What happened to Slash's guitar playing?

[TiedHands]

Out of all the songs on CD, "Street of Dreams" was the one closest to Slash's wheelhouse. He didn't have to play it note for note, but he wasn't even in the same stratosphere. And its a pretty simple solo. Im an amateur and can play that solo note for note. Its obviously not because he *can't* play it, its because he doesn't care. These guys are just collecting paychecks at this point. 

[sackxl]

On 6/18/2022 at 6:05 PM, AxlRoseCDII said:

The Street of Dreams solo from Slash was complete dogshit. Completely shat on the CD Guitarists. If you don’t want to practice it just have Fortus do it. Sounded like a kid trying to stay in key and improvise in a high school garage band. Axl didn’t even sound that different from 2011/2012, think he was fine.

 

And so he should because they shat on him (without trying to but just from lack of ability sans BH).

I love that Slash treated every one of their solos as a joke and put down his own.

[Beto 22]

4 hours ago, AxlRoseCDII said:

The issue right now is that Robin Finck’s Chinese solos sounds more like Slash than Slash does on CD songs live.

 

Slash clearly seems to have written, inspired solos for Hard Skool and Absurd, so maybe it’s more of a matter of releasing new material, so hopefully the singles Slash was talking about eventually suffice. I have no doubt he could write something on Atlas or Perhaps he would be happy with as a studio release. 

Well, I gotta disagree...

Although Absurd became more guitar driven the main riff its the same tha was on the demo with the sub bass riff

 

And closer to the "Bumblefoot" 

 

And as far as Hard Skool goes, Duff, Slash made the song pretty stock tryin to incorporate classic gnr sounds like the cowbel, the drum fill with starting bass riff .

The demo for Hard Skool sounds a finished version and the finished version sound like a demo

[Voodoochild]

Im pretending the comment above (not the one from Beto) was an experimental attempt to make a funny post.

Anyways...

6 hours ago, Rovim said:

but back in the 90's he was a lot more inspired plus he was drunk and high. He seems to be more comfortable when he's doing a blues type solo so not sure if this example works here.

I think if it was easy for Slash and he was truly interested in playing more lyrically like he used to do, he would have done it by now. He butchered Catcher as well so if he doesn't want to sit down and really figure out what he should play on Chinese tunes for example, what are you going to do? I think about the amount of solos Slash needs to play in every show for 3 hours and it puts things into perspective for me.

also I think that serving the song is only one goal for Slash when he's playing live and he talked about how sometimes he loses control and plays faster cause he's just too excited to slow down. I wish he did, I don't like mindless shredding personally, and I don't think it's impossible for Slash to do what you're suggesting but I don't think he will cause I'm guessing he prefers to maybe enjoy it more by doing it his way and he doesn't seem to be too concerned about shredding over a mid tempo/ballad type song.

 

I wasn't talking about a bluesy solo, but the actual Blues kind of music. When he plays a blues track even nowadays, he gives a lot of space for the solo to breath, even if he's just improvising. That's why I mentioned it besides his 90s era. 

It's not hard to play coherent solos, it doesn't matter if he plays 3 hours plus. It's actually easier. 

The bit he said about slowing down because he gets too excited, IMO, is more about things he plays in extended jams like Anastasia or DTJ. Because those are jams, it's when he should improvise anyways. He played solos for the covers just fine, why couldn't he do the same for songs like TIL and SOD? I'm not even saying he should write something, like he did with Better. He can improvise all he want, but it needs to make sense with the song. If he's incapable of doing it, he's not a good professional guitarist. It really is that basic. I don't think he's incapable, unless it's just a mental health issue (Robin was his direct replacement, we don't know how much Slash blames him). I don't think it's the case either. He just despise the songs.

4 hours ago, AxlRoseCDII said:

Slash clearly seems to have written, inspired solos for Hard Skool and Absurd, so maybe it’s more of a matter of releasing new material, so hopefully the singles Slash was talking about eventually suffice. I have no doubt he could write something on Atlas or Perhaps he would be happy with as a studio release. 

