"I always loved rock guitar. I just never put it together that that's what I'd end up doing. I had no aspirations to be a musician, but I picked up a guitar for two seconds and haven't put it down since"
About this Quote
The key subtext sits in the denial: "no aspirations to be a musician". In rock, ambition can read as corny, calculating, even untrustworthy; authenticity is supposed to arrive like a lightning strike. Slash threads that needle by presenting himself as almost accidentally chosen by the instrument. It's an origin story that protects the romance of rock stardom while still crediting the real engine: compulsion. "Two seconds" is exaggeration, but it's functional exaggeration, the kind musicians use to describe the instant when practice stops feeling like effort and starts feeling like need.
Context matters: Slash emerges from an era when guitar heroes were both working-class grinders and arena-sized icons. This quote keeps both images alive. He wasn't chasing celebrity; he was chasing a sound. The line "haven't put it down since" turns talent into a physical habit, bordering on addiction, implying the real aspiration was never a job title - it was permanence inside the instrument's world.
Quote Details
| Topic | Music |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Slash. (2026, January 15). I always loved rock guitar. I just never put it together that that's what I'd end up doing. I had no aspirations to be a musician, but I picked up a guitar for two seconds and haven't put it down since. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-always-loved-rock-guitar-i-just-never-put-it-145145/
Chicago Style
Slash. "I always loved rock guitar. I just never put it together that that's what I'd end up doing. I had no aspirations to be a musician, but I picked up a guitar for two seconds and haven't put it down since." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-always-loved-rock-guitar-i-just-never-put-it-145145/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I always loved rock guitar. I just never put it together that that's what I'd end up doing. I had no aspirations to be a musician, but I picked up a guitar for two seconds and haven't put it down since." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-always-loved-rock-guitar-i-just-never-put-it-145145/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.




