ROCK THIS WAY!

Get a grip on the Aerosmith co-founder’s style and put some swagger in your riffs and swing in your solos

- JENNA SCARAMANGA, RICHARD BIENSTOCK and CHRIS BIRD

“I’M NOT SURE where it comes from, because we come from two different places,” Aerosmith’s Brad Whitford told Guitar Player in 2019. “[Joe Perry] isn’t schooled at all, so it’s totally a ‘feel’ thing for him, whereas I did a lot more studying of the guitar. So you’re seeing two different approaches, but they work really well together. Ultimately, you want to have both sides.” What Whitford is explaining is the intangible secret of the Aerosmith groove machine. Even if you can play like Perry or Whitford, a big part of the band’s sound is the sum of these two players’ distinct approaches.

Joe’s take on this? “I listen to what Brad’s playing, and he listens to what I’m playing, and then we just try and mix it up, right down to — especially in the earlier days — saying, ‘Who’s gonna play the Strat? Who’s gonna play the Les Paul?’ That kind of thing. And when we come up with new riffs and songs, we each approach it from different angles, and then we settle into our thing. I’ve always felt like we have two lead players and two different flavors in this band, and that’s really important.”