Joe Satriani, The Figure Behind the Joining of Bumblefoot as a Guitarist for Guns N' Roses

Joe Satriani (Wikipedia)

JAKARTA - Ron 'Bumblefoot' Thal is an important part of Guns N' Roses' career journey. And behind the decision was guitarist Joe Satriani's intervention.

The two guitarists know each other and have respect for each other. Even so, Satriani remembers the meeting between the two started from something unexpected.

"I met Ron in a funny way, because I was doing an interview in Paris, and the interviewer tried to get me to comment on another guitarist. And he started playing some of Ron's music by talking about blues and the nuances of blues, and whether I felt the nuances of blues in this guitarist? And he played a clip of Ron playing something really abstract, really weird, which is what Ron usually does," he said, quoting Blabbermouth, March 5.

"Yes. And I said, 'Well, I don't think there's a blues vibe there.' So that's what he printed, as if I was belittling Ron. And somehow Ron contacted me and said, 'Hey, why did you say that?' So I explained the story to him," he explained again. That's where they started communicating.

That's why when he heard there was a vacant position in band Axl Rose, he recommended his colleague.

"One day Axl Rose called and said that Axl [Rose, Guns N' Roses vocalist] was looking for the craziest guitarist ever; it was one of the things he asked for. And I guess they already had Buckethead, and I thought, 'Who would I recommend? Who is the craziest and the best?' Who is really at the top? And I knew there was only one person. It must have been Ron 'Thal' Bumblefoot," Joe Satriani said in a conversation that took place about 20 years ago.

Joe strongly believes that Ron is the right person to be in a band as big as Guns N' Roses. In addition to his mind-boggling playing, he feels that Bumblefoot has the right vibe for the band.

"Ron came to my mind, and I said, 'Eric, you have to put Ron Thal in Axl's band. And tell Axl that no one else can stand next to Buckethead and look weirder and play as well as he does,' because they're both top guitar players," he said.

Ron Bumblefoot Thal has also been a permanent member of the band since 2006 and has been involved in a number of albums including Chinese Democracy. In 2014 he left before in 2016 GnR announced a comeback with Slash.