Slash & Creative Voice
A rule of thumb for guitar solos is they should be crafted to be the climax of a song. The most energetic part of a rock song is usually the lead solo, where everything builds up to that point and then climbs back to the chorus after. Nowhere was the guitar solo more energetic and climatic than in Metal and Rock music of the 1980s.
For example: Van Halen, “Ice Cream Man”
Guns N’ Roses was never a band that cared to fit in musically or socially. In the late 1980s they had more in common with bands of the 70s like Boston, Aerosmith, and Thin Lizzy than their contemporary LA peers. GNR’s lead guitarist, Slash, wasn’t hired in Montley Crue or Poison because his playing style didn’t fit in with those bands. The members of GNR were all outcasts following a dream on their own uncompromising terms, their own way.
Slash’s playing style is one of my favorite examples of how an artist can ignore what everyone else is doing to be popular, and instead follow a personal creative voice to be better. (And eventually, more popular than all of them).
The lead guitar solo in “Welcome To The Jungle” shows perfectly how Slash blazed his own path in an era of rock n’ roll copycats. The song is an energetic album opener that climaxes just before the solo, and when it is time for the hero guitarist to shine and really let it rip. . . he displays incredible reserve and taste. A slow building bluesy melody that goes the opposite direction most guitarists would have taken it. Slash allows the lead spot in the song to be almost a resting point and directs the music into a quiet breakdown before building back up into the final chorus.
The reason this solo is important to appreciate is because it’s an example that any artist can look at and say “that’s how you think differently. That’s true creativity”.
I think in trying to be original and creative, we often try too hard. We put that goal at the forefront of our process, making it a target and trying our best to land an arrow inside it. I’m certain Slash never had that in mind. I’m willing to bet he never asked himself “How do I approach this differently than anyone else?”, but instead listened carefully to the music that was there and gave it what it needed with the skills he possessed.
His creative voice and playing style is unique largely because he was influenced by older players–one of the very few who weren’t just copying Van Halen at the time. When the time came for him to create his own work, what came out so often on those Guns N’ Roses tracks was something special, unique, and beautifully musical.
I think the important lesson is this: Don’t be influenced by trends, and don’t worry about what everyone else is doing. To be the best you can be at what you do, you have to express your work the way you want to express it, with the guidance of what has influenced you. If your influences are of quality, if your skills are adequate, if your taste is strong and you’re willing to follow that inner voice that leads you into uncertainty, you just might find creation at the end that is truly a manifestation of yourself. And there’s nothing more unique than that.
