About
Slash's electric guitar solo is the sole improvisation on the alternate version of "Don't Cry" that closes Use Your Illusion II. This version features different lyrics from the more widely known rendition on Use Your Illusion I, while retaining the same musical arrangement. The thirty-three-second solo unfolds at a slow 63 BPM in A-flat, giving Slash space for expressive, sustained phrasing over the power ballad's emotional chord progression. The song was one of the earliest Guns N' Roses compositions, written by Rose and Stradlin in 1985 shortly after the band formed, and the solo's lyrical quality reflects the song's deeply personal origins.
Slash was 25 to 26 years old at the time.
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