The New Guitar Gods: John Mayer, John Frusciante and Derek Trucks

When the intellectual part of guitar playing overrides the spiritual, you don't get to extreme heights," says John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Then he gives an example of how high he gets with six strings and electricity: his hair-raising solo on a recent Chili Peppers B side, "Lyon 6.06.06," recorded live in France last year. "I remember my brain completely going off. The energy flows to such a degree that there's no reason to think." But Frusciante, who turns thirty-seven on March 5th, is also one of the most advanced technical guitarists in rock, a vibrant, chameleonic stylist whose melodic precision and invention were pivotal on the Chili Peppers' commercial breakthrough, 1991's BloodSugarSexMagik. Born in New York and raised in Southern California, Frusciante obsessively practiced guitar in his bedroom, playing along to records, until he joined the Chili Peppers in 1989, replacing the late Hillel Slovak. Frusciante abruptly quit in 1992, beginning a seven-year descent into drug-fueled isolation. But since his return for 1999's Californication, Frusciante's early fusion of punk energy and the exploratory grandeur of Jimi Hendrix has bloomed into a colorful, explosive originality that is all over the Chili Peppers' recent double album, Stadium Arcadium.

Who are your guitar heroes?
I always felt it was limiting to stick with guitarists for your inspiration. I also draw inspiration from what you might call guitar anti-heroes — people with an originality that goes beyond the guitar-hero aesthetic.

OK, who are your anti-heroes?
Lou Reed and Sterling Morrison of the Velvet Underground. In the Seventies, Keith Levene of Public Image, Ltd. and John McGeoch of Magazine invented interesting styles. I'm a big fan of Matthew Ashman of Bow Wow Wow. I have nothing against flash. But I grew up in a time when heroism and flashiness were overtaking the desire to make beautiful music. Kurt Cobain took guitar playing further than anyone with way more technique had done in a while.

Who made you want to play guitar?
It was Ace Frehley, Jimmy Page and Joe Perry. But it was a while before anybody would buy me an electric guitar. By then, I was into [Black Flag's] Greg Ginn, [the Germs'] Pat Smear, and Joe Strummer and Mick Jones [of the Clash].

But the point of punk was that you didn't have to be a great player to get your angst across.
It was a long time before I thought of technique meaning anything at all. But Pat has an amazing rhythm-guitar style. Most punk guitarists base their thing on down strokes. Pat has an interesting combination of up-and-down strokes. I can't describe it. But the colors and feelings in what he did were meaningful to me as a kid. They spoke to my brain.

What is your role in the Chili Peppers? You have big room to roam amid Anthony Kiedis' vocals, Flea's bass and Chad Smith's drums.
Before I joined, the Chili Peppers were all style. The sound wasn't about harmonic movement or musical texture. It was purely energy. Hillel's playing was much simpler than other guitar players can get away with, because of how busy Flea was on bass.

Once I felt like I understood that simplicity, I put aside my idea of the guitar's original role in the band. I wasn't just writing things that reminded me of the Chili Peppers. "Under the Bridge" [on BloodSugarSexMagik] was an attempt to do a song in the style of Jimi Hendrix's prettier songs — "Castles Made of Sand," "Bold as Love."

How did you write the guitar part for "Under the Bridge"?
Anthony wrote the lyrics and vocal melody. I went over to his house, and we put his melody in shape according to chords I thought would be good behind it. I got the idea for the chorus from a Joe Jackson song, "In Every Dream Home (a Nightmare)" [from 1980's Beat Crazy]. It has this drum break before the chorus, then the music starts on the offbeat. In "Under the Bridge," I did the same thing.

The chord I play before the drum break — I got that from "Rip Off," by T. Rex. I figured I'd rip it off [laughs]. You just hold the major-7th chord. In his song, it's a C major 7th. In mine, it's E major 7th.

How much of a solo is improvisation — and how much is advance planning?
Most are spur-of-the-moment. But I make it a point to come up with a way to start a couple of them. On Stadium Arcadium, I have a few written solos, on "Dani California" and "Make You Feel Better." The solos in "Hey" and "Only 18" were different from take to take. In "Hey," that's the solo I played on the basic track, only it was from a different take. So we edited in that solo section.

Did you play or practice music in the seven years you were out of the Chili Peppers?
I pretty much put down the guitar that whole time.

Did you have your chops when you rejoined?
I didn't have my chops at all. But I've come to deeply understand that it doesn't matter. I could have been a defeatist: "I remember when my left hand used to be strong like Jimi Hendrix's." That's a sign of somebody's strength as a guitar player — the sound of the strength of their left hand. But everything I learned as a person in that period, everything I had been through as a soul — that all went into the music. I'm happier with my playing on Californication than with my playing on BloodSugarSexMagik. Even though I had way less ability, I see myself doing the best I could and coming from the right places. On BloodSugar, I'm still seeing everything in relationship to Hillel. On Californication, it's "What can we do? It's four friends playing music. We can do anything."

Do you have a favorite Hendrix album?
I'm an Electric Ladyland guy. His music always sounds perfect to me, because he's bending sound, taking care of music in every dimension. Where most people think of it in two dimensions, he's thinking of it in four.

I don't think there's a better guitar player in history. He's not something that can be improved on. And there's the spirit that goes into it. He creates a place where you can be high and hang out and lose yourself. He's bringing out aspects of sound we didn't know were there. I feel there are people moving ahead on that front, but they're not so much guitar players — like [electronic artists] Aphex Twin and Squarepusher. They continue the work Jimi Hendrix started, but not on the guitar.

Do you ever wonder if, after half a century of rock guitar, there is anything left to discover?
Luckily, I've always thought of myself as a musician more than a guitar player. Since I'm always changing as a person and my tastes are always changing, that is reflected in the ways I approach my instrument. I never feel like I'm running out of ideas, because it is clear to me — music is infinite.

[From Issue 1020 — February 22, 2007]

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