Ronnie Wood: On The Jeff Beck Group, Faces, Rolling Stones, and Slide Guitar

Our Complete 1994 Interview

Ronnie Wood first found fame as bassist in the original lineup of the Jeff Beck Group. Then in the early 1970s he distinguished himself as the lead, slide, and pedal steel guitarist for The Faces and Rod Stewart, with whom he played on The Rod Stewart Album, Every Picture Tells a Story, and other classic LPs. In 1974, he replaced Mick Taylor in the Rolling Stones, a gig he still holds today.  

Wood’s amplified lead guitar sound is one of the most distinctive in all of British rock and roll – sure-handed, heartfelt, and scrappy, all at the same time. Deeply rooted in prewar American country blues and postwar Chicago blues, his acoustic and electric guitar slide playing likewise have great depth of character and an appealing, bittersweet sound.

Our interview took place on July 14, 1994, in the empty cafeteria of Toronto’s Crescent School, where the Rolling Stones were rehearsing for their Voodoo Lounge tour. The previous evening, I’d been invited by Keith Richards to watch the band rehearse in the school’s gymnasium, an event Ronnie references in our interview. Just before talking to Ronnie, I’d interviewed Charlie Watts [link below]. As Charlie was leaving, Ronnie strode in, a dark brew in hand, and greeted me warmly. On the table in front of us was a photograph of various guitar slides that guitarists used over the past century. Ronnie examined the photo and pointed excitedly to an old hunk of thin copper pipe.

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Copper pipe – that’s what I use! 3/4”. I also use the Stevens bar with the lap steel and a Bullet bar with the pedal steel, and I’ve used knives and lighters.

You have a very distinctive slide tone. The second you hear it, you know it’s Ron Wood.

Right.

It’s on some your Rod Stewart records, the Stones’ “Sweethearts Together.”

That’s the lap steel. It’s an old one I got for $150 from an old lady’s attic. Apart from the distinctive pedal steel sound, which you can only get by them pedals, I’ve always used the black Zemaitis 6-string for slide, the “Stay with Me” guitar. I use the B-bender and the lap and the black Zemaitis in open tuning. I play slide on normally tuned guitars as well.

Where did your interest in slide begin?

Duane Allman. When I heard him play on [1969’s] “The Weight” by Aretha Franklin. I was playing bass with the Jeff Beck Group, and when that folded I immediately went into slide. Picked it right up. I’d never really played it before.

Did anyone help you?

No. I just did it. I learned that very quickly, and the harmonica as well – blow and bend like Jimmy Reed.

Did your initiation into slide lead you on a journey back to older players?

Oh, yeah. But I’d already been hip to old slide players – Blind Willie McTell on the 12-string and those kinds of players. Leo Kottke was a modern-day kind of player. Remember that album with the armadillo? [Takoma’s 6- And 12-String Guitar.] Boy, that was really a door opener. Yes! There’s another guitar player called Hop Wilson. I got songs that I wrote like “Black Limousine” from him, those kind of licks. I thought Mick Taylor was a really good slide player. I liked him on things like “All Down the Line” and “Love in Vain,” you know.

Slide lets you hit the notes between the notes.

Yeah! And a lot of it is by accident. You hear a lot of great things. People say, “Oh, how do you do that?” When I first went into slide, I only learned [sings Duane Allman’s opening figure from “The Weight”], like Duane did on “The Weight,” and then I took it from there. I tuned my guitar to open E, and that’s when I got my first slide instrumentals, like [the Small Faces’] “Plynth.” And then I carried on that tradition on things like “That’s All You Need” and “Borstal Boys” with the Faces.

“Sweet Lady Mary.”

Yeah. That was pedal steel. First time I played pedal steel, as well. I picked it up [snaps fingers] just like that.

So not long after hearing it, you were playing slide on records.

Probably the same day. As soon as I could get the instrument, I’d play it. I’ve always been lucky like that – very quick to pick up.