Doors’ Robby Krieger On Finding His Unique Sound
Robby Krieger of the Doors boasts one of the most distinctive guitar sounds of the rock era, a style that encompasses rock, jazz, blues and Latin American influences. In honor of his birthday (1/8), we bring you his own explanation on how he found his unique sound.
Combined with a unique tone from his Gibson SG, a listener can tell it’s Krieger playing almost from the first note of any Doors or solo song. He tells us how he went about finding that sound:
“I wanted to make it different than what I’d heard before on blues records. I wanted to make it rock ‘n’ roll, and so I kinda said to myself, ‘I’m not gonna play those blues licks like everyone else does.’ That’s how I came up with ‘Moonlight Drive’ and stuff like that; My friend Arthur, who’s a really good musician, said when he first hear ‘Moonlight Drive’ he thought it was a theremin. He didn’t even know it was a guitar. So basically I just wanted it to be different, sound different.”
