Dear Guitar Hero: The World's Most Celebrated Guitarists Answer Their Fans' Most Burning Questions - Jim Root

2012

Guitar World 

(Backbeat Books)

Q: You and Mick Thomson are known for trading riffs and licks in Slipknot. Do you plan these changes or do they just "happen" in the studio?

- James Laygo 

JIM: When we recorded [Vol.3: (The Subliminal Verses)], the trade-offs just happened as went along. But it doesn't always work that way, and we don't have an established writing method. Even if a song is completely structured before we start recording, it will end up different by the time we're finished because we find ways to improve upon it as we go along. You have to stay open minded and work together to make the song the best it can be. 

Q: What is the weird effect you use during the bridge of "(sic)" in concert? 

- Liam 

JIM: It's a Dunlop Auto Q. 

Q: Which do you think is more important: playing the best you can or putting on a great stage show? Incidentally, you guys strike a great balance. 

- Drew 

JIM: Do we? Thanks. We try to be as proficient as we can as musicians, but we also want to put on a good show. People sometimes think that we're not really playing because we run samples and loops, so I'll take this opportunity to say that is definitely not the case. 

Q: You have said that you used to be timid and now you are a freak. So which lifestyle do you enjoy more? 

- Shoshonna 

JIM: Ugh! I never said that. That was something the label made up for publicity and put on the back of a dumb baseball card, and I always thought it was really stupid. I am what I am, and I've always been a bit of a freak - but not in any kind of bizarre fetishist wat. I'm just rather neurotic. 

Q: There seems to be a lot less anger in your music now. Does success make it harder to write evil, frustration-filled songs like "Eyeless" and "Diluted?" 

- Todd

JIM: Yes, to some extent. Your life changes when you have as much success as we've had in such a short amount of time. You look at everything differently. We've been all over the world and seen a lot of different things. We've seen bands come and go and bands who have been at it for 25 to 30 years and still sound great. Going through all these experiences and seeing the world, you learn a lot about life, music and the music business. Having said that, there is always going to be tinge of anger and angst in all of us. That's just part of life, which no experience or amount of success can change. But we certainly look at the world differently than when we released our first album. 

Q: Did it bug you to be considered nu-metal? 

- Brian 

JIM: Yes. I never liked the term or people's apparent need to slap a label on everything they hear. To me, music is just music, and I didn't think "nu-metal" was different from any heavy music that came before it. Led Zeppelin wrote metal songs. Even the Beatles wrote heavy tunes. 

Q: What made you guys decide to break out your chops on Vol.3? If you can shred like that, why didn't you ever blow our asses off before?

- Joey Naddeo

JIM: We've always played that way, but the producers opted to edit it out. That's the school of guitar playing Mick and I came from, but it went out of style because music follows these silly trends, and our producers felt it wasn't necessary for the music. I'm happy and somewhat satisfied to be able to show that side of our playing, but we don't really care if we do it or not, because we've never felt that music is about showing off. Even now, we only do it only when the song needs it, and it's hard to figure out how to insert it into some of the old songs, even if, originally, they had more ripping guitar parts. Also, some of our stuff is somewhat tongue-in-cheek. The solo in "Pulse of the Maggots" is a good example. There was a blank space in the middle of it, and [producer[ Rick Rubin walked in, put the devil's horn up in the air and said, "This needs some Slayer-style solos". Mick and I looked at each other and giggled. And that's what we gave it.  

Q: Who were the early influences that inspired you to pick up a guitar? 

- Oscar Mares 

JIM: It's hard to pin them down. My dad had a great vinyl collection and I listened to all of it when I was a kid: the Beatles, Zeppelin, even Billy Squier. That really fired up my love of music. When I first picked up a guitar at 13, I was really into old Motley Crue and Twisted Sister. A few years later I heard Metallica's Ride the Lightning and it completely changed the way I looked at guitar playing. After that, I got into all the great speed metal bands that were around in the late Eighties and early Nineties - groups like Flotsam and Jetsam, Anthrax and Death Angel. I cut my chops playing along to stuff like Anthrax's Among the Living. 

 I was in a speed metal band called Atomic Opera and we covered a lot of Metallica, Anthrax and Iron Maiden songs. Playing along to those albums is how I learned guitar and got proficient on it, but I never forgot about guitar players like Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix and Steve Howe. They, too, represented a big part of how I wanted to come across as a guitarist. In speed metal, there was so much ego and testosterone that playing a pentatonic kick was frowned upon as being weak, but I always loved it. 

Q: Is the acoustic song "Vermillion Pt.2" played in standard setting? 

- Ben Samuels

JIM: It's in C# tuning dropped to B, just like our electric tuning. 

Q: Since all your songs are tuned so far down, why don't you use seven-string or baritone guitars instead of your regular six string? 

- Russian Maggot. 

JIM: I own too many six strings to switch. Besides, to add another string to the fretboard would just confuse me. I don't even own a seven-string, though I do want to get one. I'd like a double-neck first, though. 

Q: How do you get those awesome pinch harmonics to come out right every time? 

- Gavin Neufeld. 

JIM: It's just from playing guitar for 16 years and practicing. There is no top-secret technique. And, anyhow, they don't always come out perfectly, especially given the low tuning we use. I generally use different picks for harmonics - Dunlop one-millimetre Wedges - and that helps. For intricate picking, intense rhythm pieces and leads I used Dunlop Jazz 3 XL picks. 

Q: Does wearing a mask while playing in front of thousands of screaming fans make you feel like a different person - or God-like, perhaps? Does it feel different being onstage with Stone Sour as yourself? 

- Dave Frost. 

JIM: I wouldn't say I feel "God-like" wearing the mask, but it is definitely an uninhibitor. And yes, it is an absolutely different experience, performing with Stone Sour. The first time I played onstage with them, I felt exposed, like I was trapped in that dream every kid has where you forget to get dressed and go to school in your underwear. 

Q: What do all of your parents think of your image and careers?* Do they brag to their friends about your accomplishments in Slipknot, or do they tell everyone that you are the co-founder of Microsoft? 

- Jesse Seidel. 

JIM: I can't speak for anyone else in the band, but my mom is completely and totally into my career and always has been. I don't really talk to my dad, but he's into it, too. Both of them were always supportive: they got me my first guitar, my mom bought me my first amp head and my dad drove me to lessons every Wednesday when I was 14. Once, when I was learning a Motley Crue song, I warned him that he wouldn't like the music I was playing, and he said, "That's okay. It's your music and you're the one who has to love it." I thought that was very cool.

Notes

Parents, image and careers: Sid's English grandmother kept asking for a DVD. He told Q Magazine that he hadn't obliged, as he needed to be sure that someone was with her before she saw it...