Slash played Don’t Damn Me with Todd Kerns on vocals

[Free Bird]

Not funny

[KeyserSoze]

Does anybody think Slash might just be playing too *FAST* in this day and age?

I feel like I hear it a LOT on the Chi Dem solos that have been well discussed for years now. It just seems like theres no vibe about it, just Slash trying to fit as many notes that sound some what good together into his solos before he drops back into the song. Its like comparing the solos on November Rain and Estranged, heck even Breakdown and Locomotive, to something recent Slash has done. I know the GNR songs i mentioned are slower, but where is the vibeeee, the FEEL? the FINESSE that fits each song differently...

Speed Parade indeed....

[jacdaniel]

The sad thing is, I watched a bunch of videos from the last 2 SMKC shows and the band was really tight and Slash was awesome. 

But I guess most people here will just listen to that 30 second solo on Don’t Damn Me. 

[El Guapo]

1 hour ago, KeyserSoze said:

Does anybody think Slash might just be playing too *FAST* in this day and age?

I feel like I hear it a LOT on the Chi Dem solos that have been well discussed for years now. It just seems like theres no vibe about it, just Slash trying to fit as many notes that sound some what good together into his solos before he drops back into the song. Its like comparing the solos on November Rain and Estranged, heck even Breakdown and Locomotive, to something recent Slash has done. I know the GNR songs i mentioned are slower, but where is the vibeeee, the FEEL? the FINESSE that fits each song differently...

Speed Parade indeed....

Maybe he's trying to outshred Bucket and Bumble and isn't even aware of it.

[evilfacelessturtle]

3 hours ago, KeyserSoze said:

Does anybody think Slash might just be playing too *FAST* in this day and age?

I feel like I hear it a LOT on the Chi Dem solos that have been well discussed for years now. It just seems like theres no vibe about it, just Slash trying to fit as many notes that sound some what good together into his solos before he drops back into the song. Its like comparing the solos on November Rain and Estranged, heck even Breakdown and Locomotive, to something recent Slash has done. I know the GNR songs i mentioned are slower, but where is the vibeeee, the FEEL? the FINESSE that fits each song differently...

Speed Parade indeed....

I've been saying it for a while, he's verging into shredder territory these days.

It seemed to start on the Libertad tour, when he started doing tremolo picking (see 3:36)

However, he still has a pretty good feel there and wasn't missing half the notes like he does these days.

Then, he did Nothing To Say on the solo album. AL was more classic style stuff, but then WOF delved into metal.

My favorite quote from Slash is "Instead of playing patterns, hear the melody you're going for."

Sadly, he seems to have lost sight of that himself.

[22frets]

1 hour ago, evilfacelessturtle said:

I've been saying it for a while, he's verging into shredder territory these days.

It seemed to start on the Libertad tour, when he started doing tremolo picking (see 3:36)

However, he still has a pretty good feel there and wasn't missing half the notes like he does these days.

Then, he did Nothing To Say on the solo album. AL was more classic style stuff, but then WOF delved into metal.

My favorite quote from Slash is "Instead of playing patterns, hear the melody you're going for."

Sadly, he seems to have lost sight of that himself.

Well said. I think at a certain point he felt the need to expand his guitar playing technique and started leaning more into faster playing techniques like tremolo picking. 

Back in his GnR and Snakepit days, you could clearly see that his playing was somewhat limited in terms of technique and he used a lot of the same licks in many of his solos. But the key difference was that he heavily relied on phrasing and note choices to make the solos stand out and fit the song like a glove. He played each note with a purpose and did not try to overdo it. 

Present Slash is definitely a lot more skilled in terms of what he can do on guitar but his sense of phrasing and melody has been on the decline (moreso in live settings) because he leans more on fast technical playing to get through a solo. Even while playing his older solos, he just tries to string fast licks together without giving them room to breathe. 

Coupled with the fact that he's always been an off-the-cuff player who doesn't try to play his solos note-for-note (apart from the ones he considers iconic enough), it gets tiring when a lot of his soloing is taken over by really fast licks without much structure or melody. 

That said, Slash is still an amazing player and still manages to strike gold in albums and live performances. But I wish he'd dial down a bit to go back to his roots that made him the player that he is. 

[MaskingApathy]

11 hours ago, DTJ80 said:

Nah man - it’s really easy to be a part time front man like Todd and sound good like this. At this tempo and in the right circumstances Axl could easily replicate it - early in the set etc etc.

One thing that’s missing is the lack of any anger in the delivery. It’s kinda just spoken - Axl might be able to add more of that. It’s the tempo that’s key….if slowed a notch it offers more breathing time.

