FEATURE
How the Foo Fighters’ three guitarists combine for maximum riffing effect – by Chris Shiflett
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Chris Shiflett joined Foo Fighters as lead guitarist in 1999, and since 2005 he has operated in a three-guitar line-up alongside Dave Grohl and Pat Smear. As he tells TG: “Being in Foo Fighters has made me a much better rhythm guitar player…”
How do you go about divvying up the rhythm guitar parts in Foo Fighters and creating such a wide sonic profile?
It’s interesting, because when Pat came back and we had three guitar players, we really had to think about that stuff. Especially with the older songs. We wanted to figure out who would sit where and do our best to not sit in the same places of the neck and all that sort of stuff. And over the years, it’s just become something we’ve fallen into. A lot of it happens when you’re making a record because you’re not recording everything at the same time, you’re figuring out parts that slot in and don’t step on the other things that are happening in the song.
How much of that changes when you take those songs to the stage?
When we play live, that can all get turned on its head. We might end up playing things someone else played on the record, because Dave will have to sing. He might have played some complicated thing on the album but he probably won’t do that when he’s singing. So that’s when we start moving things around. The guiding light in Foo Fighters is representing the song in the way people want to hear it. Everybody has to find their spot.
What have you learned from being in a band with two other guitarists?
Prior to that, I’d never really thought about rhythm playing. Obviously I’d done it, because I was in a bunch of bands playing riffs, but I’d never given it much thought. I wasn’t really thinking about locking into the rhythm section or learning how to follow the drummer. But it’s all really important stuff when you look at how a band glues together. So I ended up learning more about that side of guitar playing later down the line after joining. And sometimes it’s hard to hear all the nuances and details when you have three guitar players going at the same time.
On a big stage with a crowd and all the ambient noise, you don’t really hear the clickety clack of the pick attack or if we’re all locking in. So I might just look at Dave’s right hand and that’s how I get the right rhythm. If that ain’t working, I’ll get the rhythm from his vocal – I’ll lock into what he’s singing or I might even look at him tapping his leg.
Do you dial things in differently? Who tends to live where tonally?
These are de
