Slash, a well-known guitarist of the band Guns N’ Roses is considered one of the greatest players of this generation. Whether his performance of him in ‘Sweet Child o’ Mine‘ ‘November Rain’ or the classic Terminator 2: Judgement Day anthem ‘You Could Be Mine’, He proved himself to his fans in every aspect.
Slash, the top guitarist of all time has named some of the players he found as a hero in his time. One person whom he admires is Eric Clapton. He even calls Cream’s psychedelic masterpiece ‘Sunshine of Your Love’, the song that made him pick up the guitar. In Music Radar, he said, ” When I thought of playing the guitar, I used to listen to this recording. The time he was talking to me, He played ‘Sunshine Of Your Love’ which included a solo bit. When I first heard that, I was like, ‘This is what I want to do’, and that’s how I started playing Guitar.”
Another person who influenced Slash in generating his signature style was Eddie Van Halen. He is one of the most defining Guitar players. Halen helped usher in technical peacocking in the 1980s. Also, He made string tapping popular. After some time, Slash used it as his signature step. And some of his friends also used the steps. Songs like ‘Eruption‘ consist of his best moments.
When talking with Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones on his radio show Jonesy’s Jukebox in 2018, Slash talked about how Eddie Van Halen inspired him. He explained saying that no one is like him.
Slash added, ” I and a huge fan of Eddue. I love him as a player and even as a person and I loved Van Halen when it was first released. I felt the style he used was the only style that no one else could copy. It was a thing. I never went down when I picked up the guitar.”
He explained, ” I was influenced by him because he is great.”
The performance of the group wasn’t only limited to the stage. Their recording also brought a lot of influence. And for Slash, the band represented a huge shift in the trajectory of rock music. He expressed that when Van Halen was out and he listened to their record in 1978 at the age of 13 before he started playing the guitar, it made a huge transformation, essentially signaling the conclusion of the existing era of rock music.
Slash further continued, ‘ I can never forget the feeling of the 60s and 70s. It kind of developed and developed a lot. And everything that happened till some point, it kind of changed. And he brought up the thing that occurred in Los Angeles.”