However it’s still very cool to hear it in any form, done well and actually shows it COULD happen in the future.

 

On 1/25/2024 at 5:18 PM, DTJ80 said:

I think he did a good job. However - while I agree that breath control is key here it shouldn’t be forgotten that Kerns only sang lead on THREE songs so had plenty of gas in the tank.

I’m pretty sure if Axl was to have a go early on in a gig he could do absolutely fine.

One thing that was missing from Kerns (and probably from Axl if he did it) is the palpable anger that the original has. Obviously it’s a 30 year old song etc however it’s quite telling how different it sounds ‘speaking/singing’ it like Kerns - it didn’t have the bite and rage.

Keep in mind though that Todd is also singing backing vocals/harmonies for all the other songs in the set, it's not like he's only singing 3 songs and that's it. He's singing during the whole set. He just knows how to take care of his voice and make it last for the whole show.

Yeah I agree about the anger, but (like you said) I think the only person who could replicate that is Axl in 1991-1993. I'm not sure he could do it now.

[Towlie]

1 hour ago, MaskingApathy said:

 

Keep in mind though that Todd is also singing backing vocals/harmonies for all the other songs in the set, it's not like he's only singing 3 songs and that's it. He's singing during the whole set. He just knows how to take care of his voice and make it last for the whole show.

Yeah I agree about the anger, but (like you said) I think the only person who could replicate that is Axl in 1991-1993. I'm not sure he could do it now.

Also need to keep in mind he's playing bass at the same time as singing, which for a song like this is insanely difficult. The level of focus required to exert anger while singing lyrical onslaught of a song along with playing an instrument might be a bit beyond reasonable expectation.

[StrangerInThisTown]

20 hours ago, MaskingApathy said:

No thanks, I don't want to see Frank Ferrer mess it up.

That's stupid - the only other alternative is you seeing him ruin the same old shit. So you like that better then? Because it has to be one or the other.

Edited January 29 by StrangerInThisTown

[Ant000]

There's nothing more annoying than a guitarist just noodling. Shredding, it's horrid. It's the same thing when you try to get a band together, you always end up with these noodlers, y'know...When I first met him, yeah. Slash was a noodler, man. I think he still is. Like in Guns N' Roses he would noodle, but then the vocals would come back in and that would shut him up.

[El Guapo]

2 hours ago, Ant000 said:

There's nothing more annoying than a guitarist just noodling. Shredding, it's horrid. It's the same thing when you try to get a band together, you always end up with these noodlers, y'know...When I first met him, yeah. Slash was a noodler, man. I think he still is. Like in Guns N' Roses he would noodle, but then the vocals would come back in and that would shut him up.

Izzy knew

[DeNfr]

 

his game has clearly evolved with his technique and the speed of execution has somewhat
taken precedence over inspiration, probably in order to remain relevant by following the
current standard of shredders, which is rather funny when you think that he didn't want to
take this path when he started because everyone played like Van Halen, and he declared
not so long ago that a guitarist like Buckethead had no soul...I imagine that wearing a
pacemaker must also have had an impact on his approach.
 

 

[Rovim]

15 minutes ago, DeNfr said:

 

his game has clearly evolved with his technique and the speed of execution has somewhat
taken precedence over inspiration, probably in order to remain relevant by following the
current standard of shredders, which is rather funny when you think that he didn't want to
take this path when he started because everyone played like Van Halen, and he declared
not so long ago that a guitarist like Buckethead had no soul...I imagine that wearing a
pacemaker must also have had an impact on his approach.
 

 

I speculate that Slash doesn't care about other guitar players and that the pacemaker has nothing to do with his current approach. what he said about Bucket years ago was that he's not interested in "that type of playing" or something like that. he has since changed his mind about Bucket as a guitar player or at the very least his work on Chinese. he also said that instrumental guitar music is not his thing.

when you're the type of player like Slash is, not really interested in sitting down and learning even your own material when it comes to solos and you prefer to improvise as much as possible with doing as little thinking as possible while playing (nothing wrong with that) then in your less inspired moment an easy out is to just noodle/shred and fill the space with....something. 

Slash also said that back in the old days his alcohol intake probably made him play slower or hang on a bended note longer. he also said that the excitement of playing live nowdays sometimes makes him play faster.

I think that he's not nearly as inspired as he once was. he wa always a noodler, but he could rely on his feel to give it way more direction. now it's much more hit or miss but it's a common thing among not only older guitar players but also in any age group.

it's not easy to not overplay and since being sober it seems that for whatever reason you choose to believe, he overplays a lot more and his phrasing is not as good or at least as consistant as it used to be.

