Iron Maiden 's unstoppable trio of guitarists Dave Murray, Janick Gers, and Adrian Smith reflected on the creative process behind Senjutsu , the band's most recent album, and revealed which parts were the most difficult to record during an interview with Guitar World.
“Anything that looks difficult… was difficult to play!” Murray summarized after laughing at the question, but then quickly responded in more detail. “This album has a lot of heavy riffs and difficult patterns. Complex parts. A lot [of the difficulty] was getting the timing right: if you’re playing a melody line, you don’t always have to be right on the note. You can back off or go up a little to create a different feel.”.
For Smith, the most complex parts were those he composed himself. “Because you get very personally invested in those. I had a lot of problems with 'The Writing On The Wall'. You have three guitars playing the same riff, on the same chord, and intonation is crucial,” he explained. “It’s simple, but you have to have all three guitars on that D and everyone plays it a little differently. (…) I’m very sensitive to tonality. I needed to take a break and walk around Paris for a few hours to clear my head (laughs).”.
Finally, Gers seemed more relaxed about the challenges. “I think the challenge was the amount of melody behind the vocals, but that’s not about me. I’m looking to make the songs happen. From that context, I think everything seems to fit together and everything sounds good,” he said.
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