{"id":2138,"date":"2012-04-19T09:39:21","date_gmt":"2012-04-19T09:39:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/?p=2138"},"modified":"2012-04-19T11:32:58","modified_gmt":"2012-04-19T11:32:58","slug":"premier-guitar-interviews-john-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/2012\/04\/19\/premier-guitar-interviews-john-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Premier Guitar interviews John 5"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"John 5 sat down with Premier Guitars<\/a> to chat to them about the new album ‘God Told Me To’ and more.<\/p>\n

Interview: John 5 on “God Told Me To”<\/strong> by:Joe Charupakorn
\nThe metal-meets-chicken’-pickin’ veteran discusses his new Spanish-influenced half-acoustic solo album and we try to get him to buy Eddie Van Halen’s guitar.<\/p>\n

Like many guitarists, John 5 moved to L.A. to pursue his dreams of becoming a professional player. But unlike the countless others who were quickly chewed up and spit out by the music industry, John 5 became one of the most successful rock guitarists of the last two decades, achieving a level of success unimaginable for most. He\u2019s an in-demand guitarist and songwriter for some of the biggest names in the business\u2014Ricky Martin, Salt-N-Pepa, David Lee Roth, Marilyn Manson, and Rob Zombie\u2014and also maintains an illustrious career as a solo artist.<\/p>\n

With his unique bluegrass-meets-metal style, John 5 is a bona fide guitar god. He developed his prodigious abilities through an unwavering dedication to the instrument and endless hours of rigorous practice. Like the late Randy Rhoads, John 5 would seek out guitar teachers on the road while on tour. \u201cIt had to be the right kinds of teachers, not just a rock guy who\u2019s got a Metallica shirt on and is going to show me some licks,\u201d John 5 clarifies. \u201cI looked for the real guys who just know how to play one style of music, whether it\u2019s classical or country.\u201d He\u2019s become extremely articulate in reversing those roles and taking on the duties of the teacher. In 2008, he released the instructional DVD, The Devil Knows My Name, and earlier this year, he released an instructional book, The Book of John, both through Hal Leonard Corporation. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely a great book if you want to figure out certain ways that I do things,\u201d says John.<\/p>\n

Currently, John is in the midst of a world tour with Rob Zombie (co-headlining with Megadeth). Although the shows are physically demanding and the tours exhausting, he says, \u201cWhen I\u2019m on the road, instead of just sitting around and doing nothing, I\u2019m writing music and working on stuff. If I have an hour free, I take advantage of that time and work. I learned that from Rob Zombie. He\u2019s always working and he\u2019s very productive in his life.\u201d As a testament to this making-every-minute-count work ethic, John 5\u2019s sixth and latest CD\/DVD release, God Told Me To, will be released mid-tour this month, and he\u2019s currently scoring Zombie\u2019s upcoming film, The Lords of Salem. We got the scoop from John 5 on his new album and how to make it as a session player, and then we geeked out on his massive gear collection while trying to nudge him to purchase Eddie Van Halen\u2019s exorbitantly priced 1984 guitar, which recently hit the auction block.<\/p>\n

Is God Told Me To an evolution forward from your previous releases?<\/strong>
\nI think it is because it\u2019s half acoustic and half electric. I\u2019m dabbling in some Spanish style music on this one\u2014some different acoustic types of playing like knocking on the guitar and creating rhythms, and using the violin bow. I\u2019m also using the mandolin and all sorts of crazy stuff.
\n<\/em>
\nWhat inspired this?<\/strong>
\nI\u2019ve never done it before and I wanted to change it up. I want to make every album special, so people aren\u2019t like, \u201cOh, here\u2019s another John 5 album. It\u2019s going to be a little country and a little rock.\u201d I want to keep them on their toes so they never know what they\u2019re going to get.<\/em><\/p>\n

On \u201cBeat It,\u201d you pretty much played Eddie Van Halen\u2019s solo note-for-note. Why did you do choose to do that?<\/strong>
\n\u201cBeat It\u201d is just an iconic piece of music and the solo is also iconic\u2014it\u2019s incredible. So, I had to pay tribute to how amazing it is. I think it came out great, I\u2019m really proud of it.<\/em><\/p>\n