[Seb91]

Slash's sloppiness isn't a big deal for me. I'd much rather see a guitarist fly by the seat of their pants and improvise than play the same thing night after night, even if that means there are ropey moments. I guess that's how he stays engaged playing live. That being said, I agree he's changed as a player. For me, the last great thing he did was the solo album back in 2010. Some great riffs and it was fun to see him live at Download which is the best I've seen him solo band wise I feel (Lemmy came on and did Dr. Alibi which was awesome). It was also fun to see him play GN'R stuff he hadn't played in years. I was underwhelmed by the shows I saw in 2012.

Enjoyed the performance of Don't Damn Me and prefer Todd as a frontman to Myles. Maybe it's because he's got more of that punk energy. I was wowed by Myles' vocals at Download but found him lacklustre as a frontman in terms of a whole show when I saw Slash live in Birmingham in 2011. Interestingly, the festival sets I've seen I preferred and they were shorter. Myles has the pipes for sure but find him uninteresting as a frontman. It probably doesn't help that the other frontman plays with is Axl and he's obviously one of the best. It's why with hindsight I'm glad that the Zeppelin guys didn't end up touring with Myles as he's no Robert Plant either. I don't want to come across too harsh on the guy as I do love him in Alter Bridge. Just don't think he's best suited to classic rock shows.  

Love Slash and haven't been able to get to any GN'R shows post-reunion so was tempted by Wembley but with the added costs these days I have due to disability I decided against it. Will just hope Guns come around again next year and it'll finally work out for me date wise! 

Edited January 29 by Seb91

[2020_Intensions]

3 minutes ago, Seb91 said:

Slash's sloppiness isn't a big deal for me. I'd much rather see a guitarist fly by the seat of their pants and improvise than play the same thing night after night,

This is the first time Slash has ever played this song live, so your entire excuse for him completely butchering his own solo is invalid 

[DeNfr]

4 minutes ago, Seb91 said:

For me, the last great thing he did was the solo album back in 2010. Some great riffs and it was fun to see him live at Download which is the best I've seen him solo band wise I feel (Lemmy came on and did Dr. Alibi which was awesome).

for me probably 2012 with Anastasia

[Seb91]

3 minutes ago, 2020_Intensions said:

This is the first time Slash has ever played this song live, so your entire excuse for him completely butchering his own solo is invalid 

 

I was talking about his playing more widely. 

 

1 minute ago, DeNfr said:

for me probably 2012 with Anastasia

 

Yeah, that's an incredible song! 

[MaskingApathy]

9 hours ago, StrangerInThisTown said:

That's stupid - the only other alternative is you seeing him ruin the same old shit. So you like that better then? Because it has to be one or the other.

I would rather see Fitzy play it probably than Frank do something weird with it and ruin the song. 

[Ralphelmo]

It's an interesting question, will they ever bring Fitzy if Frank gets sick? It's a nobrainer for everybody, but for Axl?

 

[StrangerInThisTown]

26 minutes ago, MaskingApathy said:

I would rather see Fitzy play it probably than Frank do something weird with it and ruin the song. 

I don't think you understood my question, instead of answering me you just made an identical post as your earlier one, just with different words. I could literally copy paste my question to your reply again

[Blackstar]

23 minutes ago, Ralphelmo said:

It's an interesting question, will they ever bring Fitzy if Frank gets sick? It's a nobrainer for everybody, but for Axl?

 

For Axl it's a no-BRAINer

[StrangerInThisTown]

27 minutes ago, Ralphelmo said:

It's an interesting question, will they ever bring Fitzy if Frank gets sick? It's a nobrainer for everybody, but for Axl?

 

How is it a no brainer, Brain is every bit as good as Fitz and has also already played with the band before.

[DoMw94]

1 hour ago, Ralphelmo said:

It's an interesting question, will they ever bring Fitzy if Frank gets sick? It's a nobrainer for everybody, but for Axl?

 

Obviously it'd be Brain. He still tours with the band often and probably knows more of the back catalogue too

[MaskingApathy]

7 hours ago, StrangerInThisTown said:

I don't think you understood my question, instead of answering me you just made an identical post as your earlier one, just with different words. I could literally copy paste my question to your reply again

I don't understand what you're asking then.

[moreblack]

8 hours ago, Ralphelmo said:

It's an interesting question, will they ever bring Fitzy if Frank gets sick? It's a nobrainer for everybody, but for Axl?

Really don't think so, SMKC is its own unit. And Axl prefers to work with people he picks himself. Plus GNR can afford a bigger name like Josh Freese or bring Brain back maybe now that Melissa's in the band.