John 5: guitaredge Web Xclusive Interview

The Art of Malice just dropped—tell us about the album.

It was a very important album for me. I put a lot of work into all of my albums, but this was my fifth instrumental album. I wanted to get a wide range of music on there. I wanted to have it be a CD that when you pop it into your boom box, it sounds like your iPod is on shuffle because of all the different styles and different types of songs—so people don’t get tired of listening to it after the first couple songs, which I think is important with an instrumental CD.

You span the spectrum of music in all of your solo work. Each musical style has its own properties that you had to learn—trills, slides, scales, things like that. Was there ever any style that you struggled with more than others?

Everything I try to do, I struggle at in the beginning, but I just practice. I’m very patient with it and I just sit and play it over and over until it’s no longer a struggle for me. In fact, just before this interview I was watching a lesson online. So I’m always trying to learn something new and keep it fresh—not just for the sake of my career but for myself, too. It keeps it fun for me playing the guitar. There’s just so much you can learn.
full interview

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