Ron ‘Bumblefoot’ Thal Names His Favorite Guns N’ Roses Songs to Play Live

Ron 'Bumblefoot' Thal spent eight years as one of the guitarists in Guns N' Roses. The virtuosic player reflected on his time in the band on the "No Guitar Is Safe" podcast and named his favorite songs to play onstage.

During his tenure in the legendary group, which lasted from 2006 through 2014, Bumblefoot also contributed to the 2008 Chinese Democracy album, which featured over a dozen other musicians. He, however, was one of the only constants on the record, which took years and millions of dollars to make, having played guitar on each of the record's 14 tracks despite not having a writing credit on any song.

When pressed about what solos he enjoyed playing the most onstage, Bumblefoot, who often employs a double neck guitar, responded, "There was a lot of stuff on Chinese Democracy — just being able to play my own parts with the band, it felt good. There is something to be said about that — when you get to play something that you came up with, that you wrote, that you recorded."

Taking note of the difference between playing time-honored classics and music he himself was a part of, Thal continued, "As much as I loved playing the other songs, which everybody loves, and you're there to please the audience — you want to make them happy and you want to deliver those songs the way they love them and not rewrite anything… I'm not gonna rewrite the solo to 'Sweet Child O' Mine' — that kind of stuff."

Understanding the crowd has certain expectations, he stated, "Give them what they came there to hear."

"But when it came to the spots where there's a little bit of freedom, or if I got to play my own things…," the guitarist, who is currently in prog supergroup Sons of Apollo, trailed off, picking back up by adding, "I think 'Shackler's Revenge' was the song on Chinese [Democracy] that I loved playing the most, because I feel like I added the most to that song."

Naming some other standouts, Thal mentioned, "I mean, there were a bunch. There was 'Scraped', there was 'Shackler's [Revenge]', there was 'Catcher In The Rye' — certain songs where I was doing a lot of the leads."

Alter Bridge's Myles Kennedy, who also fronts Slash's band with the Conspirators, offered a similar reflection recently, detailing the thrill of singing some of his favorite songs of all time.