Meet the newest Guns 'N Roses guitarist...

DJ Ashba



Hmmm...Top Hat, check. Les Paul, check.

Look, I made a joke about this guy on twitter a while back asking if he was Tommy Thayer. For those of you who don't know (and why would you?), Tommy Thayer is the current lead guitarist of Kiss. Now, the "legendary" lead guitarist of Kiss is Ace Frehley. He's the guy you immediately see when you think "the guys in kiss," or at least his make-up is.

There's been a lot of guitarists in Kiss, Vinnie Vincent, Mark St. John and Bruce Kulick. Great players, and arguably all better guitarists than Ace. However, that "Space Ace" imagery that Ace formed and created is what people remember. Well, see, Thayer, essentially, dresses up as Ace to play. Now, I'm sure Thayer is a decent guy, and all, and a good guitar player, but...there's something about standing on someone else's image.

So, yeah...I look at Mr. Ashba there, and I wonder. It's just a little TOO close to the bone, for me. I dunno, maybe DJ Ashba's been wearing top hats and playing Les Pauls for years. Although, I think the whole band has a sponsorship with Gibson, so the Les Paul may be forgivable.

(I really am going to get off this Guns 'N Roses/Slash kick, I promise. I finished the book last night, so...moving on.)

Worked up a new track over the weekend, "Reeces." I'd just eaten a dark chocolate peanut butter cup before I started sequencing the drums, so whatever. The verse drum part came from the cover I had been trying to work up, but it just never came together. I was trying to go too far from where the song started, so that went into the garbage. However, I like the way the drums were sounding, so I started playing with that, and a bit heavier drum part for the chorus, with a time signature change for the middle eight.

The thing worked really well. I think I've gotten a handle on keeping the chord progressions simple enough, and leaving myself room to play a bit. I managed to finish it all except the solo and the vocals (as is my current MO). So that puts me with 3 "finished" tracks ready for vocal work, and a 4th that is kinda outside the box, but completely finished. I really don't know if I want to put that one out there, it's very, very raw. I think I used 2 tracks, total. Just my voice and an acoustic guitar.

So, we shall see.