INTERVIEW
A minute’s all it takes to discover what makes a great guitarist tick. Before she jumped into her limo for the airport we grabbed a chat with the Alice Cooper guitarist and successful solo artist.
GT. Do you have atype of pick that you can’t live without?
NS: I use Grover Allman picks in .60 gauge. My first .60 pick was given to me by the great Paul Gilbert at aNAMM convention, and I never looked back!
GT: If you had to give up all your pedals but three, what would they be?
NS: I actually do my solo tours with just two pedals- a BOSS GT-1000 and a Shure GLXD+ wireless!
GT: Do you play another instrument well enough to do so in a band?
NS: I can play a little of everything, but not nearly well enough to be in an actual band. Maybe for some open mic nights.
GT: If a music chart were put in front of you, could you read it?
NS: Very slowly.
GT: Do guitar cables really make a difference? What make are yours?
NS: With really cheap ones, yes there can be a difference. But between the reasonably good ones and the super high-end ones, I don’t notice anything.
GT: Is there anyone’s playing (past or present) that you’re slightly jealous of, or just particularly in awe of?
NS: Haha plenty! I feel like every day I look at social media and I see someone playing cool stuff and think, I wish I knew how to play like that!
GT: Your house/studio is burning down: which guitar do you salvage, and why?
NS: Haha! I would probably end up taking too long to decide, and wind up going down with the ship.
GT: What’s your favourite amp and how do you set it?
NS: I love my Marshall JVM 410H. I set it with lots of gain, and very punchy.
GT: What kind of action do you have on your guitars? Any particular quirks?
NS: I’m pretty particular about having the action fast and low on all my stage guitars: 17th-fret 2mm low, 1.5mm high, with the neck as straight as possible.
GT: What strings do you use?
NS: I use D’Addario NYXL gauge 10-46. Best strings in the whole world.
GT: Who was your first influence to pick up and play the guitar?
NS: Steve Vai in the movie Crossroads.
GT: What was the first electric guitar that you really lusted after?
NS: A red super-Strat like the Jack Butler guitar from Crossroads. My best friend growing up had an Ibanez RG that was identical looking (at least to our untrained eye), and I would have killed for it.
I actually own that guitar now.
GT: What do you recall as the single best gig you ever did…
NS: Oh man… too many to single one out.
