Watch John 5 Talk Riffs, Chicken Pickin' on 'My Favorite Riff with Nikki Sixx'

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Last week, on his web series My Favorite Riff with Nikki Sixx former Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx sat down with Steve Vai to talk riffs, gear and Led Zeppelin. For this week's episode of the show, Sixx sat down with another virtuoso guitarist, former Marilyn Manson and current Rob Zombie axeman John 5.

In the episode, John 5—who recently released a cover of Metallica's "Enter Sandman" with his band, The Creatures—discusses how the television show Hee Haw, of all things, inspired him to pick up a guitar at a young age and how he was able to get hard rock tones out of his Telecaster through customization.

He also, naturally, shows Sixx some of his favorite riffs, and how he has been able to take standard country-style licks and mold them into powerhouse, hard rock riffs.

You can watch the insightful interview in its entirety below.

Jackson Maxwell

Jackson is an Associate Editor at GuitarWorld.com. He’s been writing and editing stories about new gear, technique and guitar-driven music both old and new since 2014, and has also written extensively on the same topics for Guitar Player. Elsewhere, his album reviews and essays have appeared in Louder and Unrecorded. Though open to music of all kinds, his greatest love has always been indie, and everything that falls under its massive umbrella. To that end, you can find him on Twitter crowing about whatever great new guitar band you need to drop everything to hear right now.