Exodus and Slayer guitar champ Gary Holt was asked by Music Radar for his “number one tip for the studio,” to which he replied:
“Don’t sacrifice feeling for technical perfection all of the time.
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“Guys might want to get everything technically perfect in the studio but they don’t realize that there is something magical about a take that is not technically perfect. It’s more human.
“I don’t like to chop shit up in the studio.
“If I have a mistake and I really want to get something I will punch in and get it but I don’t believe in comping solos together. I don’t like that – who wrote it? The guy sitting there with the mouse in his hand.”
Asked to name the “key to writing a great solo,” Gary replied:
“Just practice, that is the main thing. You need to develop some soul in your playing.
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“Some people try to play like Yngwie before they can play like Angus. I’d rather play like Angus, anyways… [Laughs] Ted Nugent was a big influence to me early on, Ritchie Blackmore, Gary Moore, John Sykes, the list guys on.
“For me it’s mostly hard-rock guys. I love Ritchie Blackmore’s tone, his songwriting, his vibrato, his subtle rhythm playing that you don’t even notice there sometimes, but he will be doing this cool stuff to layer in with the keyboard line with Ronnie singing over it.
“I’m glad to see Ritchie back now. I think his new singer is really good. I wish he had called some of the older guys from his bands. I think the rhythm section wasn’t up to the standards of guys like Cozy Powell and Ian Paice.”