While all guitarists learn from the greats, few actually get the opportunity to play alongside the best in the business night after night. But with 20 years as Mark Tremonti’s bandmate in Alter Bridge, and a dozen with Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators, Kennedy has done just that.
Which has afforded him, among other benefits, a unique perspective on what makes a guitar legend. What has he observed?
“With Slash, there’s a few things,” Kennedy says. “One is his unorthodox approach – his phrasing and the way his lines go where you wouldn’t expect them to go. There’s an unpredictability that I really appreciate with him. He doesn’t think like other guitar players.
“Also, he’s such a character player. Within one or two notes you know it’s Slash, just because of his vibrato. He has his own way of speaking.”
Regarding Tremonti, he continues, “A lesson I took from him early on was how he would approach song ideas when we were writing together. He would catalog things – ‘Here’s a riff, will it go with this verse…’ He would have these parts laying around and put them together like sonic puzzles.
“I always thought that was a really interesting way of doing things, because I would try to do it all in one sitting, like, ‘Okay, I have a verse, now I need to come up with a chorus.’ That was my pattern.
“But playing with Mark opened my eyes to trying this other way of, ‘You know what? You might have to wait a month, or even a year, to find a part that’s good enough to go with this other part.’ I learned the art of patience.”
One thing Slash and Tremonti have in common? “Their work ethic,” Kennedy says. “Slash’s work ethic is over the top. He goes so hard, and that’s been really inspiring to me. And Mark is the same way.
“It’s great being surrounded by people who still have that passion, even after being in the game for decades, because it would be so easy for them to go, ‘I’ve got a catalog, I’ve got a legacy. I can just pick up a guitar and go out and play the hits and call it a day.’ But neither one of these guys is hardwired that way.
“I’ve always appreciated that, because for me it’s always been about the work,” Kennedy continues. “None of the other stuff matters. I’ve found that the satisfaction comes from the creativity, and from when you know you’ve got something that moves you, or hopefully moves somebody else. That’s where the joy is.”
- The Art of Letting Go is out now via Napalm.
