![\"Slash](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Slash-Guitarist-Guns-N-Roses-1991-Far-Out-Magazine-1140x855.jpg\")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Credit: Far Out \/ YouTube Still<\/p>\n
Sat 12 September 2026 10:00, UK <\/p>\n
Slash<\/a> is such a good guitarist that even when he\u2019s trying to get something wrong, he gets it right. <\/p>\n The guitarist admitted once that when he was putting together his introduction to the song \u2018Sweet Child O Mine\u2019, he did so with the intention of sabotaging the track. It wasn\u2019t necessarily that he thought it was a bad tune, but the soft nature of the song went against the hard rock, cutthroat style that the band were going for on their debut. The scattered introduction lick that we now know and love, he made with the sole intention of steering the song off the rails<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s a real testament to who he is as a guitarist that even his self-sabotaging work sounds pretty damn good. A lot of people would pin that track down as one of his very best, but not this writer. For me, Slash\u2019s best work comes on his first self-titled solo album.\u00a0<\/p>\n Music has a pretty stunning ability to bridge gaps between different cultures and ways of life. That gap can be massive, as in one which lies between countries, or a little smaller, as in the kind that sits between genres. Regardless, the right artists and the right song can build bridges which cross over these treacherous divides pretty easily. To me, that\u2019s what Slash\u2019s first solo album does<\/a>. <\/p>\n This man, who once almost refused to write an intro for \u2018Sweet Child O Mine\u2019 because it was too soft, was suddenly working on an album with artists like Fergie, Adam Levine and Nicole Scherzinger. Granted, rock artists like Iggy Pop, Ozzy Osbourne and Dave Grohl also made an appearance, but the point stands, Slash showed off both his versatility as a musician and his ability to bridge the gaps between different genres through just a good songwriting session here and there.\u00a0<\/p>\n He wasn\u2019t the first musician to show the connective power of music, though. It\u2019s pretty hard to trace back who the first would be; however, one of the most significant was George Harrison. As if The Beatles didn\u2019t already have enough accolades under their belt, the influences that Harrison brought back from India with him and laid on wax with his band effectively bridged the gap between two cultures which hadn\u2019t previously merged musically. <\/p>\n \u201cGeorge Harrison, on his own, opened up India to England,\u201d XTC guitarist Andy Partridge said about the guitarist\u2019s embracing of a new culture, \u201cThe man brings back a sitar and flirts with sitar lessons, and all of a sudden, India means things to people [\u2026] Single-handedly, George Harrison brought India to English consciousness<\/a>. In a non-colonial and non-judgemental kind of way.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Further reading: From The Vault<\/p>\n When Slash was working on his fourth solo album, still bridging different gaps with his music, he decided to also embrace a similar culture to Harrison, and so played the sitar on his song \u2018Spirit Love\u2019. There\u2019s no getting around the fact that it sounds as though it was inspired by The Beatles because of how much they managed to bring this new sound to ears that were previously unexposed to it. <\/p>\n However, Slash really wasn\u2019t trying to channel them on this song. Essentially, he said the comparisons were merely inescapable because of how connected the sound of Harrison is with the sitar. \u201cI laughed because, when you said George Harrison, that was the one thing I was trying for it not to sound like!\u201d he said in an interview with Music Radar, \u201cIt\u2019s true, though! That\u2019s what happens whenever you record sitar; it just becomes that clich\u00e9.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/faroutmagazine.co.uk\/wp-content\/themes\/far-out-magazine\/img\/google-discover.svg\")
<\/a> The Far Out Beatles Newsletter<\/p>\n