10 INCREDIBLE Guitar Secrets In Rock Songs You Totally Missed
8. Slash's Trolling - Sweet Child O Mine
"Sweet Child O Mine" has earned its place as one of the greatest licks of all time. Though Guns N Roses were already gaining traction as the biggest hair metal band in the world, this glistening riff blaring from Slash's guitar became one of the biggest earworms of the 80's and a must for any up and coming guitarist to learn. Slash himself thought it was an earworm as well...just not in the good way.
When the band were starting to put together the pieces for their first record Appetite for Destruction, Slash would clear the air by playing the now classic lick, which he thought sounded too much like a circus melody to be usable. As he jammed on the lick with Steven Adler behind the drums, Axl Rose was just upstairs writing the lyrics to "Sweet Child O Mine" after hearing the song bleeding through the floor.
With everyone knocked out by the beginnings of the song, Slash was a little perplexed as to why his subtle goof on the guitar had become anything worthwhile for a band as dangerous as Guns N Roses. Slash may have had his doubts about the lick's potential, but this original goof has gone on to become one of rock's greatest single cuts.