Ask Duff

[Faridbak]

Reverb columnist Duff McKagan has been around the block a few times. He's played in a few bands (Loaded, Guns N' Roses, Velvet Revolver) and studied business at Seattle U; he's a voracious reader, a bassist, a married father of two, and he's here to help.

We're going to try something new next week and let those of you who have been regular (or irregular, for that matter) consumers of Duff's weekly columns a chance to ping him with a few queries. Like his column, the questions need not be music related.

Need help tuning your guitar, finding a good book, or a present for your girlfriend? Ask Duff. Want to know where to get a bite to eat in Belltown at Midnight? Ask Duff.

Send your queries, including the name you'd like to appear online (or in print) and your hometown to [e-mail]. Duff will pick a few questions to answer next week.
blogs.seattleweekly.com/reverb/2010/11/duff_mckagan_is_taking_your_qu.php

[giangunner]

thanks farid excellent

[Faridbak]

So whos asking and what did you ask?

[giangunner]

farid not understand you meant?
Greetings

[ladyrose]

I asked "would you marry me?"
nah just kidding..........

I have to think very well what my question is going to be *thinker face*
maybe something about being on the road with the guys, what was the most difficult moment and why or based on his experience with drugs, what would he do if some of his daughters tells him that she is consuming something

[Faridbak]

great ideas Ladyrose
And Giangunner, what question would you ask Duff?

[Faridbak]

ok this is what i will ask.
If you hadnt gotten Famous with Guns N' Roses what other band would you have liked to be a part of their history?

what do you guys think?

[giangunner]

I would ask her if she would return to play with axl officially!

[ladyrose]

Questions & Answers on Adversity, Buddhism, and Your Kid's First Bass
By Duff McKagan, Thu., Dec. 2 2010

We are going to try something new here this week. You've sent in your questions, and I've done my very best to answer them in a satisfactory fashion. Just so you all know, though, my two daughters are convinced that I am not the sharpest tool in the shed. You have been forewarned!




Q: I just picked up a junior bass for my 7-year-old for Christmas. Any suggestions to help the little guy get started in the right direction? --Tommy Blackburn, Ekron, Kentucky



Duff: When I was a kid, I was fortunate that there was a bit of peer and sibling pressure to at least play SOME sort of musical instrument. But from a young age--and what made a HUGE difference--was that there was music in my house all the time, and I was really, really into the mystery of the whole thing . . . and trying to unlock it.

With your little guy, I think that it is really important that he learns what he wants to learn. That is to say, don't force it. Find him a teacher who will inspire him to learn the music that he wants to, rather than a set-in-stone lesson. Music is an art that has many varied avenues of entry.



Q: What is the best book you have read about overcoming adversity? Who is your favorite author? Or what book inspired something inside you? --Dionne



Duff: This is a subject that reminds me of another question that I'm asked in interviews from time to time: "What are your top 10 favorite records of all time?" I always say 10 different records every time, and kick myself for not including such-and-such a record, etc.

So, my answer, as of this writing, for a book about overcoming would be Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air. This book really set a high-water mark for me as far as what human beings could endure physically and mentally . . . and just how heroic we can be when put to the task.

I have so many favorite authors. I love the dark style and cadence of people like Ernest Hemingway and Cormac McCarthy. I love the descriptive narrative of Stephen Ambrose, Joe Simpson, Krakauer. For a sweeping story of industry, I will take Upton Sinclair. For a story of the street? Iceberg Slim. I could go on for days . . .



Q: How are you not deaf (or have hearing damage) after all those years of rock and roll? --Allysha, Kalamazoo, Michigan



Duff: What?



Q: Have you have read any philosophical or, like, Buddhist or spiritual literature? You seem, at least from what I've read of your column, very comfortable in your skin, and you put your focus on important things, like family and well-being in general. Or is it just wisdom that comes when you've lived your "wild years"? --Juha Aatola, Finland



Duff: It is all a serious "work-in-progress" situation for me. I am very fortunate to have had some amazing teachers, either currently or involved in my life thus far. My mom, for sure, comes in at the top of that list.

Martial arts were a huge part of my first couple of years of sobriety, and my Ukidokan teachings and sensei remain a fulcrum which my whole being swings upon.

I think for me also, being in group situations (a big family and rock bands) has really helped me to discern that while, yes, I think I am rather damn kick-ass sometimes, I realize that life and its inhabitants do not revolve around me!

And truthfully, a huge part of my self-discovery has been in my writing of words over the last couple of years. In writing--especially writing about my own life publicly--I have had to tear apart where and what MY part in all of this mess has actually been. Very humbling shit for me.

I suppose that I am happy that at least I come off as being comfortable in my own skin. More and more these days, I try to just not react to things that can set me off. I used to have a pretty short fuse, but martial arts and sobriety have chilled me. But comfortable with myself? Not even anywhere close!

