“I love playing with Slash. But I think I’m a little more left-of-center than they were”: Dave Navarro reveals why he declined an offer to join Guns 'n' Roses

When Jane’s Addiction split in 1991, Dave Navarro very quickly found himself with a new job opportunity laid at his feet. But while many players wouldn’t second-guess a chance to join Guns N’ Roses, Navarro turned the offer down.

“I don’t think that would have been the right call at the time,” the guitarist reflects in the latest issue of Guitar Player, believing too he wouldn’t have been the perfect fit others suggested he was. “I’ve played with Slash a million times since then. I love playing with Slash. But I think I’m a little more left-of-center than they were.

“Guns was pretty much a straight-up, in-your-face rock band, which I fucking love,” he goes on. “But as a guitar player, I like to get down on my knees, turn delay knobs and make a bunch of noise like Kraftwerk or some shit. [laughs] That does not work for Guns N’ Roses.”

A life in GNR, then, wasn’t to be, but Navarro was still searching for his next project. Soon after, he found everything he was looking for in Red Hot Chili Peppers, replacing the outgoing John Frusciante.

“That was a very difficult role to step into,” he admits. “They were so set on what they were. It really was another trial by fire. All of a sudden, I had to work within another context that had completely different influences, and these were musicians that I’d never worked with in my life.”

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Navarro would stick around for just one album – 1995’s One Hot Minute – before Frusciante returned. Looking back, he says he struggled to get into the swing of things.

“Weirdly, it was kind of like the beginning of Jane’s Addiction, where I’ve got these guys who don’t play the same stuff that I do,” he says. “With the Chili Peppers, I was in this band that doesn’t play the same way I do – except now, we’re doing it in Madison Square Garden. [laughs] I mean, my first show was at Woodstock! Talk about the pressure being insane.”

Pressure aside, his short-lived tenure in the band can be deemed a success, with Navarro helping shape a heavier, more riff-heavy sound. Ultimately, he’s thankful for the experience.

“There’s no question that I became a better guitar player as a result of having done that,” Navarro asserts. “Playing with Flea and Chad Smith was a crash-course master class in musicianship. I’m really grateful for the time spent with them, but it was a bizarre concept to join the group, and a very bizarre time.”

Bizarre is certainly one word. By the time he left the band in ‘98, the band was fractious, with Flea inviting Frusciante, who had just left rehab, to rejoin the band as a Hail Mary attempt to keep them together.

In recent years, Navarro has been kept from playing live as he’s battled with a severe bout of Long Covid. With that now, thankfully, behind him, he has rejoined Jane’s Addiction and is making up for lost time.

“I’m living in the moment right now, we’re having a good time,” he recently told Guitar World. “It feels the best it felt in maybe ever.”

His new, in-depth chat with Guitar Player details his triumphant comeback. Asked about the guitar-playing legacy he is leaving behind him, he quips: “When I think about my legacy, I don’t think about what I’ve done; I think about who I’ve done it with.”

To read the new issue, which includes the full Navarro interview, plus conversations with Mark Tremonti, Neal Schon, and recent Total Guitar cover star Marcin, head to Magazines Direct to pick up a copy.