I have 100% confidence he's more than capable of doing this. 

[AxlRoseCDII]

24 minutes ago, Voodoochild said:

Im pretending the comment above (not the one from Beto) was an experimental attempt to make a funny post.

Anyways...

I wasn't talking about a bluesy solo, but the actual Blues kind of music. When he plays a blues track even nowadays, he gives a lot of space for the solo to breath, even if he's just improvising. That's why I mentioned it besides his 90s era. 

It's not hard to play coherent solos, it doesn't matter if he plays 3 hours plus. It's actually easier. 

The bit he said about slowing down because he gets too excited, IMO, is more about things he plays in extended jams like Anastasia or DTJ. Because those are jams, it's when he should improvise anyways. He played solos for the covers just fine, why couldn't he do the same for songs like TIL and SOD? I'm not even saying he should write something, like he did with Better. He can improvise all he want, but it needs to make sense with the song. If he's incapable of doing it, he's not a good professional guitarist. It really is that basic. I don't think he's incapable, unless it's just a mental health issue (Robin was his direct replacement, we don't know how much Slash blames him). I don't think it's the case either. He just despise the songs.

I have 100% confidence he's more than capable of doing this. 

Obviously it’s looking too deep into it but I think there’s a potential element to Slash really just wanting to push out new music that he can put his original stamp on. Revisiting songs he didn’t work on just doesn’t excite him. Now as a guy just on a keyboard over the internet I’m obviously looking too deep into it but I think it’s entirely possible.

[MaskingApathy]

5 hours ago, Nintari said:

From my own experiences, I've noticed a direct correlation between how much I'm into a song and how well I'm playing/singing. If Slash is the same way, maybe that's the explanation. Maybe he's just bored. 

 

14 minutes ago, AxlRoseCDII said:

Obviously it’s looking too deep into it but I think there’s a potential element to Slash really just wanting to push out new music that he can put his original stamp on. Revisiting songs he didn’t work on just doesn’t excite him. Now as a guy just on a keyboard over the internet I’m obviously looking too deep into it but I think it’s entirely possible.

This 100%, same thing seemed to happen with TIL, he got bored with it after the first few times.

[Stro]

7 hours ago, TiedHands said:

Out of all the songs on CD, "Street of Dreams" was the one closest to Slash's wheelhouse. He didn't have to play it note for note, but he wasn't even in the same stratosphere. And its a pretty simple solo. Im an amateur and can play that solo note for note. Its obviously not because he *can't* play it, its because he doesn't care. These guys are just collecting paychecks at this point. 

Better, Sorry, and SOD all had very Slash-like solos, and when Slash played them he tried to play them like what he interprets Bucket/Ron's playing style to be. It's real weird.

[SoulMonster]

I think we all just want to hear a NEW Guns N' Roses song with a Slash-written solo on it.

[Rovim]

5 hours ago, Voodoochild said:

Im pretending the comment above (not the one from Beto) was an experimental attempt to make a funny post.

Anyways...

I wasn't talking about a bluesy solo, but the actual Blues kind of music. When he plays a blues track even nowadays, he gives a lot of space for the solo to breath, even if he's just improvising. That's why I mentioned it besides his 90s era. 

It's not hard to play coherent solos, it doesn't matter if he plays 3 hours plus. It's actually easier. 

The bit he said about slowing down because he gets too excited, IMO, is more about things he plays in extended jams like Anastasia or DTJ. Because those are jams, it's when he should improvise anyways. He played solos for the covers just fine, why couldn't he do the same for songs like TIL and SOD? I'm not even saying he should write something, like he did with Better. He can improvise all he want, but it needs to make sense with the song. If he's incapable of doing it, he's not a good professional guitarist. It really is that basic. I don't think he's incapable, unless it's just a mental health issue (Robin was his direct replacement, we don't know how much Slash blames him). I don't think it's the case either. He just despise the songs.

