We’re thrilled to premiere the latest episode of Ernie Ball’s String Theory, a web series exploring the sonic origins of some of music’s most influential and...
We’re thrilled to premiere the latest episode of Ernie Ball’s String Theory, a web series exploring the sonic origins of some of music’s most influential and innovative guitar players.
Featured in this new episode is Kiss guitarist Paul Stanley—and here are five surprising facts revealed in the video:
1. He grew up around really diverse music, but the acoustic guitar stands out to him (0:45): “I was blessed that I grew up around very diverse music. My parents are European, and music is much more important to people in Europe. It really started more on the acoustic guitar. Not coincidentally, you know, when you saw Elvis playing those early shows, he was playing a Martin.”
2. Stanley holds rhythm guitar playing in high regard (1:27): “For me, being a rhythm player was never a stepping stone to being a lead player. Too often, people either forgo spending time learning and understanding rhythm playing, and think that it’s more important to know how to solo. Surprisingly—or not so much so—I can remember guys who were very flashy on lead guitar, but as soon as you asked them, ‘Now back me up,’ they were lost. I think you can spend a lifetime working on your rhythm.”
3. He was first drawn to Ernie Ball strings because of the bright packaging—and his first sets were flatwounds (2:27): “One thing about Ernie Ball I could always remember was the packages that your eye immediately went to because of the colors. Funny enough, when I first started playing electric guitar, I got flatwound strings, because they didn’t squeak. It took a while to realize that the squeaking is part of what makes it cool.”
4. Stanley is a big fan of higher-gauge strings (3:00): “To me, to play great rhythm,