Saul Hudson AKA Slash

Gus McGaraghan

Writer’s Workshop F

We wouldn’t have the rock and roll music we have today if not for Saul Hudson, AKA, Slash. Slash was a guitarist who got got his start with Guns n’ Roses. He was influential throughout his life as a musician and created a whole new type of music that helped a lot of young musicians figure out their styles.

Saul Hudson was born on July 23, 1965 in Hampstead, London. His father was a white graphic designer from London, and his mother was a African-American costume designer. When he turned 5 years old, his family moved to Los Angeles, where he grew up. He ended up dropping out of school to play guitar. Soon he had met Axl Rose, and all the ads he had put out in the paper for other instruments where answered. In 1985, he formed the band Guns n’ Roses (GNR). While with them, he created revolutionary riffs such as the intro to “Sweet Child of Mine.” In 1996, he left GNR and formed Velvet Revolver. In 2001, he suffered from heart failure, later writing about it in his autobiography. After leaving Velvet Revolver, he joined Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators. He is still with them today.

Slash is a change maker because he lead the path in a new type of guitar playing. He started his career with Guns n’ Roses. It was with them that he uncovered his authentic playing style. What came out of it was a choppy but slurry, loud but suttle, and overall, a glorious style of riffs. Take “Sweet Child O’ Mine”, this song starts off with a riff that is quick and loud, but almost lagging. Many people have tried to replicate his style, but ended up creating different styles all together. In action he helped many guitarists find their how they wanted to play.

After he got his start with GNR, he went on to use his unique style in many other ways. After leaving GNR he released his first solo album Slash, featuring such artists as Ozzy Osbourne, Adam Levine, and Myles Kennedy. He would later go on to work with Kennedy. While working solo, he evolved his playing style to be more diverse. He worked his way into more mainstream rock, while still implementing his old styles. This transformation is most notable in “Anastasia”. He worked to get others like him going on their own paths,, which worked successfully.

A lot of young musicians have replicated his style and tried to follow in his footsteps. Many of the more recent ones succeeded, but people trying to replicate his old style would end up failing. Dave Baksh, born in 1980, is the largest user of his style(Sum 41). Although they couldn’t crack the code of Saul Hudson’s style, he affected tons of young musician trying to get into guitar. Many of them would go on to create their own styles that were slight offsets or variations of his style. Some of the greatest current musicians would even use similar styles, like Joe Perry, the lead guitarist for Aerosmith.

Slash changed guitar across the world. He helped millions of upcoming musicians by starting a new type of guitar playing, then showing the world his now-famous style. Many people created their own styles while trying to replicate his and those are the reasons why Slash is a change maker.

Sources:

“Bio.” Slash. 2015. 23 January 2018. <http://www.slashonline.com/bio/>

“Slash Biography.” Biography.com. 2016. The Biography.com website. 29 January 2018. <https://www.biography.com/people/slash-20853643>