As part of our Tribute To Ritchie Blackmore week, we have invited well known names in the world of rock and metal to share their thoughts about Ritchie.The next in the series is Swedish composer, vocalist and guitarist and the frontman of the WOLF band, Niklas Stalvind. WOLF has finished working on their seventh studio album and they will reveal more details about the release soon. Metal Shock Finland’s Chief Editor, Mohsen Fayyazi had a chat with Nik and asked him about his thoughts on Ritchie.
Stalvind shares his thoughts and opinion about Ritchie and his career:
“He’s one of the original guitarists, you just hear two notes and you instantly know that’s Ritchie Blackmore playing and not many guitarists can do that. Every note has something to say and it’s kinda magical. That’s why I consider him one of the best guitarists who ever lived.”
When asked if he had learned anything from Ritchie, Nik revealed –
“One thing I’ve learned, Adrian Smith is one of my favourite guitarists and when I worked with Roy Z, he had worked with many of my favourite guitarists. I asked Roy a lot of questions and asked him what Adrian’s approach is to guitar soloing. He said that Adrian is trying to do what Ritchie Blackmore did – every note in a solo never stops exactly on the bar in the rhythm, it’s always slightly floating above the rhythm. That made me feel very good because I do that – I thought I was doing it wrong! It made me realise I did the right thing and we’re not supposed to sound like robots, it makes the music boring. So, when I found out Adrian got that from Ritchie Blackmore, i felt good about my own guitar playing.”
You can listen to the whole of this interview on the sound player below:
