Artist Spotlight - Slash

Slash

by Lisa Sharken

There is no player today who defines the modern-day guitar hero like Slash. Since the late '80s, his sound and style have influenced the numerous guitarists who have followed his lead, carrying the torch for pure rock and roll and using simple setups to make music. For Slash, that magic combination is typically a Les Paul® Standard equipped with a set of Seymour Duncan® Alnico II Pro pickups played through Marshall® amplifiers. When he emerged with Guns N' Roses, guitarists were turning to rack effects and guitar synths, but Slash instantly wiped the slate and inspired players to just embrace the basics and play from the heart.

Whether he's working with his main bands, doing solo work, or special projects with other artists, Slash meticulously adds an unmistakable thumbprint onto these recordings and live performances. His technique and tonal characteristics make him an in-demand player who is constantly working.

While on a day off with his family, Slash graciously spoke with GroundWire about all the music he's currently working on, how he goes about shaping his tone, and outlined the specs of his new Signature Les Paul Goldtop. Here's the scoop...

Please bring us up to date on what's happening with Velvet Revolver and your other projects.
Velvet Revolver is auditioning singers. We're listening to CDs and MP3s from different guys who are submitting stuff, and we're trying to find the right guy for this particular lineup. We're searching for someone who's right for this band as opposed to making concessions to fit the guy that we pick.

I just finished working on the score for a movie called The Wrestler, which stars Mickey Rourke and is directed by Darren Aronofsky. I didn't actually score it--Clint Mansell scored it, and he had me reproduce it on guitar. It's an awesome movie. They think it's an Oscar contender, and it's really a good score. Right now I'm in the middle of scoring a movie called This Is Not A Movie, which is directed by Olallo Rubio. I think it's coming out in March. That's all guitar. I've been getting a lot of requests for soundtracks lately, but they're very time consuming. I don't plan on quitting my day job! But when an interesting project comes up that I can sink my teeth into, it's a lot of fun because I've always thought that a visual paired up with a really good soundtrack is the ultimate entertainment experience.

I'm also working on my solo record, which is going really great. I'm very happy with it. I've been finishing demos and pairing the songs up with different singers, because for this record I'm putting different singers on each song. I can't give you an update on who is singing, since I'm not divulging any names until the songs are recorded. I'm planning on going into the studio early next year, unless Velvet Revolver finds a singer, which might change my schedule altogether. So it's really contingent upon that. But if I get in the studio on schedule and all goes as planned, I might be able to have something out by next summer. You never know. But it won't take as long as some records.

For your solo record, will you be using different musicians as well as different singers?
We're toying around, but honestly, it's expensive to do that on every song. There will probably be a couple of different drummers, and I've been talking with a couple of bass players that I'm excited to work with. I don't know if I'm going to use any second guitarists or not. At this point, I've been doing it all myself. I seem to work quicker that way. So we'll see. That's the easiest part. The hard part is getting the different singers, writing the lyrics, and getting everything to fit so that the vocal end of it sounds as cool as the music does. It's easy to write cool music. Well, it's not easy, but at least I'm in control of writing the music. With singers, it's a whole different world. You pick people that you think are great, but it doesn't necessarily mean they're going to adapt to what you wrote. So it's an interesting challenge getting this all to work.

According to past interviews, your introduction to Duncan pickups came when you had acquired the Les Paul Standard that you played on Appetite For Destruction.
Something people don't know about my introduction to Seymour Duncan pickups is that I worked in a music store in the early '80s, right before I started a band with the guys in Guns N' Roses, with the exception of Steven Adler. I learned about most of the popular brands of pickups at that time. Right around then, Seymour Duncan pickups came out--or at least I was exposed to them for the first time. From working in a music store and having them replace pickups all the time, I discovered that Seymour Duncan made the best pickups. So when I got the Les Paul with the Seymour Duncans in it, I knew that those pickups were going to be killer. It was just this particular model--the Alnico II Pro--that I wasn't familiar with. But they've been the main pickups in my Les Pauls ever since

You have said that Alnico II Pros are an essential part of your Les Paul tone. I think so. I would say I haven't heard a humbucker-type Les Paul with anything else except for old PAFs sound as good as a Les Paul with Alnico II Pros.

