Some musicians seem like a gift from heaven. Crafted out of stone and emboldened with the creativity of a genius, they appear as if by magic. Of course, there is also a whole heap of artists who have worked hard and toiled in the field to become a class act. From an early age, Slash seemed destined to play rock and roll.
Before he had strapped on a guitar, his father was already known for designing album covers, and his mother had designed clothes for some of the biggest acts of the ‘70s, from David Bowie to Carole King. Rock and roll came naturally to the future Guns N’ Roses guitarist, but his favourite songs always circled back to every guitar player’s starting point. His favourite tracks were imbued with the six-string brilliance of his most adored players of that instrument.
Jimi Hendrix had already reshaped the guitar landscape with his debut record, as Slash was finding his feet as a guitar player. While the ‘Summer of Love’ may have started with peace and flower power, the sound of Hendrix’s guitar was the burning fire underneath it all. Even though there might have been a folk slant to some of the bands operating out of Los Angeles, the sound of Hendrix’s guitar stabs on ‘Purple Haze’ broke open the door to people’s minds, letting them know what could be done with a guitar and an amplifier.
When Slash was first picking up the guitar, he ultimately gravitated towards the bluesy players that Hendrix influenced, telling Guitar Center:“I’m still inspired by the guitars who inspired me when I first started. Guys like Jimmy Page, Joe Perry, Jeff Beck, Keith Richards and Mick Taylor”.
As Slash furthered his development, his fascination with Hendrix came from hearing one of his live albums. When talking about songs he wishes he wrote, Slash singled out the Jimi Hendrix song ‘Machine Gun’, telling NME: “The psychedelic era of guitar playing still fascinates me, and Jimi was front and centre of that. He seemed to be living at the furthest limits of his mind, and I think for an artist, that’s the holy grail. This song shows that completely”.
Arguably the most heavily influential guitarist in history, Slash is full of admiration for the left-handed player: “He was the pioneer for electric lead guitar,” Slash told NewsHub, “Even the guys before him — like Clapton and Beck and all that — but the thing about Jimi is he came along and he was definitely the primal wild man, shit coming out of his pores”.
He added: “It was the extremes of all the different nuances that all the different guitar players before him had and just coming out in droves and saying it in a certain way that was uniquely Jimi and nobody else. Jimi’s still the man. It’s funny because you hear about him so much but he was that great. And his material stands the test of time all these years later.”
Taken from the live record Band of Gypsys, Hendrix almost becomes one with his guitar on this track, weaving in and out of different modes and painting a dark scene of warfare onstage. That kind of interaction with the crowd drew Slash to him: “When I used to buy records from different bands that I was interested in, I didn’t go and buy their studio records. I bought their live albums, so I was definitely tuning into the crazy live performance kind of thing. It was about spur-of-the-moment live playing”.
From live documentaries, Hendrix saw the stage as an opportunity to achieve what couldn’t be done on a studio record. Instead of avoiding technical glitches like feedback and overblown soundscapes, Hendrix would often lean into the chaotic sounds of his shows to create a sonic experience onstage. Hendrix later tried to blend both sonic worlds, putting different bits of sonic bliss next to each other on albums like Electric Ladyland.
Hendrix would turn the world of rock and roll inside out during his time on Earth before passing away at the start of the ‘70s, cutting down an artist in his prime. While there’s no way to tell how much Hendrix would have contributed to music had he lived, he has left generations of guitarists with pieces to study until the end of time.