After the solo proper, you go into your own solo and it sounds like you made a conscious effort to avoid any signature Eddie Van Halen-isms.<\/strong>
\nI wanted to put my style into it. Eddie always said, \u201cHave your own style, have your own thing, and do your own thing.\u201d So that\u2019s what I did.
\n<\/em>
\nSpeaking of which, you\u2019ve played and recorded with David Lee Roth before. Have you checked out the new Van Halen album, A Different Kind of Truth?<\/strong>
\nYes. It\u2019s amazing. I love it so much. I think they did a phenomenal job and they\u2019re kicking ass on tour.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cNoche Acosador\u201d features a lot of authentic-sounding, acoustic Spanish-style playing.<\/strong>
\nI study so many players, so many styles, and the right way to do it. Whenever I do something country or a different style of music, I don\u2019t listen to a rock guy doing it. I listen to the real guys doing it. That\u2019s why, hopefully, it sounds authentic. <\/em><\/p>\n

Read the rest of the interview here: http:\/\/www.premierguitar.com\/Magazine\/Issue\/2012\/May\/Interview_John_5_on_God_Told_Me_To.aspx<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John 5 recently sat down with Premier Guitars to chat about the new album God Told Me To and much more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[129,620,13,268],"class_list":["post-2138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interview","tag-god-told-me-to","tag-interview","tag-john-5","tag-premier-guitars","tw-post-no-content"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1qFj4-yu","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2001,"url":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/2012\/03\/16\/new-interview-john-5-takes-on-djs-computer-music\/","url_meta":{"origin":2138,"position":0},"title":"New Interview: John 5 takes on DJs, computer music","author":"Dillon - Team John 5","date":"March 16, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Musicradar.com sits down with John 5 again for another interview in the run- up to the new album God Told Me T","rel":"","context":"In "Interview"","block_context":{"text":"Interview","link":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/category\/interview\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/john-5.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/john-five-opener-corbis-460-100-460-70-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2031,"url":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/2012\/03\/27\/john-5-chats-to-ultimateguitar-my-fans-are-smart-and-they-know-what-they-want\/","url_meta":{"origin":2138,"position":1},"title":"John 5 chats to UltimateGuitar: My Fans Are Smart And They Know What They Want","author":"Dillon - Team John 5","date":"March 27, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"John 5 sat down with Ultimateguitar.com and spoke to them about the forthcoming new album God Told Me To and his special affinity with his fans and why he doesn't like to let them down.","rel":"","context":"In "Interview"","block_context":{"text":"Interview","link":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/category\/interview\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"John 5","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/john-5.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/john-5-pic-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1503,"url":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/2011\/10\/09\/john-5-discusses-new-projects-with-norman-from-normans-rare-guitars\/","url_meta":{"origin":2138,"position":2},"title":"John 5 discusses new projects with Norman from Norman’s Rare Guitars","author":"Dillon - Team John 5","date":"October 9, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"John 5 appeared in a new video with his pal Norman from well known guitar store Norman's Rare Guitars and spoke about a couple of the new projects he has been working on aside from also working on the post production work of the DVD which will accompany the forthcoming\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/john-5.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/50272_137305620700_7511487_n-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4702,"url":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/2015\/02\/13\/phoenix-new-times-talk-to-john-5-ahead-of-his-show-in-arizona\/","url_meta":{"origin":2138,"position":3},"title":"Phoenix New Times talk to John 5 ahead of his show in Arizona","author":"Dillon - Team John 5","date":"February 13, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Ahead of his show in Arizona, Phoenix New Times had a chat with John to talk about how he started playing, his obsession with Tele's and his love of the Universal Monsters and what he hopes to bring to the audience this weekend for the John 5 and The Creatures\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Interview"","block_context":{"text":"Interview","link":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/category\/interview\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"John 5 Matt Wilson Images","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/john-5.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/John5mattwilsonimages.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/john-5.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/John5mattwilsonimages.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/john-5.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/John5mattwilsonimages.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4032,"url":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/2013\/12\/15\/video-john-5-shows-premier-guitars-his-stage-gear\/","url_meta":{"origin":2138,"position":4},"title":"[Video] John 5 shows Premier Guitars his stage gear","author":"Dillon - 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Lang and why it’s all Gods fault","author":"Dillon - Team John 5","date":"May 20, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Co'ed Magazine had a little chat with John 5.","rel":"","context":"In "Interview"","block_context":{"text":"Interview","link":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/category\/interview\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"John 5 guitars Marilyn Manson Rob Zombie for sale ebay","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/john-5.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/john-5-ebay-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2138\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}