Gibson.com. It’s well known that Slash is a Les Paul guy, and in a recent Esquire feature the top hat-sporting, slick six-stringer explained his experience meeting and getting to know the musician and inventor.
“I used to think Les Paul was a guitar. I didn't know he was a real guy,” Slash said. “When I got to know him, I found out that if you're really obsessed, he was the guy you'd want to be like. He was always trying to find an answer for what he was looking for in his mind. If things didn't exist, he built them himself. He single-handedly created what I consider ‘popular music.’”
As for guitar playing, Slash says it simply comes naturally: “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.”
He also touched on his highly publicized split with Axl Rose, insisting, “The split between Axl and I was a quiet one. But because there was so much attention on the breakup -- and are we going to get back together? -- it got built up into this monster that led to a kind of animosity that wasn't the focus for me. Neither one of us wants to be down each other's throats for no reason. At this point, I'm trying to put it to rest. So I try to avoid the subject.”
