It’s easy to look at a bona fide rock star and conclude they have long since mastered the art of the electric guitar. But such a thought ignores the fact even the most established and decorated guitarists need to brush up on their skills from time to time – and Slash is no different.
YouTube personality and guitar educator Marty Schwartz has been helping players go from hopefuls to pros with his video content, and his 4.58 million subscriber count tells you just how influential a figure he’s become. But he never expected Guns N’ Roses’ top hat-toting figurehead to be among those learning from his content.
“When I met Slash, it was a total surprise. And even crazier is what he said to me,” he reveals in a tell-all video.
Schwartz was set to feature in a Gibson documentary alongside other artists synonymous with the firm. It might seem obvious that Slash, the man who made the Les Paul cool again, would be involved, but Schwartz was none the wiser.
“He was my guitar hero before I played guitar,” Schwartz gushes. “When I was in 8th grade, Guns N’ Roses was the biggest band in the world. Slash seemed like an absolute rock god.
“So I'm sitting there, the interview ends, and then the crew starts to get a little more serious and frantic,” he recalls. “They're like, ‘All right, we got to get everyone out of here.’ We got to clear this place out, hurry!’
“I start heading towards the exit of the studio and right as the door opens for me to exit, boom, in the doorway is Slash. We’re eye to eye and he is a rock hero of mine. I was starstruck.
“I’m only saying this because it’s absolutely true,” Schwartz adds, clearly still pinching himself over the moment. “It sounds like a flex, but I’m only telling it to you because it is the truth. It is one of the greatest professional days of my life
“I was just like, ‘Woah, hey, Slash.’ And he says, ‘Woah, Marty. Oh my god.’ And I'm getting chills right now, even just saying that. I was tongue tied, for sure, but he said, ‘It’s really cool when you watch someone a lot and then you get to actually meet them in person.’
“He was like, ‘Hey, come on over here.’ He took me into the hallway to have more of a conversation. I realized at the time he was either just about to, or had already, released a blues covers album. And so I think that's why he said he had been watching me, because he was probably preparing and wanting to look into doing his blues cover project.
“But he said he had some of my instructional stuff saved on his computer. He said there was some really cool blues-style techniques that he learned from some of my stuff.”
Slash retraced his musical roots with his 2024 solo LP Orgy of the Damned. A love letter to the blues, it features a star-studded cast of music greats, from blues rock Billy Gibbons and Gary Clark Jr. – who recently received high praise from Eric Clapton – to pop star Demi Lovato, a singer not typically associated with the genre. Moreover, Slash says the blues reflects where he comes from as a player.
“If you were to listen to anything I do, you can see how big the blues influence is,” he had said ahead of its release, and it appears he tapped into Schwartz's vast archive of blues guitar lessons to ensure what he delivered across the album was up to scratch.
“I have young students who know Slash through the Guitar Hero game,” Schwartz adds of the guitarist's cross-generational influence on the guitar world. “So that was one of these moments in my life where everything felt validated. We all have our ups and downs, but that day was really magical and I'll never forget it.”
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