How good a guitarist is Slash?

After making the Washington, DC stop of the "Not in this Lifetime" tour, I'm reminded of how Slash is irreplaceable in any band that calls itself "Guns n Roses." He's a beast. I'm not sure of his technical prowess, but he's got this incredible feel (like Hendrix?) for making the guitar wail just the right way. So how good is he?

What do you think his legacy will be? A great guitarist? A curiosity from a band that peaked in the late 80s?

 

Not the most technically skilled player, sometimes a little overhyped, but great feel, very distinct sound, great sense of melody, really knows how to take an already good song to the next level. Are there Better players then him? Sure, but nobody is better for Guns N Roses than the man in the top hat. I will say more when I finally do the UYI song by song, but I wanted to throw my two cents in

 

I've always enjoyed his ability to have a cigarette in his mouth and play an entire song at the same time... probably not a terribly healthy skill though

 

ask Buckethead

 

This is my point exactly. I guess "Buckethead" is more technically proficient and whatever else. But he's no Slash. Right?

 

Attitude Attitude Attitude.
Plus a great vibrato and melodic sense helps.
Could he play in Megadeth? No but he still is great for what he does.

 

I enjoy his playing very much, so that makes him a very good guitarist in my books.

 

At his best he's really great. As mentioned, he has a great sense of melody, and he's also very compositonal if that's even a word. I think it but I'm getting a red squiggly line under it. Anyway, what I mean is his best stuff is really musical and well-composed sounding. The solos in Sweet Child O' Mine and Estranged...things like that.

However it seems he's gotten very noodly as of late. Watching some of the recent stuff on youtube he seems to go on and on.

 

Trust me, he's more than just a technician

 

I'm a fan...he has style.

 

Yes, I see your point. But none of this brings goosebumps. Slash brings goosebumps.

 

This.

Slash is an old school player. He goes by feel. Whatever the music needs, that's what he plays. He's great at that.

 

no disrespect to this excellent player but after listening to the video on utube to me this sounds like a soundtrack from a Steven Seagal movie...

 

I agree....Slash digs simply into the soul...

 

Indeed...

 

Never been a big fan of his playing, but he was outstanding when I saw the tour this summer.

 

Love his sound. I'm not a guitar expert by any means, but it seems to come down to "tone". Slash, Jimi, Dick Dale, Tom Morello, Keith, etc...in addition to their technical skills, they create their own unique sound.

 

I never thought he was that great either but a friend of mine who plays guitar much better than I do always said he was good. He said Slash would just plug into a Marshall stack and play clean and he’d (Slash) come up with great lines and sounded excellent. Still, I’ve never been a big GnR fan, so, I’m kind of whatever.

 

And how. I saw them a couple of months ago and it became apparent by the end of the show that "too much Slash" is definitely a thing.

D.D.

 

*cough*subjective*

But like others have said, he has the feel, the tone, the style, and he nails it down. He's great. The perfect player for G&R. Has anybody ever complained about his playing?

 

At his best, he's more comparable to Gilmour rather than Hendrix. The tone he gets out a Les Paul is as clean as you can get out a Humbucker pickup. Gilmour does the same thing with a Fender. Hendrix was a great rhythm guitarist and a great lead guitarist. For the riffs he needed Stradlin. Not to discredit Slash, that guitar lick on Sweet Child of Mine is classic. But, that riff on Welcome to the Jungle is all Stradlin.

 

Agreed, Slash's current habit of endless noodling was the only downside to the 2016 show I attended in Seattle...to the point where it diluted his great contribution to the G 'N R sound. An AMAZING show regardless!

 

He's nothing important, not comparable to the greats, but a good player with great feel and tone occasionally. He overplayed and seemed to have lost his way a bit when I saw Guns this summer. As a fan of extended guitar solos I got fed up. Maybe it's for practical reasons; give Axl a chance to catch his breath.

 

Well on one hand, I wish I had the ability to play like him, but on the other, I'm not a massive fan. However credit where credits due, he his has taken the influence of others to create his own individual sound and tone

So whilst you can immediately identify the guitar playing of Hendrix, Beck even Mick Mars....you can do the same with Slash and that's equally what being a good guitarist is as oppose to just shredding.

For me, I struggle to understand why Joe Perry is so praised when I don't hear that origional sound nor is he technically proficient.

P.S - No Izzy - No Guns N Roses.....imagine the Stones without Keith!!! Same thing man....its all a fake.