Nita Strauss Lesson: How to Play Alice Cooper's "Poison"

Alice Cooper Band guitarist Nita Strauss, who previously has shown fans how to play Cooper's "I'm Eighteen," has now created a lesson video dedicated to Cooper's "Poison."

"I've always been around music in my house and one day my dad bought me a guitar. But it wasn’t until I saw the ending scene in the movie Crossroads—Steve Vai vs. Ralph Macchio—when it was like, That's what I want to do!" [laughs]. From then on, it was full-speed ahead, and I've never looked back. Just seeing how cool Steve Vai looked and the way he made the guitar sing was so inspirational. To this day, he's still my favorite guitar player."

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Damian is Editor-in-Chief of Guitar World magazine. In past lives, he was GW’s managing editor and online managing editor. He's written liner notes for major-label releases, including Stevie Ray Vaughan's 'The Complete Epic Recordings Collection' (Sony Legacy) and has interviewed everyone from Yngwie Malmsteen to Kevin Bacon (with a few memorable Eric Clapton chats thrown into the mix). Damian, a former member of Brooklyn's The Gas House Gorillas, was the sole guitarist in Mister Neutron, a trio that toured the U.S. and released three albums. He now plays in two NYC-area bands.

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