Chords for Ernie Ball: String Theory featuring Paul Stanley of KISS

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_ [Db] _ Guitar [Ab] has always been the messenger of rock and roll.
That is [Eb] the voice, [Gb] the bullhorn, [Bb] the call to arms, and the foundation [Ab] of rock and roll.
I mean, I've always been incredibly enamored and taken by it, even before I could ever play.
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_ [Bb] I was [Ab] blessed that I grew up around very diverse music.
My parents are European, and music is much more important to people [Ab] in Europe.
It really started [Eb] more on the acoustic guitar.
[Ab] Not [Bb] coincidentally, you saw Elvis playing those early shows.
He was playing a Martin. _
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_ _ [Eb] I was always taken with the idea of rhythm and the [Db] percussiveness, and that you could
[Ab] lead with the rhythm.
So, for me, [Eb] being a rhythm player was never a stepping stone to being a lead player.
Too often, people either forego spending time learning and understanding rhythm playing,
and think that it's more important to know how to solo.
Surprisingly, or not so much so, I can remember there were guys, there were kids who were
very flashy on lead guitar, but as soon as you asked them to, okay, now back me up,
they were lost.
I think you can spend a lifetime working on your rhythm.
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One [Ebm] thing about Ernie Ball [Eb] that I can always remember [Gb] was it was the packages [C] that your
eye immediately went to because of the colors.
[Ab] Funny enough, when I first started playing electric guitar, I got flatwound [Ebm] strings because
they didn't squeak.
It [Ab] took a while to [Ebm] realize that the squeaking is part of what makes it cool.
[Ab] There was a lot of trial and error in figuring out what strings worked.
I still remember a time where I [Ebm] would go to a guitar store and buy a single string [Ab] because
I couldn't afford a whole [Ebm] pack.
To me, to play great rhythm, [Bb] you need stiff strings.
[Ab] Whatever your fingers can handle [Bbm] is the way to [Ebm] go.
When you have those wobbly strings, I've seen how people [Eb] play.
To me, that's not rock and roll.
[Ab] Rock and roll is about the _ glory of [Eb] the arm swing, the down push.
[Bb] I want the glory of those big [Ab] chords.
Think of a piano.
_ There's that great authority.
[Eb] When you hit a chord, the strings aren't [C] undulating.
There's a definitive quality to it.
Those thicker strings make for a much [D] more emphatic chord.
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_ [C] _ _ _ A song can't be [Ab] played on a single instrument.
It's not a good song.
[Bb] And I've always believed [C] that you can [Eb] always embellish [F] and lengthen something, but the
core has to be a great song.
You need an intro.
You need a verse.
You need a pre-chorus.
You need a chorus that once you hear, it's not by chance that it's called a hook.
It's supposed to grab you.
And once you hear the hook, you should anticipate it coming back again.
People break the rules, but you really should know the rules before you break them.
And I'm pretty satisfied with the rules.
So I've always stuck [C] to them. _ _ _
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_ _ _ [Ab] _ _ It's interesting on [Bb] so many levels.
Whether I'm painting or whether I'm [C] creating a song, you're taking something intangible
and making something [Eb] tangible.
You're imagining something and [Bb] making it real.
[Eb] To _ [Ab] take that exercise or challenge on [Bb] and work [C] something until it's right, [Bb] and then
the bonus of other people [Eb] liking it is great.
But frankly [Ab] for me, if I love it, that's good [Bb] enough. _
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_ _ [Ab] _ _ The guitar is something that I can always go to.
It's always there for me.
And honestly, I don't play it as often as I did, but it's so much part of the foundation
of who I am and what's made me who I am.
It's something I can depend on.
It's something I can always go to.
And I have an aesthetic love of the instrument.
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_ [Ab] _ [Bb] _ _ The core of what we do [Ab]
is a kick-ass rock and roll band.
[Bb] I've been doing this 40 plus years, which [Ab] to me was completely inconceivable [Db] 40 plus years ago.
[Eb] So for me to play in front of people [Bb] around the [Eb] world and have them know those songs and
have them as viable [Db] as the day [Db] I wrote them is pretty amazing.
Sometimes [Eb] I think about, we're going to do one of the newer songs.
Well Lick It Up came out 30 years ago.
[Ab] So the fact that it stood the test of time and is still relevant, _ there's a lot of satisfaction
in that because a lot of what people or critics tended to consider credible or valid fell
by the [Gb] wayside and has become dated.
[Db] But [Bb] real rock and roll transcends all that.
It transcends makeup.
[Gb] Real rock and roll [Db] transcends bombs, [Eb] smoke machines, [Bb] lifts.
[Gb] Real rock and roll transcends all that.
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