Chorus:

Now we have our chorus progression, with this being based around a similar progression to Fall to Pieces, and with the main guitar performing one of Slash’s signatures melody lines that outlines the chords. Make sure you back off the tone control to produce a smooth creamy tone for the lead melody. The chord progression is as follows: D5, Csus2, G/B, A5, G5, Bb5, and C5.

Middle eight section:

Now it’s time for our middle eight section which is based on the clean chords G, C, Am and D. This section should be performed in the same style as the verse chords to Knocking on Heaven’s Door and the intro to Fall to Pieces. This section is performed with clean chord arpeggios, a rich clean tone and a subtle chorus effect. The second half of the middle eight includes some high register triad chords that are performed on the top three strings. These triads follow the verse progression, and are based to the high register triads heard in the verses of Sweet Child O’ Mine. This middle eight is followed by a short intro section.

Slash guitar tone on a budget

Anxious to nail that Slash guitar tone but short of cash? Jamie Humphries shows you just how close you can get with a modest-priced rig!

Big sounds for small money - Gary Cooper explains the background.

Many classic albums have acquired volumes of folklore about how the particular guitar sound was produced - few more so than Guns ‘n’ Roses’ Appetite For Destruction, which has already been the subject of some analysis and speculation in this issue. In a perfect world, if your heart was set on replicating the sound, it would be simple. You’d jump in a conveniently placed time machine, go back a year or so and buy one of the, then new, limited edition Marshall AFD Slash heads (reviewed in this issue) get yourself a brand spanking new Gibson Slash Les Paul and, given you could manage the man’s technique, away you’d go!

Meanwhile, back on planet Earth, most of us don’t have that sort of money, so what hope is there for someone with more modest means?

We’ve put together a very affordable rig, which Jamie Humphries is using to show how close you can get without spending megabucks. I should add that we’ve decided to settle on the Peavey Vypyr 60 as our bedrock test amp for these ‘on a budget’ features. We initially reviewed the Peavey combo way back in the very first issue of iGuitar, when, on reflection, we were a bit less than generous with its star rating (the offending reviewer has, of course, been shot). Since then, the Vypyr has continued to grow on us and we now consider it to be a very fine all-purpose, all-rounder indeed - not least because of its extremely useful modelling facilities, which shone in issue 10’s Eddie Van Halen ‘budget’ feature. In fact we are so impressed with it as an ideal ‘gigging man’s amp’ - particularly for someone working in a covers band, as most semi-pros are at one time or another – that we’ve asked Peavey if we can hold onto it for a while longer as our benchmark test combo. Peavey has graciously said yes, so expect to see more of it over the coming months.

For a guitar in this test, we simply had no choice but to use the phenomenally good Vintage AFD Paradise that Jamie looks at in our review section. There are plenty of twin humbucker driven guitars on the market, many quite close in appearance to a real Gibson Les Paul - and some of them bearing Gibson’s sister brand’s Epiphone label. However, in a direct shoot-out last year between a Vintage and an Epiphone, we found we preferred the former, so it was to Vintage that we turned again for a review model this time around for our budget test. And if we thought we liked the previous Vintage...!

So, over to Jamie...

Slash’s Rig

Let’s start with guitars. Slash is probably one of the most famous Les Paul players in Rock. He has a huge collection of Les Pauls, but probably his best known and best loved is actually a 1959 replica, built by Kris Derrig. The guitar was bought for Slash by his manager for the recording of Appetite, due to the fact that Slash was struggling to get a good tone. The guitar came with Seymour Duncan Alnico II pickups and quickly became Slash’s main guitar. Another Les Paul that Slash is famous for using is his ‘87 Les Paul, bought just prior to the Appetite sessions. This guitar has been used on countless tours and recordings and is also loaded with Duncan Alnico Pro II pickups. There have also been various Gibson Les Paul Slash signature models, dating back as early as the late ‘80s, with a limited run of Slash models sporting black hardware. In 1997 Gibson released the “Snakepit” Les Paul, which featured Slash’s Snakepit graphic on the body, and a stunning snake motif on the fingerboard. Other popular models include the 2008 VOS Aged Les Paul, a perfect replica of Slash’s ‘87 Les Paul that came ready ‘aged’. The most recent addition to the long line is the stunning “Appetite” Les Paul, which is also available with an aged finish. Slash also tours with various prototype Appetite signature Les Pauls, all of which include the Duncan Alnico II slash Signature pickups, which we have tested elsewhere in this issue.

Amplifiers

Slash has always been associated with Marshall amps and has used various models over the years, including various signature models, including the original 90’s version with “Snakepit” logo, and the current Marshall “AFD” model, reviewed in this issue, which captures the perfect tone from the Appetite era. There is endless of speculation about the exact Marshall that was used for the Appetite session, but whatever it was, it is seen as producing his classic tone and Slash himself has tried to reproduce that tone with his current signature head.

Most probably, the amp in question was a modified Marshall 100 Watt 1959 Super Tremolo, owned by S.I.R, a rental company in LA, and it was known as “Stock #39”. The amp had previously been rented by George Lynch for the Under Lock and Key album, and had been modded by Tim Caswell, who basically used the amp’s unused tremolo circuit, with its additional pre-amp valve, to produce more gain. Also added to the amp was a master volume control.