Get inside the rocking and riffing style of Aerosmith’s number one axe wielder
Guitars and backing Jon Bishop
Joe Perry has been gracing the world’s biggest stages for over 50 years now, initially, of course, with Aerosmith, then later on with the Joe Perry Project and the Hollywood Vampires. Of course, each project very much has its own identity, but there are some constants running through Joe’s playing style.
First of all, Joe has always made use of anumber of tunings. Sure, you’ll hear him rocking out in Estandard most of the time, but some of Aerosmith’s biggest tracks feature altered tunings you may not know about –there’s plenty more detail below.
He’s also quite experimental with the guitars he uses. Though he’s the embodiment of a guitar connoisseur, he likes to feel inspired from gig to gig, so, while he has some guitars set up for specific songs, he’ll often choose different guitars on different nights. There’s a certain freedom and spirit that’s a big part of his playing.
Read on as we break down some of Joe’s trademark techniques.
Our first example is inspired by 1993’s Living On The Edge which was originally recorded in dropDtuning (DADGBE), though we’re experimenting with double dropD (DADGBD) here. Live, Joe mostly uses his 10-string B.C. Rich Bich, or, alternatively, the 12-string fretboard of a Gretsch 6/12 doubleneck –the extra course of strings providingaricher, jangly sound. The next example is inspired by Joe’s gritty slide work on 1977’s Draw The Line, where he uses a Dan Armstrong Plexi guitar tuned to open Awith the sixth string way down on alowA (A AEAC# E). It gives areal growling bottom end that contrasts with the smoother slide sound. For our example, we recommend wearing your slide on your third finger and playing the low powerchords with your first finger. Joe employs a bespoke E5 tuning (EBEEBE) on one of Aerosmith’s biggest tracks, No More No More, and, typically, he has a Telecaster set up specially for it. We’re looking at some simple strumming here, so it’s easy to get started with. This next example is inspired by Back In The Saddle, a song originally written on a Fender Bass VI. Joe is riffing in the midrange of the bass, and that means some similar ideas can be created on the guitar. Though we’ve used a bridge pickup here, you could experiment with a neck pickup and by playing bar 1 in 5th position to get a warmer, bassiertone. Here, we’re taking our inspiration from //Rag Doll//, once again playing slide, but in open E tuning (E B E G# B E) this time. Joe plays this song on a P-90-loaded lap steel over crunchy Les Paul tones provided by Brad Whitford. As always, make sure to position your slide directly over the fret in question, not behind it. This next example is inspired by Last Child. Aerosmith have always blended classic rock wi
