Total Guitar, April 2004
Does producer Rick hear your guitar with the same ears as you?
“I produce my own guitars with the Chilis, Rick doesn’t have anything to do with them. Rick does more with the drums, vocals and mixing: he leaves my guitar and Flea’s bass alone. He might occasionally suggest things, like he said, ‘On Warm Tape you should do an answer thing like George Harrison does with a 12-string guitar on some Beatles song.’ That idea worked perfectly with what I was thinking, because I’d already done an overdub, so it ened up being a slide guitar being answered by a 12-string guitar. So he’ll throw little suggestions my way, but he won’t tell me if he thinks a guitar part isn’t working.”
Can you describe what you’re doing in the verse, that repeated figure?
“The sound you’re talking about is an echo set on triplets for the whole song. Actually, the person i was thinking of when I came up with that was Daniel Ash, his Bauhaus song called Double Dare [from In The Flat Field].”
Are any of the songs on your album that may have worked with the Chilis?
“I think Cut-Out has a chord or two in common with I Could Die For You on the Chilis album. Sometimes the ideas cross over, but in general it’s very clear where I should use stuff. And I’m never unclear about what sounds good or what’s not. I’m always sure of myself.
For the Chilis, when I come up with a guitar part and don’t know where to take it, I try to write something intersting. Whereas with my songs, I might not find the guitar parts interesting, I’ll concentrate more on the vocals and synthesizers.”
Shadows Collide... is peppered with keyboards. Does it bring out different elements of your playing?
“The use of keyboard effects was all part of my idea for this record – I wanted it to have a wide variety of different sounds. When we made the demos, that was was the fun part, finding interesting sounds to color the songs.”
And virtually every song has an acoustic guitar at the heart of it.
“I write the songs on acoustic guitar, and agan that was part of my concept for the record. In the song Omission, when it gets really fast towards the end, it would have made sense to use an electric guitar. But the idea was to leave out the electric and have the acoustic strumming really hard and fast. I didn’t want to overstate things with an electric that could be simply said with an acoustic guitar.”
What inspires you to write?
“My songs are all written in the moment. If I get an idea for a song, I’ll sit there until it’s finished... whether it takes five minutes or three hours, I always finish it or I never finish it. I can understand why you’d think my songs were put together in pieces – that’s the process I use for the Chili Peppers. But for my songs, I conceive them in that one moment."
If we were writing the primer on how to achieve the John Frusciante guitar tone, how would you describe it?
“Hitting the guitar really hard. Using orange Tortex picks [Jim Dunlop]. And I use gauge 0.010 strings, or if I’m playing the [Gretsch] White Falcon, 0.012s.”
What is it you like about the Strat?
“I just didn’t have a Les Paul! Although I got one recently – a 1969 and I love it, but I wish i had a ’59. now the main guitars I usea are a Telecaster and the Les Paul. Between these two you can get practically any kind of sound.
I think the way I sound has a lot to do with the Tele. And even though I don’t use Marshalls now and play through Vox amps, it still sounds like me. Another thing is if I’m playing a two- or three-note chord, I still hit all the strings, I just block the ones I’m not using with my left hand. This technique has a lot to do with the Frusciante sound, because most people play a two-note chord in the middle of the guitar, being careful not to hit the other strings. For me, it’s more of a percussive thing, which comes naturally. I’ve only noticed it when I’ve shown people my my technique and I realise what I’m doing.”
What about finger vibrato? You don’t use it much.
“That’s a conscious decision – I feel some people use it too much. It’s like Jimi Hendrix used it to its full effect, and no-one is going to better that. I guess during the time of Blood Sugar Sex Magik I was more into using that kind of vibrato, but in the last five years, the guitarists who’ve inspired me probably don’t have the technical ability to do something like that. For example, I don’t think someone like Matthew Ashman [Bow Wow Wow] has enough finger strength, but that’s the kind of playing I find interesting, so I end up taking on those people’s limitations. But it’s exactly these limitations people work within and the creativity that comes from working through themthat I find interesting. Sometimes a guitarist’s limitations aren’t because they can’t do it, but because they choose not to – that’s interesting.
In the solo from the Chili’s Minor Thing I’m playing vibrato and it’s pretty smooth; it just went with that distorted sound. I pull out the technique once in a while, but I don’t want to depend on it. By not using it, I’ve found more colourful ways of arranging notes. The notes and rhythm have to be stronger and speak for themselves.”
Even the use of your tremolo bar on the Strat is limited.
“Nowadays, that’s how it is, but if you met me when I was 17 you wouldn’t say that. Yeah, I mostly use the bar when playing live for feedback. That’s where I enjoy using it. But it’s another of those situations where it’s been used so much, I want do do something new.”
Is Shadows Collide... a perfect reflection of you as a guitarist?
“Yeah, it’s exactly what I set out to create. The earlier records are all demos, this was more like I had a certain collection of songs. I was collaborating with Josh and we knew we wanted to make a record. The idea for it was very clear; an album with a lot of harmonies and keyboard parts, with songs that had interesting chords rather than flashy guitar and bass playing. Guitars isn’t what we were doing on this record, although one day I’m sure we will.”