I have 100% confidence he's more than capable of doing this. 

just to be clear: I was talking about Slash's solo spots where he plays a bluesy solo on top of a standard blues chord progression. Sometimes there's almost no fat at all, it doesn't lose direction and is very melodic, I agree.

anyway... he just despises the song? we don't know how he feels about any of this shit except what we know from comments he made in interviews, if you choose to believe those, which I do.

you can call Slash unprofessional, but for more than a decade now, he only doubled down on his "improvise as much as you can" approach. So my guess is Slash doesn't enjoy some aspects of the process in general, and maybe Chinese material, something he didn't create, is not something he has a desire to invest more time and thought than he already has into.

also: I believe that sometimes it's harder to play slower cause as a guitar player you're more exposed to fuckin' up when in the moment you've got nothing so you just fall back on speeding shit up and covering it with a lot of notes. Slash does this with his own material live as well and recently, even in the studio (it's not planned out) so maybe it's an important factor to remember who are we talking about here and what we can realistically expect from a guy with his approach and priorities.

even if some task is very easy, it's easier not to do it at all and I'm not excusing Slash's choice, I'm just trying to understand it.

 

 

 

Edited June 21, 2022 by Rovim

[jacdaniel]

It's not exactly news that Slash quit Guns in 1996 and the main reason was musical differences and an inability to agree on direction of a new album. 

Essentially, Slash didn't want to play the music that became Chinese. 

Now in his older age he is much politer, has a professional relationship with Axl and is willing to play them. 

 

Still very much doubt he truly enjoys those songs though. He does seem to enjoy Twat.

[Stay.Of.Execution]

4 minutes ago, jacdaniel said:

It's not exactly news that Slash quit Guns in 1996 and the main reason was musical differences and an inability to agree on direction of a new album. 

 

Slash's book says otherwise

[ZoSo]

Just watched the latest take on this solo in Warsaw; it's worse than the one he did in Prague! It sounds like a random brain dump onto the fretboard, which isn't even in time with the chord changes or melody of the song. One of Slash's favourite sayings is how he always tries to get what's going on in his head to his fingers and onto the fretboard as fast as he can, but It's not working as well as he'd hoped in these two cases.

This sort of playing in my experience of playing in a band is usually down to one of two things:

1. He has absolutely no love for the song. Doesn't matter if you're in a garage band or playing stadiums; if you aren't digging the song then you're going to put in as little effort to playing as possible. You might be professional and courteous enough to say to your band mates "yeah, I'll do that" but if your heart and head isn't into that song then you aren't going to dwell on learning it properly, or taking any care in how you perform it live. Been there done that.

2. There are personal problems going on in your head/life/world which are affecting your ability to put your all into something. Granted though, this scenario would also affect your entire performance so to me it's likely to be the first.

As an aside, Duff looks absolutely bored-to-tears these last two gigs as well... they don't look like a happy band at the moment, well apart from Axl who's looking great!

Edited June 21, 2022 by ZoSo

[Naupis]

If this band was writing and releasing new material Slash's interest level in all things GNR would be orders of magnitude higher.

The fact that alimony and Brazilian families are expensive to maintain are about the only reason GNR is touring anyway, so I take whatever we can get because as a creative entity this band is dead as a door knob right now and have been going through the motions for years now.

I vacillate between being happy Slash is content to join Axl in this lifeless endeavor and other days wishing he would just wash his hands of it and realize he is better than re-recording and in any ways contributing to crap like Silkworms.

Getting worked up about his refusal to properly learn the Chinese stuff is lowest on the totem poll of issues I have with GNR at this stage in the game.

[DTJ80]

11 hours ago, sackxl said:

 

And so he should because they shat on him (without trying to but just from lack of ability sans BH).

I love that Slash treated every one of their solos as a joke and put down his own.

