“His playing transcends decades – I could never really capture the essence of him”: Former Guns N’ Roses guitarist Buckethead on the genius of Slash

Buckethead has responded to a complimentary Facebook post by Slash commending his guitar skills.

Buckethead – real name Brian Patrick Carroll – played with Guns N’ Roses between 2000 and 2004 following Slash’s departure, and appeared on the band’s long-delayed 2008 album Chinese Democracy.

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Reposting a video of Buckethead jamming with Primus’s Les Claypool on his social media, Slash wrote last week: “This is some of the funkiest music you’ll ever hear! Buckethead and Les Claypool of Primus creating pure magic together. The bass lines are absolutely insane and Buckethead’s guitar work is next level as always.

“If you love funk, progressive rock, or just incredible musicianship, this jam will blow your mind! Both legends pushing each other to new heights. Support Buckethead whenever you can!”

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To repay the favour, Buckethead has made a social media post of his own waxing lyrical about the genius of Slash’s playing.

“Just wanted to say that Slash is one of the greats of all time, as everyone knows” he writes. “He was involved in writing music and his playing transcends decades and to reach such a wide amount of people playing really incredible guitar is such a rare thing.

“In the time I was involved in attempting to play his parts, never really could I have captured the essence of him. So much of who he is comes from his playing. I’ll always be in awe of how great he is.”

Though Buckethead possesses otherworldly guitar talents – which match his similarly extraterrestrial aesthetic – it’s not all that surprising he found it hard to emulate Slash’s guitar playing, given their respective backgrounds. Slash’s musical identity is rooted in the rock ‘n’ roll excess of the ‘80s, while Buckethead is widely praised for his head-spinning shred capabilities, which he does while wearing a family-sized KFC bucket on his head.