“You sacrifice having what you would normally want”: Slipknot’s Jim Root on the pitfalls of being in a two-guitar band
Slipknot’s Jim Root feels being in a two-guitar band comes with a level of compromise when it comes to tone.
Root shares guitar duties with Mick Thomson, and backstage before their show at London’s O2 Arena, Root dove into the balance of the two players in an interview with music retailer, Andertons. The band wrapped their 25th anniversary tour at the venue, which honoured their 1999 debut album.
READ MORE: “The grief is big”: Slipknot’s Clown reflects on the death of bassist Paul Gray and drummer Joey Jordison
Root feels it’s important for the pair to complement each other’s sounds, and ensure there is no frequency masking, which can sometimes lead to him not always playing with the tone he desires. He explains (via Ultimate Guitar), “He goes for what he wants as a sound, and then I go for whatever can complement that… That’s one of the cool things. But it’s also sort of a downfall of being in a two-guitar player band. You got to kind of avoid having frequency masking or two guitars that sound exactly the same type of thing. It’s better if they’re kind of off from each other.”
He adds, “So, you kind of sacrifice having what you would normally want as your actual tone. But you would have to do that anyways in a situation like this, with this many guys in the band. You gotta have things that cut through a mix. You gotta have things that take up… And guitars are meant to sit in a certain frequency range.”
You can watch the full interview below:
As for Root’s unconventional guitar choices, he revealed last summer that he’s “always looking for things to piss off metalheads”. He told Total Guitar, “And apparently, also piss off Jazzmaster and Tele players! I mean, it’s a slab of wood with pickups and strings. Who gives a shit about the shape of the guitar?”
Slipknot kick off Knotfest in Australia this February. You can view all of their upcoming live dates now.
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
