yeah, Slash is a true rocker... He never made his carrer decisions because of money...

 

LOL

[Free Bird]

2 minutes ago, Beto 22 said:

Yeah, Slash is a true rocker... He never made his carrer decisions because of money...

 

LOL

He surely has, like everybody else does. Are you working for free?

[Beto 22]

46 minutes ago, Free Bird said:

He surely has, like everybody else does. Are you working for free?

No, but I was not the one denying what several people that worked with the dude said

[Free Bird]

6 minutes ago, Beto 22 said:

No, but I was not the one denying what several people that worked with the dude said

Who are these several people?

As far as I know, mostly Axl fans use this as an excuse to why Slash keeps working and making music, guest appearances and everything else music related. Axl doesn’t do this, so Slash has to be a sell out. It's not because he's a musician and loves making music 

But Alan Niven said thisand and a frustrated Matt Sorum said that... 

[Beto 22]

53 minutes ago, Free Bird said:

Who are these several people?

As far as I know, mostly Axl fans use this as an excuse to why Slash keeps working and making music, guest appearances and everything else music related. Axl doesn’t do this, so Slash has to be a sell out. It's not because he's a musician and loves making music 

But Alan Niven said thisand and a frustrated Matt Sorum said that... 

Yeah Niven and Sorun are Axl Fanboys.

Slash made a "Santana" kind of record calling Adam Levine, Fergie and the chick from Pussycat Dolls because their well known integrity and love for Rock N' Roll.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[TheGeneral]

1 minute ago, Beto 22 said:

Fergie

It's off topic, but every time I read her name in an online post I can't help myself but to mention how unbelievably atrocious this woman is. I don't know her, she might be nice, but she is a black hole for talent. Her voice is awful and she shits on everything she touches. Rant over.

Thank you for your attention.

[Sosso]

4 minutes ago, TheGeneral said:

It's off topic, but every time I read her name in an online post I can't help myself but to mention how unbelievably atrocious this woman is. I don't know her, she might be nice, but she is a black hole for talent. Her voice is awful and she shits on everything she touches. Rant over.

Thank you for your attention.

Kim Hill > Fergie

[Free Bird]

1 minute ago, Beto 22 said:

Yeah Niven and Sorun are Axl Fanboys.

Slash made a "Santana" kind of record calling Adam Levine, Fergie and the chick from Pussycat Dolls because their well known integrity and love for Rock N' Roll.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Read properly, that was not what I said.

I'm not in the mood to discuss bullshit.

You can call Slash a sellout for releasing music as long as you want if you're happy. 

[Stay.Of.Execution]

9 minutes ago, TheGeneral said:

It's off topic, but every time I read her name in an online post I can't help myself but to mention how unbelievably atrocious this woman is. I don't know her, she might be nice, but she is a black hole for talent. Her voice is awful and she shits on everything she touches. Rant over.

Thank you for your attention.

Never forget her performance at the NBA playoffs. I think that fortunately killed her career 

[Rovim]

11 minutes ago, TheGeneral said:

It's off topic, but every time I read her name in an online post I can't help myself but to mention how unbelievably atrocious this woman is. I don't know her, she might be nice, but she is a black hole for talent. Her voice is awful and she shits on everything she touches. Rant over.

Thank you for your attention.

even if you dislike her voice, it's obvious she can sing and do the rock thing as well imo. Slash said he was impressed with her live performance of Heart's Barracuda. I like Beautiful Dangerous.

A lot of cool shit on Slash and friends. Mother Maria, Doctor Alibi, Watch This, etc. Axl once called Slash "a whore for the limelight" and criticized some of his collaborations but even if Slash wasn't too picky when it came to who he collaborated with like T-Pain for example, in general, it worked for Slash and his career and many of his collaborations yielded great results imo.

it's an old debate, the "integrity" debate which I feel is a bit silly. They all wanted to make it but it doesn't mean that money was the only or main factor. Slash auditioned for Poison, so what. They're responsible for AFD and UYI, so it's good enough for me.

if Slash wants to do something musical it's a good thing and I can always choose to listen to it once if I'm not feeling it and Axl can do another integrity filled beer commercial as well.

Edited July 2, 2022 by Rovim