Long & McQuade , Canada's largest musical instrument retailer, spoke with Rush guitar Alex Lifeson , who discussed the new Epiphone Les Paul Axcess Standard , for which Rush guitar solos are perfectly suited.
In the interview, Alex discusses his playing style, touring Canada, and how he finds inspiration in a guitar toolbox.
According to Alex Lifeson, The Who had a huge influence on the band, Pete Townshend specifically. Alex even states that if there were a list of all the guitarists who influenced him as a child, Townshend would certainly be among the top names.
“I think I learned a lot about how to play guitar from the way he played. The chords, yes, were definitely an influence, and I think I developed that even further because of the way Rush worked,” he said.
“Rush had a very active rhythm section, Geddy (Lee) and Neil (Peart) were very active musicians and often the guitar had to hold the structure together, which was kind of the opposite reaction to what normally happens. Generally, it’s the guitar that drives everyone else, so that required me to create more tonality and more harmony, more sound to create a bigger base for them to play the way they did. In this way, doing all this was partly about wanting to create a better foundation. And a lot of that came from Pete, I think more than any other musician, like Hendrix , Clapton or Page .”
Lifeson and Epiphone recently unveiled the new Alex Lifeson Epiphone Les Paul Standard Axcess . It was crafted by Alex Lifeson and Epiphone's luthiers in Nashville.
To mark the occasion of his collaboration with Epiphone and the launch of the new guitar, Alex Lifeson released two new songs: “Kabul Blues” and “Spy House.” These are the first instrumental songs Alex has released in almost a decade.
