Ace Frehley has certainly come up with his fair share of classic guitar solos over the years, either with Kiss or on his own: “Shock Me,” “Strange Ways,” “Rocket Ride,” “Almost Human,” “Rip It Out,” etc. But it turns out that he is not a fan of working out solos beforehand in the studio, which can lead to troubles in replicating them live.
During an interview with the Guitar Tales Podcast, Frehley discussed how he tends to create his guitar solos. And how has been known to have to re-familiarize himself with some of them later on.
“I never know what I’m going to play when I do my solo. It’s never the exact same solo every night,” Frehley said (transcribed by Ultimate Guitar). “I always mix it up with different things and whatever comes to mind.”
“Sometimes I’ll just start playing something out of the blue that pops into my head, but, you know, the fans enjoy it, and I’m having fun.”
He also prefers playing solos off the cuff in the record studio. Which, has proven tricky in the past when it came to the concert stage.
“When I’m like recording guitar solos, I don’t really think about what I’m playing. As fast as I do a guitar solo, I forget it. Like, sometimes I’ll record a solo, and two months later, we decide we’re going to perform it live [and] I got to learn it.”
“I had forgotten it already because it just came to me. It was creative energy that just came out of me. But you don’t remember it unless you’re doing it every day.”