“Joe had a semi-truck full of amps and swapped them out every two or three shows. He'd say, ‘What do you think?’ I'd be like, ‘It sounds just like you every time’”: Greg Suran on his time with Joe Walsh – and the Eagle’s passion for tonal tinkering
A veteran guitarist whose resumé also includes work with Sunny Day Real Estate, The B-52's, and Lionel Richie, Suran tells GW that he learned plenty from the Eagles legend, both tone-wise and solo-wise
The name Greg Suran may not immediately ring a bell, but his incredible CV speaks to his skill and versatility as a guitarist.
Suran has lent his chops to legends of punk (Sunny Day Real Estate), pop (The B-52's), and R&B (Lionel Richie). Oh, and he's also had the imposing task of sharing six-string duties with no less than Joe Walsh.
As you might imagine, Suran learned plenty from Walsh, and was also – he recently told Guitar World – privy to his boss's endless tonal tinkering.
“Joe had a semi-truck full of amps and swapped them out every two or three shows,” Suran recounted. “He'd be like, ‘Yeah, what do you think?’ I'd be like, ‘Sounds great! It sounds just like you every time.’
“But he loved it. Joe loved tinkering with ham radios, pedals, and amps; he just loves exploring. I feel like all of his tone comes from his hands. I know that's a cliché, but in Joe's case, it couldn't be truer.”
Though the ‘don't focus on showing off’ lesson has been repeated ad nauseam by countless players, it can still be difficult to resist, especially if you are – as Suran was – trading solos with a player of Walsh's caliber.
As he explained to GW, the importance of resisting that temptation was also imparted to him by the Eagles legend.
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“I came in hot, wanting to really impress him,” Suran recalled of his first jams with Walsh. “Most guitar players would want to impress a hero like that.
“We'd trade solos sometimes, like on [Walsh's] Turn to Stone, and he'd give me a solo on [Walsh's] Life of Illusion. It was always interactive. I'd try to bust out my best hot and fastest licks, and he'd always be so helpful.
“He'd say, ‘Man, all those licks are cool. They're great. But just slow it down, man. Tell a story.’ That classic, old-school building of the arc of a solo thing, I really took that to heart. When someone like Joe tells you that, and you're playing alongside him, you want to do it.”
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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.