"He was a great guy. And he had my face tattooed on his chest!” Ace Frehley offers his opinion of three guitarists who have called the first Kiss axeman their six-string inspiration

“I’d probably have practiced a little more If I knew I was going to affect that many people’s lives,” Ace Frehley told us when we asked him about the five tracks most essential to his career.

And indeed, Ace has been an influence on countless players, thanks to his well-loved guitar licks and melodic solos, all of it performed on a Gibson Les Paul.

Be it the solo for “Shock Me,” which Frehley has said he did in “one take,” the flange-soaked-meets-wah-drenched solo in “Rocket Ride,” or the one in “She,” which Gene Simmons revealed was a note-for-note re-creation of Robby Krieger’s solo in the Doors’ track “Five to One,” there’s simply no denying that Ace Frehley’s unschooled, off-the-rails style was a harbinger for hair metal and thrash.

Proof of this can be found in numerous interviews with players like Dimebag Darrell, John 5, Slash, and many others, in which they've spoken Frehley's praise. Hell, even grunge icon Mike McCready and alt-hero Tom Morello have shown Ace loads of love over the years.

But what does Ace think of the adoration that generations of six-stringed heroes have thrown his way? Specifically, what does he think of his influence over Dime, John 5 — who has his own Kiss museum filled with personal artifacts and mementoes — and Slash?

GP wondered, and so we asked Ace to recount his thoughts and experiences with all three.

Dimebag Darrell

“I was good friends with Dimebag. I actually spent a weekend at his home, and he was a good guy! And he was a fun guy. He always said I was a big influence on him — but he played a lot faster than me. He was heavy metal. He played more speed metal than blues.

“But Dimebag was a great guy, and he had my face tattooed on his chest. [laughs] And man, we had a lot of fun one weekend at his house!”

John 5

“John 5 is a dear friend of mine. He actually called me up, and he said, ‘I’m a little nervous about playing with Mötley Crüe,’ so he invited me for the first show. He wanted a little moral support. [laughs]

“And then, me, him and Nikki [Sixx] were handing out backstage after the show. I think it was in Atlantic City, in New Jersey.

“But John is really technical. I mean… he can play anything. He can play stuff by Glen Campell, and he’s just a really great, technical guitar player. He definitely surpasses me, you know? I just have one style. I can’t play 10 different kinds of styles — but John can play country, metal, and he can even play country. You know… he’s just an amazing musician.

“But for the most part, he pretty much just stands up there, whereas I kind of, you know, developed certain types of physical moves. I remember that in the early days with Kiss, I used to bend back really far, and I had all these sorts of physical moves and choreography with Kiss. And a lot of that was actually created by Kiss’s first road manager, Sean Delaney, who had a big hand in getting us to do all those moves.”

Slash

“Slash is another good friend of mine. He says I influenced him, but I have to be honest — I don’t know how. [laughs]

“He never told me. He just said that he’s a fan of my guitar playing, and I never questioned it. So you’d have to interview Slash on that one. But we did do a song for my first Origins album [Vol. 1] together, which was ‘Emerald’ by Thin Lizzy. We did that together, live in the studio, and we traded off solos. He’s a great guitar player.”