Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid says Nuno Bettencourt’s playing is “so much deeper now”: “He came in as a kind of fireball early on”
“We’re very different.”
Image: Al Pereira / Scott Legato / Getty Images
Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid has offered his thoughts on how Nuno Bettencourt’s guitar playing has evolved over the years.
Speaking about the two’s friendship in a recent interview with Australian Musician, Reid says that he likes and respects Bettencourt very much and that they’d “hit it off” while lecturing at Tom Morello’s guitar boot camp a few years back (via Killer Guitar Rigs). .
“I like him personally, I respect him, he’s immensely talented as a guitarist, he is extraordinary. He’s an extraordinary guitarist,” Reid says.
“I mean, I could say from my perspective, and part of the thing is that we have both done — Tom Morello did a guitar camp… You know, there’s a kind of posturing that can occur, but he’s not that guy, and I really appreciate that. And we’re both not posturing people in that way about the guitar.”
Asked about their respective playing styles, Reid replies: “We’re very different. There’s a little bit of crossover, but the music is very different. It’s interesting, because it’s very complementary, in its own way. We both have our intensities, and we both have our things that we do.”
The guitarist also comments on how Bettencourt’s playing has evolved over time, saying, “I think that’s interesting, too, that Nuno is experiencing a real renaissance, because he kind of came in as a kind of fireball early on, and now his approach is so… I don’t want to say ‘mature,’ but it’s so much deeper now.”
Citing Extreme’s hottest new single Rise from their recent album Six, Reid says, “There’s no way you can just listen to the musical technical accomplishment. You just have to respect it, it’s extraordinary, it’s a good guitar solo everyone’s talking about, and deservedly so.”
In other news, Extreme are currently on the North American leg of their tour, backed by Living Colour. Tickets are available now.