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Podcast Spotlight
Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl, Pat Smear, and Chris Shiflett Reveal Their Triple-Guitar Recipe
The moment you’ve all been waiting for has finally arrived. That’s right: Shred With Shifty is back, and your beloved host Chris Shiflett is kicking off season two with a super-special episode.
Shifty’s Foo Fighters shredders-in-arms Dave Grohl and Pat Smear join him for this season premiere that reveals some of the magic and maneuvering behind the Foos’ triple-guitar attack. The three friends and bandmates start off with some history lessons, discussing their earliest influences and how they learned to play before covering Grohl’s early days with Nirvana, Smear’s time in the Germs, and Shiflett’s invitation to join Foo Fighters—followed promptly by a trip to a guitar store to build out his arsenal, courtesy of Grohl’s AmEx. (Plus, Dave tells how he conned his mother into buying his first distortion pedal.)
The trio cover their current and historical favorite pieces of gear—like Dave’s famed Gibson Trini Lopez, Mesa Boogie's Rectifier series, and Fender's all-tube, '90s-era Tone-Master amps—before getting into how they apply those tools in the studio between three players. “I think it took 15 to 20 years to figure out the recipe of what we do,” admits Grohl.
Running through tunes like “Rope,” “Hey, Johnny Park!,” “La Dee Da,” and “A Matter of Time,” Shiflett, Grohl, and Smear demonstrate the evolution of the band’s rhythmically unique and tonally tiered guitar arrangements. From Melvins-inspired drop-D slammers to delay-driven, polyrhythmic riffs, Grohl likens the band’s 6-string components to the various elements of a drum beat. Once a drummer…
Tune in for tons of hilarious stories (including Grohl’s “worst tour ever”), fascinating tidbits, and Dave’s guitar-store riff when he’s trying a new axe. It might sound familiar.
