“I used to get into fights with kids at school who thought Ace wasn’t as good as Jimmy Page. I’d fight for his honor”: Dimebag Darrell and Snake Sabo on their love of Ace Frehley, and how the Kiss legend shaped their playing

Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell was never shy about his love of Kiss, and how Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley in particular inspired him to pick up the instrument.

Dimebag even went as far as getting a tattoo of Frehley, in his “Spaceman” makeup, on his chest, and was buried, after his tragic murder in 2004, in a “Kiss Kasket,” donated to his family by Gene Simmons.

Though not quiite as devoted a fan as Dimebag Darrell, Skid Row axeman Snake Sabo was also hugely influenced by Frehley, incorporating the latter's showmanship and swaggering riffing and soloing style into his fretwork with the band.

Both guitarists were recruited by Guitar World in 1993 for a roundtable of sorts with Frehley – before which Dimebag and Sabo even went to the trouble of donning Spaceman makeup themselves.

During the subsequent discussion, Sabo and Dimebag eagerly questioned Frehley about his time with Kiss, his favorite guitar, and his soloing philosophy, while also discussing their own relationships with his playing.

Sabo, echoing many guitarists of his generation, cited Kiss as his “first rock experience.”

“They made me want to play guitar,” he told Guitar World at the roundtable. “In fact, I used to get into fights with kids at school who thought Ace wasn’t as good as Jimmy Page. I’d fight for his honor.”

Dimebag, meanwhile, told Frehley with a laugh, “I used to take the Double Platinum album and trace the embossed pictures inside to see what you guys might look like without makeup.”

On a more serious note, though, just months earlier, Dimebag revealed to Guitar World in a different interview why Frehley's lead break on Shock Me was one of his all-time favorites, and which of its elements he did his best to apply to his own playing.

“Ace is god, and the Shock Me solo is killer,” he said. “The studio version has so much production just in the lead section. I also love the effects on it, especially the phaser on the last note.

“Man, I get all wound up just talking about Kiss! Ace's vibrato is what really grabbed me, and I always try to apply that to my playing. He could squeeze so much out of a single note that one note could take the place of 12.”

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Despite their own respective rises to stardom in the '80s and '90s, both Dimebag and Sabo recalled well many years later the permanent imprint Frehley left on them.

“Life happens,” Sabo told Guitar World in 2022, “but there's still that 16-year-old kid within you who wants to stand in front of a mirror with your guitar, pretending to be Ace Frehley.”