Rock Daily talks to Richie... (and Slash and Billy Gibbons)

When Rock Daily caught up with Slash, Richie Sambora and ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s tribute to Les Paul last November, the trio of guitarists chatted about the influence the legendary guitarist had on their work.

Here's Richie's answers to their questions....

On his first Les Paul:

“I had a Univox Les Paul because I couldn’t afford a real one. My first Les Paul, I worked as a janitor at a hospital. I worked there for six weeks, and I finally made enough money — like 500 bucks — to buy my first Les Paul. And I went down to a place called Lou Rose Music in Edison, New Jersey, and got him to sell me my first Les Paul. And I had it from the time I was 17 all the way until I was 23. I was in Bon Jovi. And we were rehearsing, and we didn’t have a lot of money. And we were rehearsing in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, and it got stolen. It was my first professional guitar.”

Why did he want a Les Paul?

“All my heroes were playing them — God, everybody. I just thought it was the most powerful guitar. It was sexy. It’s got the most output. You plug it into a good amplifier, you’re gong to get more out of it. That’s my staple when I go to a session, my ‘59 custom. I’m lucky enough to have two of them.”

As a blues guy, what does he get from a Les Paul?

“When you put that rhythm pickup in and clean it up — there’s so much dexterity in the Les Paul. It has so many different sounds. You listen to guys like Jimmy Page, the textures they use, the tapestry that was created with a Les Paul was just singing.”

Check out the full article at Rolling Stone's site.

Hey, if you go check it out, let me know... Is that a SMILE that's almost on Slash's face? Say it ain't so! Probably smirking over the lukewarm reviews of the "GNR" branded album that Axl put out :)

~ Hath