Not sure if this is a wind-up or not 🤣. Each member who followed were extremely respectful of the Slash/classic material. And in actual fact many are technically superb players - Richard is a fantastic player for example and does an ace job replicating BH stuff.

1 hour ago, jacdaniel said:

It's not exactly news that Slash quit Guns in 1996 and the main reason was musical differences and an inability to agree on direction of a new album. 

Essentially, Slash didn't want to play the music that became Chinese. 

Now in his older age he is much politer, has a professional relationship with Axl and is willing to play them. 

 

Still very much doubt he truly enjoys those songs though. He does seem to enjoy Twat.

If we ended up with an album of Eye On You/Silkworms (as the demo)/OMG then yeah I can understand the clash…..why CD ended up being wasnt exactly far away from UYI stylistically?

We really don’t know what he thinks - he plays the stuff, certainly seems to enjoy CD/Better and has played it enough and whether we like it or not - if he wants to provide his own solo then as lead guitarist it’s his prerogative…..

[Free Bird]

On 6/19/2022 at 10:30 PM, Beto 22 said:

Slash problems are laziness and lack of profissionalism

A lot was written here but this sentence is gold. 

Who ever you are, you aren't aware of GNR's history  at all...

[Free Bird]

The guys play gigs for 3 hours with Axl sounding like a parody of his former self most of the time and you guys wank over an uninspiring Slash solo for a song that's known by probably 5% of the audience. 

And now suddently Slash is the weak link of the band and lost his ability to write soulful solos. Maybe he just doesn't feel the song and isn't inspired by this music? Maybe he just plays it as a favour to Axl? When I'm listening to his own stuff written for GNR, his solo stuff or the guest appearances he did lately, it's still all there. How's that possible? 

 

[Beto 22]

6 hours ago, Rovim said:

So my guess is Slash doesn't enjoy some aspects of the process in general, and maybe Chinese material, something he didn't create, is not something he has a desire to invest more time and thought than he already has into.

 

 

 

 

So Slash should give Fortus the.parts to play instead fucking it up the way he does

[Rovim]

5 minutes ago, Beto 22 said:

So Slash should give Fortus the.parts to play instead fucking it up the way he does

yes, but not sure that alone would be enough seeing as how Slash forgot how to play guitar well. He should just do the honorable thing and quit Gn'R while he still got some of his dignity left. Fortus can handle all the solos in Gn'R on his own.

[ZoSoRose]

As I have said before, I genuinely enjoy some of his Chinese takes

Better and CD are really cool. He actually thought of what to play and they are cool alternatives 

He also had some phenomenal versions of TiL in 2016 before he stopped caring on that one 

Everything else is kind of meh. TWAT and Madagascar are essentially the album versions. I’d have rather heard reworked versions (Madagascar with a good bluesy Slash bridge could be cool)

Sorry, Catcher, Prostitute, and Street of Dreams all basically fall into the “shred without care category”. It actually kind of worked with Prostitute imo but the other songs aren’t as good when he over plays imo

[Beto 22]

3 hours ago, Free Bird said:

 

And now suddently Slash is the weak link of the band and lost his ability to write soulful solos. 

 

Suddenly?

 

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Yeah, Slash is bored to play songs like Street of Dreams, Madagascar and  This I Love. I wont even get into the last couple of years in VR. but he is ok playin 98% of the shit he wrote after that ....

Yeah, right...  That has nothing to do with his ego  and his childish behaviour towards things he cant control.

 

If he is so bored and uninspired playin GNR songs he should just quit. 

Since his solo carrer is soooo successfull

Edited June 21, 2022 by Beto 22

[Free Bird]

13 minutes ago, Beto 22 said:

Suddenly?

 

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Yeah, Slash is bored to play songs like Street of Dreams, Madagascar and  This I Love. I wont even get into the last couple of years in VR. but he is ok playin 98% of the shit he wrote after that ....

Yeah, right...  That has nothing to do with his ego  and his childish behaviour towards things he cant control.

