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Tom Morello is one of the best guitar players out there, but after taking two guitar lessons at age 13, he actually stopped playing all together for four years.
"I owned a guitar at 13, and I took two guitar lessons and it made me not want to play music ever again," he admitted during a recent interview. "So I picked up the guitar again at 17 when I discovered punk rock music. And that began my journey that led to this interview today."
"I wanted to learn songs by KISS and Led Zeppelin, and they wanted to teach me scales and how to tune the guitar," Morello explained. "I thought that was so boring, I was not at all interested in it. And when I began playing at 17, I was determined to not learn anything from anyone. I was in a band before I knew how to play a chord! I was just like, 'We're in a band and the guitars make some noise, that noise will be the song.'"
"It was that spirit of punk rock music where — I don't need lessons, I don't need a good guitar, I don't need any of that. I just need a point of view, and that was really what it was," he continued. "And in between then and now, I have practiced guitar and learned some chords, and learned a few notes along the way. But with that initial spark of wanting to be creative for the sake of this expression without rules is what still remains."
Clearly the approach worked out just fine for Morello, who's enjoyed a successful career not only with Rage Against The Machine but on his own as well. Last month, he released his latest solo album, That Atlas Underground Fire. Ironically enough, Morello now teaches guitar to others through MasterClass, but you won't find scales and tuning in his curriculum.