The Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan has always been a huge fan of Motörhead and often uses a shirt of the band during his concerts with Roses. Like the band, he was a good friend of the late legendary bassist and singer Lemmy Kilmister, who died in 2015 at the age of 70. In an interview with Bass Player magazine, the American artist recalled what he learned from Lemmy.
Duff McKagan’s recalls what he learned from Lemmy Kilmister
“Lemmy’s bass playing reminded me that you can still be punk as fuck on bass. But the thing with that is you have to hit the notes, you know? You’ve got to hit the notes; you can’t go out there and be a sloppy motherfucker. Lemmy showed me the importance of being aggressive, and that when you play with a pick, you can jump, but don’t be playing two notes at once.
“It’s so important to hit your notes, and that guy was so fucking good at doing that. His sound was massive; it sounded like it was just a mess of bass, but he was fucking hitting all the notes. If you ever saw Mötorhead live, you’ll know he knew what he was doing; it was obvious. But also, come on, man, Lemmy was an amalgamation of all the best things within punk and metal. He didn’t take any bullshit, and I loved that,” Duff McKagan said.
Although Motörhead is one of the most influential bands for Hard Rock and Heavy Metal muscians, they didn’t were as successful as other groups like Guns N’ Roses, for example. Motörhead sold only 15 million records worldwide but gained a cult-following status over the decades.
Guns N’ Roses sold an estimated amount of more than 100 million records worldwide, including 45 million copies in the United States.