 

If he is so bored and uninspired playin GNR songs he should just quit. 

Since his solo carrer is soooo successfull

You probably feel offended by Slash and think he does this on purpose but I think he just plays what he feels and if he doesn't feel the song the result isn't always as you might wish it was. 

[Free Bird]

35 minutes ago, ZoSoRose said:

As I have said before, I genuinely enjoy some of his Chinese takes

Better and CD are really cool. He actually thought of what to play and they are cool alternatives 

He also had some phenomenal versions of TiL in 2016 before he stopped caring on that one 

Everything else is kind of meh. TWAT and Madagascar are essentially the album versions. I’d have rather heard reworked versions (Madagascar with a good bluesy Slash bridge could be cool)

Sorry, Catcher, Prostitute, and Street of Dreams all basically fall into the “shred without care category”. It actually kind of worked with Prostitute imo but the other songs aren’t as good when he over plays imo

I mostly agree with you usually, but how could you list his take on Sorry as "shred without care category"? I haven't listen to all his takes and I know some were weaker than others, but judging by the Selects, and therefore the one  with the best audio, I think he played a very tasteful solo there. If that's noodling then I'm a noodling fan.

Even his TWAT solo which gets often slammed here isn't that bad imo. He had some issues here and there throughout the solo but reached some peaks in terms of 'feel' towards the end that's unmatched even by Bucket.

At least that's what I feel when listening to it.

Like I said, all based by the performances choosed for the Selects.

Edited June 21, 2022 by Free Bird

[invisible_rose]

11 minutes ago, Free Bird said:

You probably feel offended by Slash and think he does this on purpose but I think he just plays what he feels and if he doesn't feel the song the result isn't always as you might wish it was. 

I think everyone is looking far too deep in to this and dreaming up soap operas in their own head. 

I'd say you're probably right. He plays what he kinda feels like, improvises on songs he didn't write, and often the end result is a bit of a car crash. 

I think it's pretty clear that the band is more or less done. Can't see them pulling in crowds like this on another leg. It's going to be arenas, the odd festival or game over. And given Axl's voice and Slash's apparent inability to play guitar anymore, it's probably time they call it a day after this tour rolls through the US. 

[Beto 22]

2 hours ago, Free Bird said:

You probably feel offended by Slash and think he does this on purpose but I think he just plays what he feels and if he doesn't feel the song the result isn't always as you might wish it was. 

I think is funny that you think I feel offended by Slash  .

I really do. I just cant understand people that was merciless and ruthless with every guitar player after Slash left for not playin Slash solos note for note and now they are "suddenly" more forgiven about people playin what they supposedly "feel".

Especially if the old players did a.much better job learnin and playin the songs the way they were written .

Robin, Bucket, Bumble and Fortus played with their "feel"  for years !! It never stopped them to learn the melodic structures of the solos and play them right.

Frank's been playin with his feel for 16 years. It never stopped from learnin his parts.

And he gets bashed for years.

I could talk about Duff playin with his feel and learnin the songs... I could say Axl with Slither

But Slash is the only one to "feel" free to fuck it up songs he hasnt written

 

 

 

Edited June 21, 2022 by Beto 22

[Rovim]

50 minutes ago, invisible_rose said:

I think it's pretty clear that the band is more or less done. Can't see them pulling in crowds like this on another leg. It's going to be arenas, the odd festival or game over. And given Axl's voice and Slash's apparent inability to play guitar anymore, it's probably time they call it a day after this tour rolls through the US. 

Slash can't play anymore cause he noodled twice for 20 seconds on 1 song and it sucked, Axl can't sing anymore cause it doesn't sound as good as when he was in his 20's so they won't be able to pull big crowds after this leg of the tour.

In the meantime, tens of thousands of Gn'R fans probably had a blast last night and the band played almost a 3.5 hours show. Doom doom doom doom doom.

Edited June 21, 2022 by Rovim