For obvious reasons, your collectible vintage guitars are left stock to maintain originality. But in other Les Pauls, have you tried any different combination of Duncan pickups?
Not really. I never had any need to. I'm familiar with a lot of the different models Seymour Duncan has. Evan Skopp [VP Marketing] and I have actually talked about doing a custom pickup with my name on it, but there's nothing I really would want to alter. So that's why there is no Slash model pickup and why I don't experiment with different pickups on different Les Pauls because of the simple fact that they sound fine the way they are with Alnico II Pros.

You don't find that in a different guitar you may want a pickup with a different sound?
Not for a Les Paul. But I am working with Seymour Duncan on a new model for a Firebird because Alnico II Pro humbucker-size pickups don't fit in that guitar, so we're still in the process of working out the perfect pickups for it, which will be a Slash model coming out down the road. So obviously, for different applications, different pickups do apply.

What do you listen for in the tone?
I'm looking for honesty in the guitar. I'm looking for pickups that don't exaggerate any particular frequency. I'm looking for a pickup that gives an honest representation of what the guitar sounds like in a rock and roll blues sort of mode. I'm not looking for ultra clean; I'm not looking for heavy metal. The pickups that I use with my Les Paul work perfectly.

Tell us about the new Slash Signature Model Les Paul Goldtop®.
The Goldtop is an exact replica of my 1991 goldtop Les Paul Standard that I played on the Use Your Illusion tour with Guns N' Roses. When I first got it from Gibson back then, it was a brand new guitar and I just slapped Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pros in it because that's just what I do. It's a great-sounding guitar.

What are some of the features of this one in terms of the design and construction?
The basic guitar is a goldtop Standard and it has a neck that's shaved the way that I like all my Les Paul necks, so it's a little bit thinner than other models. But all of the Slash models have a very similar neck. It's got a TonePros® bridge and vintage-style hardware. But the coolest thing about the Goldtop is that we customized the electronics so that when you turn the tone controls down, the volume and presence don't diminish. I played my goldtop Les Paul for solos on songs like "November Rain," "Estranged," "Knockin' On Heaven's Door," and some other things with Guns N' Roses, then for songs like "Fall To Pieces," "You Got No Right," and a couple other ones from Velvet Revolver. I use the rhythm pickup and I turn the tone all the way down, and that gives it a really sweet sustaining sound that just sings for days. I need to know that when I turn the tone pot down, it's still going to have maximum output.

So the electronics are customized in the Slash model Goldtop to facilitate that. I'm not exactly sure what the trick is that they use, but it works great. Most guitarists that play Les Pauls don't use the tone controls at all. But there are a lot of possibilities with just those four knobs.

What do you consider essential listening from your personal catalog of recorded songs and solos?
I haven't really gotten into putting myself into that category. I guess "Sweet Child O' Mine" seems to be pretty popular. I'm partial to "Paradise City." "Estranged," "Slither," "You Got No Right," and "Loving The Alien," which is a really obscure Velvet Revolver song on the first record, are all pretty cool. There's a lot of stuff on the second record where I just like my playing because it's very plain and very rootsy. "She Builds Quick Machines" is really cool. I'm pretty happy with all the stuff that ends up on a record. I just make sure I get it to a point where I'm comfortable with it before it goes out. I'm very excited about the stuff that I'm working on now because it's been a real outlet for me to just do my own record. I've done so many different combinations of bands working with different artists and many side projects. There's a new Alice Cooper song that is really cool called "Vengeance Is Mine." I put a solo on it that sounds really good. After doing things in all these different formats, it's nice to be able to just work on something that's basically what I want.

Lisa Sharken is Seymour Duncan's New York-based artist relations consultant.