In Alice in Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell stated that Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello taught the late Layne Staley to play guitar.
Read what he told Eddie Trunk:
“Layne was a pure singer that kind of learned how to play guitar. I remember when we were on Lollapalooza, him hanging out with Morello and stuff, and [Tom] teaching him a few chords.
“He wrote a couple of the greatest guitar riffs we ever did: ‘Angry Chair,’ ‘Hate to Feel,’ and ‘Head Creeps.'”
Now, during a question and answers session with The Guardian, Tom Morello revealed if it was true.
Read what he said:
“That is not true! And I suspect he would not have been a good student… Layne was a very smart, very funny person with a great, self-deprecating humor. We would often argue about which was more metal than the other, and I miss him a lot.”
Who did you learn to play guitar from? And what made you experiment with sounds so much?
“I am a self-taught guitar player. I took two lessons when I was 13 years old, hated them so much that I put the guitar in the closet for four years. I began playing at 17 because punk rock music made me realize I could do it too.
“I then began practicing up to eight hours a day trying to ape my favorite shredders: Randy Rhoads, Steve Vai, Eddie Van Halen. After amassing considerable technique, I realized that I did not have my own voice on the instrument, and began practicing the eccentricities in my playing.
“At the formation of RATM, I had the revelation that I was the DJ in the band – and the blinders came off. I felt like there were no sonic boundaries to what I could explore on the guitar.”
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