The original Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley is one of the most influential guitarists in the history of Hard Rock music and he is currently mentioned as an underrated guitarist since he brought a lot of interesting things to Kiss’ records.
Over the years he had the chance to meet many players who were influenced by him, including John 5, who played with Rob Zombie, David Lee Roth, Marylin Manson and now is a member of Mötley Crüe. But what is his opinion on him as a guitar player?
Ace Frehley’s opinion on the guitarist John 5
Ace loves John 5 and have been really good friends for years already. In an interview with Guitar Player, the Spaceman talked about him.
“John 5 is a dear friend of mine. He actually called me up, and he said, ‘I’m a little nervous about playing with Mötley Crüe,’ so he invited me for the first show. He wanted a little moral support. (laughs). Then, me, him and Nikki (Sixx) were hanging out backstage after the show. I think it was in Atlantic City, in New Jersey.”
“But John is really technical. I mean… he can play anything. He can play stuff by Glen Campell, and he’s just a really great, technical guitar player. He definitely surpasses me, you know? I just have one style. I can’t play 10 different kinds of styles — but John can play country, metal, and he can even play country. You know… he’s just an amazing musician.”
Ace Frehley continued:
“But for the most part, he pretty much just stands up there, whereas I kind of, you know, developed certain types of physical moves. I remember that in the early days with KISS, I used to bend back really far. I had all these sorts of physical moves and choreography with Kiss. And a lot of that was actually created by Kiss’ first road manager, Sean Delaney, who had a big hand in getting us to do all those moves,” Ace Frehley said.
