
And I thought, 'Well, this'll be my last day on Earth,'" Slash recalled. "When I got out onto the set and did my thing, I noticed that this helicopter would come back and forth at extremely fast speeds and get really, really low. What Slash didn't realize was that director Andy Morahan had an aerial shot planned from a helicopter that would leave him thinking he might die. So, I just would write my own part, like: 'This is what I'll do, and you guys do whatever.'" I really just couldn't get into the cinematic and theatric kind of concept thing. "I was always that guy who really could not care less about concept videos and all that kind of stuff," he laughed to Yahoo Entertainment. The band filmed the video's outside shots of Slash playing his solo in New Mexico, where they had a church specifically transported. I would explain all these sections to the band, and I said, 'This needs to be a journey, you need to take people on a journey to this song.' So that's what we did on 'November Rain.'" That means 'medium loud.' Now, we're going to go double forte here, which means, Okay, go back to your regular volume. Pianissimo means 'quiet.' And here we're doing mezzo forte.

I sounded crazy to them: 'We need pianissimo instrumental right here and mezzo forte right here.' And they'd go, 'What?!?' 'When we're on, it's loud.' And I came from an orchestral upbringing and classical music - I was in wind ensemble. It was a rock band, like 'Go for it.' Just loud. The band wasn't really that dynamic when I joined. So epic.' I go, 'What if I use that sort of a phrase as pieces of the song, almost like a melody that would work into the song structure.'"ĭiscussing the orchestral elements in the song, Matt explained: "I worked on the arrangements for those songs, the way they broke down and the dynamics. "I said, 'God, listen to the tom toms on that,'" Matt recalls. Axl, a big Elton John fan, put on the song " Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me," which gave Matt an idea. In our interview with Sorum, he explained that the drum pattern came together after they had been rehearsing the song, and Axl and Matt found themselves in the studio enjoying take-out from Greenblatt's Deli. A former session drummer and bandmate of Tori Amos, his classical training helped bring a more classical sensibility to the band, which is best heard on this song. Listen to the best of Guns N’ Roses on Apple Music and Spotify.Matt Sorum replaced Steven Adler as GnR drummer in 1990. Axl’s impassioned delivery stands among the finest of his career, while the breakdown, which begins at 6.48 and quickly soars with Slash’s iconic solo at the 7.09 mark, elevated the song to truly epic proportions.
November rain gui tar solo full#
But with the band’s parts worked to completion and a full string arrangement – orchestrated by Axl himself – bolstering the song, “November Rain” was finally ready. It subsequently reached No.3 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and hit No.4 in the UK, making it the band’s highest-charting single since “Sweet Child O’ Mine.” It was also the longest song in history to reach the top 10 in the US and would sit in the Australian Top 10 for 22 weeks.Ĭlocking in at 8.58, the final version of “November Rain” took much the same shape as the earlier 1986 piano demo. On February 18, 1992, “November Rain” was released as the album’s third and final single.
November rain gui tar solo movie#
Seeming more like a short movie than it did a music promo, the video was conceived as the middle part of a trilogy bookended by the videos for “Don’t Cry” and “Estranged.” Starring supermodel and Axl’s then-girlfriend, Stephanie Seymour, it followed on from where “Don’t Cry” left off: Seymour had saved Axl from suicide, and now the two were getting married.Ĭlick to load video The Use Your Illusion I versionĪfter five more years and painstaking recording sessions, “November Rain” finally saw the light of day on September 17, 1991, when it featured as the centerpiece to Use Your Illusion I.


The November Rain videoĪdding to its grandeur, “November Rain” received a video that cranked the Epic dial up to 11. Former Rose bandmate and LA Guns guitarist Tracii Guns has recalled that Axl began working on the song in 1983, while the recent super deluxe and Locked N’ Loaded editions of Appetite For Destruction have revealed that it was once considered for release on GNR’s incendiary debut album. Though it took until September 1991 for the song to be released, on Use Your Illusion I, “November Rain” had by that point been in Axl Rose’s arsenal for almost a decade. In short, you think: arguably the best rock ballad in history. You think: impassioned vocals, one of the longest songs to hit the charts – and the most ambitious moment in Guns N’ Roses’ career.

You think “November Rain,” you think: a tiny white chapel, a hugely expensive video, a wailing guitar solo at the edge of a cliff.
