My dad is a huge rock and roll lead guitar fan. I didn’t even really know that until recently. Everything has to have a guitar solo in it. – Slash
I always loved rock guitar. I just never put it together that that’s what I’d end up doing. I had no aspirations to be a musician, but I picked up a guitar for two seconds and haven’t put it down since. – Slash
So when I got to be about 13 or 14, I started listening – even though my parents music was way cool – to contemporary hard rock at that time, which was Aerosmith, Cheap Trick, Black Sabbath, AC/DC, Ted Nugent and all that, and that’s just where I came from. – Slash
You know, when you really connect with the instrument and everything just comes out on an emotional level very naturally through your playing. That’s, you know, a great night. And I think the reason I love touring so much is you’re chasing that high around all the time, trying to have another good night. – Slash
And, so, when I picked up the guitar, suddenly, just playing a couple of notes really, really spoke to me. It was almost like I should have been doing it prior to that. You know, it was something that just felt really natural. – Slash
And, as soon as I could put together the, you know, three or four notes that made up, like, sort of a rock and roll lick, you know, like a Chuck Berry kind of thing, I was off and running. Just completely taken over. – Slash
A lot of vices that I’ve had over the years were always to make up for some sort of character deficiency, one of them being shyness. – Slash
I still party all the time and hang out with everyone who drinks, but I just don’t personally, and don’t really have the desire to get blitzed drunk any more. – Slash
I think when I was a kid, and I was in England and it was all about The Stones, The Who, The Kinks and The Beatles and that’s what my dad was into. – Slash
I think that was the whole idea behind doing the solo record was to be able to do musically whatever I wanted to do. – Slash
The only time I think I’ve ever gotten sick of playing Guns and Roses songs really was during – after having played them in Guns and Roses, and then in Snakepit, and then playing ‘It’s So Easy’ and ‘Brownstone’ in Velvet Revolver. – Slash
Guitar is the best form of self-expression I know. Everything else, and I’m just sort of tripping around, trying to figure my way through life. – Slash
We had a really vast music collection and I was raised around rock’n’roll, it’s just the way it was. – Slash
I had no aspirations to be a musician, but I picked up a guitar for two seconds and haven’t put it down since. – Slash
