Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith says he couldn’t believe what he was hearing when another player criticised his technique — but it ended up being one of the most important lessons he ever learned.
It happened in 1997, when both Smith and singer Bruce Dickinson were out of Iron Maiden.
Smith had reunited with Dickinson to work on the singer’s fourth solo album, Accident Of Birth.
Smith wasn’t the only guitarist on that record. LA-born guitarist Roy Z was Dickinson’s main collaborator, co-writer and producer.
But Smith had spent almost a decade in one of the biggest bands in the world. He had written or co-written some of that band’s signature hit songs — including Flight Of Icarus, 2 Minutes To Midnight, Wasted Years and Can I Play With Madness.
And as he now tells MusicRadar, he was shocked — and not a little insulted — when Roy Z started dispensing advice on technique.
“Roy is like a virtuoso,” Smith says. “He's a teacher, and he knows all the theory. I mean, total respect to that.
“So one time we're playing away and he says to me, ‘Hey man, your upstrokes are weak!’
“I’m like, ‘You fucking what?’
“But he was right. And he showed me these exercises. And I thought, ‘Well, okay.’
“So I started getting down to practice. And I've never really been big on practicing. I've learned a song and I've learned a solo, and that would be it. I wouldn't go into the theory behind it.
“But I started studying, and I really thought I moved along, playing with Roy in Bruce’s band. So you need things like that to give you a little kick up the arse every now and again.”
Smith believes it is vital to continue challenging himself as a player.
“If you're in a successful band and you're playing the same thing every night, you don't tend to move on,” he admits. “I think you kind of plateau out a bit as a player.
“It's only when you start pushing yourself away from that, or writing different kind of stuff, or playing with different people, that you keep growing.”
To this end, Smith has made two albums in recent years with American guitarist Richie Kotzen.
Smith takes inspiration from music that’s far removed from Iron Maiden’s.
“When I listen to music now, I listen to Stevie Ray Vaughan, Gary Moore, Joe Bonamassa. Bluesy rock stuff.”
He imagines that this is the kind of music he would make if Iron Maiden’s long career ended.
“I’d probably go more in that direction,” he says. “Singing, playing guitar. Still rock. Good songs.”
But while there is still life in Maiden, Smith believes he has plenty to offer as a writer.
He says of his methodology: “It usually starts with a riff. Or I’ll suggest vocal melodies to Bruce, and he’ll take that and expand on it with words. I’m not so great with words.
“It's different these days, because now you've got the technology to help you. I’ve got my own studio, which you can set up on a table — laptop, Pro Tools, instant John Bonham drums. So you get an idea and bang — that sounds good.
“So I tend to write a riff first, but I can't help hearing melodies as well, and phrases like ‘the writing on wall’, ‘speed of light’.
He continues: “Nowadays, I can write for two weeks and come up with an idea a day, and it's better if you can bring a demo to the band…”
He laughs: “You’d rather do that than sit there on your own with an acoustic, baring your soul with everybody watching, and going, ‘Here you go, boys and girls!’”
