6. Dave Grohl Was Never Taught To Play Any Instrument
When Dave Grohl tells people how important it is to have "the human element" in music (referring to the overuse of computers to fix musicians' mistakes), it's important to know that the guy is not a classically-trained player. In fact, he's the exact type of player who could benefit from Pro Tools. Not only does Dave not remember the names of chords, but he doesn't even look at the guitar like it's a guitar. He looks at it like a drum set. Seriously. This is how he explains the riffs for "Everlong:" "The low E string is the kick drum. The A and D strings are snares. The G, B and high E are the cymbals. So you have a kick-snare relationship in the riff. Then when the chorus comes around, you wash all the high strings as you would wash a cymbal. It makes it percussive, and it gives that dynamic." So there you have it. Dave Grohl approaches the guitar like a walrus would approach the clarinet.
