Slash has spent the last several years traveling the globe with Guns N’ Roses on their blockbuster Not in This Lifetime stadium outing, which finds the guitarist and bassist Duff McKagan reunited with frontman Axl Rose for the first time in more than two decades.
Somewhere in the midst of it all, he also managed to write and record a third studio record, Living the Dream (Snakepit), with his own band, Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators, as well as launch a world tour in support of the effort. When he gets on the phone with Guitar Player, he’s somewhere in Brazil, in the midst of what he calls, perhaps not surprisingly, “the most extensive South American tour I’ve ever done.”
Of course, Slash can stay so busy onstage and in the studio because so many people want to see and hear him play. And the reason for that, to follow a thread, is due to the fact that he’s had a large hand in writing, recording and performing some of the greatest and most enduring hard rock music of the past 30-plus years. That includes everything from GN’R classics like “Welcome to the Jungle,” “Sweet Child O’ Mine” and “Rocket Queen” to Conspirators favorites like “Anastasia” and the latest Living the Dream single, “Boulevard of Broken Hearts.”
With that in mind, who better to sit down with Guitar Player to discuss the ins and outs of songwriting, riff making and the music creative process than the top-hatted one himself? In addition, Slash gave us a glimpse of his brand-new L.A.-area studio, the Snakepit, showed us the new gear he’s been using onstage, and talked about what’s on the horizon for the Conspirators and Guns N’ Roses.
As for what we’ll