[ladyrose]

Zeppelin or Sabbath? Well, That All Depends When You're Asking

By Duff McKagan, Thu., Dec. 9 2010

I had such a good time last week with some of your questions that I thought I'd give it another shot. Besides, there appears to be an endless amount of curiosity as to what my opinion might be on a wide variety of topics. Girls? Rock? Bass? Marriage? I'll answer a few more questions through the week.

Let's get started:

Q: Zeppelin or Sabbath, and why?
--Pete, New York City

Duff: If you are asking me now, I wouldn't be able to choose an outright winner or loser. For me, as a bass player, and a recent serious student of my craft, I would have to lean toward Zeppelin and John Paul Jones (I've been geeking out to bass lately, something I had NEVER done before).

In Seattle, and when I was a youngster, there was a serious divide within the Sabbath/Zeppelin debate. If you were from outside the city, it was Sabbath, and for us relative urbanites, it was ALL about Zeppelin.

We seemed too smarty-pants for them. They seemed too butt-rock for us. Yes, but we were all young and dumb and full of cocksureness. The truth is these bands are just so damn different that there IS no way to really compare or contrast them. Actually, you can't compare ANY other band to these two fucking behemoths.

Q: What happened with Jane's Addiction?
--T

Duff: I do believe that I have answered this one somewhere out there in an interview. But to be sure, I will touch on it again.

Last year at about this time, I was asked by Perry if I wouldn't want to come in and lend a hand in the writing of a new Jane's record. I was and AM indeed honored.

We started that process, and the rumors started to swirl, ebb, and flow to the MAX! I was just trying to keep my head down the whole time and do that band as much service as I could. They are great and gentle men, all of them. A nicer group of dudes would be hard to find.

Alas, the time came for me to depart and get back to my thing, which is Loaded all the time, writing my book, developing a new business, and the ever-present hunt for a VR singer. The press blew the whole thing out of proportion to begin with, and in the end I was left to try and explain my way out of a situation that was just so simple. Creative guys . . . getting creative.

Q: Did you ever feel like a woman like Susan was out of your league?
--Jake, Ukiah, CA

Duff: Yep! And I still do.




this is really interesting. is good to know more about Duff. He is awesome!!

[giangunner]

thanks lady rose

[Faridbak]

Great stuff thanks so much I enjoyed the reading for sure

[ladyrose]

Question for Duff: Business Considerations Aside, Is Appetite Better On CD or Vinyl?

By Duff McKagan, Mon., Dec. 13 2010 @ 8:02AM




In addition to his Thursday column, Duff McKagan is now answering reader questions throughout the week. Write to him at [e-mail].




Q: I recently received a primo condition copy of (Guns N' Roses') Appetite For Destruction on vinyl that I bought from some serious collector dude in Kentucky who is selling all his wax and moving to a music server. He has his reasons, but I am sad for him...

It's been awhile since I've heard this album in it's analogue form; through a diamond and some high powered vintage era stereo-wars kit, and it sounds so fucking awesome it's making my pubic hairs stand on end. Which makes me wonder: What's your take on the analogue vs. digital debate? Do you have a preference when it comes to the formats? I'm not talking about what you have to do to sell music these days -- I'm asking if you have a preference when it comes to sitting down for some serious listening.

For yucks, I just A/B'd the two versions through the same system and I gotta tell you that to my admittedly Lizzy-chromed ear canals, the vinyl has an almost 3-D quality and sonic signature that is absent in my compact disc version. The vinyl sounds better and it's not even close.

Am I just showing my age here being ancient and cranky about the superiority of the old ways, or is there something to be said for that chunky old analogue sound? -- El Hugo


Duff: Yeah, well, in a whole shit-ton of ways, digital music fucking killed my business.

Back when CD's first came out, I had just started making real money in GNR. I had the best turntable and amps and speakers that money could buy, and I remember Slash and I going to a CD store on Ventura Blvd. to buys some CDs and a couple of CD players. This store had everything, and I remember just starting from 'A' and ending at 'Z', filling up a whole shopping cart while basically re-stocking everything I had on vinyl.

It seemed like this was cutting edge shit, and that I was at the forefront of the technology...until I got home and realized it ALL sounded like shit compared to my vinyl. Anyone who says different, must just be so used to every bit of a digital track being used up, that actual 'space' in a song, must sound weird and maybe archaic.

But back then, we didn't realize that this was just a game being played by the major labels to do what Slash and I had fell hook, line, and sinker for; re-buying ALL of their product! Multiply that by everyone on this planet, and you are talking about trillions of dollars! What the major label powers were too short-sighted and greedy to realize is that home computers were becoming more and more popular, and that digital bits and pieces could be sent back and forth between users.

The artist is STILL the one paying the ultimate price. With gas prices up so high, no one selling CDs, and lower ticket prices EVERYWHERE, it will be a miracle to have any other choice but seeing local bands for awhile. In Seattle, though, that ain't such a bad thing!





blogs.seattleweekly.com/reverb/2010/12/question_for_duff_business_con.php

[Faridbak]

very nice read and i agree totally vynil is the way the quality in them is far greater than any digital one

[giangunner]

lady rose very good thank you very much Greetings!
and I agree totally with duff