As a guitarist, there are few things more daunting than group guitar lessons. In that setting, wrapping your head and fingers around Metallica’s metal guitar classic, Enter Sandman, is challenging enough – so imagine how these Guitar Center students felt when Robert Trujillo gatecrashed their lesson.
The band’s bassist was a surprise guest at the lesson, which was hosted at the musical instrument store and headed up by Dave Kushner of Velvet Revolver fame – who is now Senior Director of Music Education at Guitar Center – and Guitar Center CEO Gabe Dalporto.
In footage from the lesson, Kushner shows a semi-circle of students the basics of the metal banger’s main riff. Then Trujillo, with a cheeky grin across his face, barges in saying, “No, that doesn’t sound right.”
He was then handed his signature Godin A4 Ultra electro-acoustic bass in Yellow Flame – very convenient – to help guide the students through a playthrough of the riff at a nice, accessible tempo.
There is some irony in a guitar shop encouraging customers to play one of the fabled forbidden riffs – no Stairway, denied! – but it makes for great viewing. And why not learn from the best?
Trujillo, who has also played with Ozzy Osbourne, Suicidal Tendencies, and Jerry Cantrell, joined Metallica in 2003 and has since played on four studio records with the heavy metal titans.
Dalporto, meanwhile, has been tasked with leading the store into a bold new era and has told Guitar World that he's on a mission to win back the trust of his fellow guitar players.
This comes in the face of uncertain economic climate and rising online markets, which is putting a strain on running brick-and-mortar stores. Last year, for example, Sam Ash go out of business after nearly a century of operation. The iconic retailer has since been acquired by Gonher Music.
