Joe Perry asked Johnny Depp for guitar lessons, says Alice Cooper
Aerosmith guitarist sought advice from Hollywood Vampires bandmate
There's no denying the calibre of rock supergroup Hollywood Vampires, which counts Alice Cooper, Johnny Depp and Joe Perry among its ranks - but it turns out Aerosmith guitar legend Perry doesn't even rank himself the best guitarist in the band, as he sought lessons from movie megastar Depp, according to the band's frontman.
"There's a movie called Chocolat and he plays this gypsy guitar player," Cooper told EON Music. "He does all this Django Reinhardt stuff - and it's really him. It's not somebody playing for him.
"Joe Perry heard that, and he called up and said, 'Can I get guitar lessons from you?' So that's how good Johnny is."
All that gypsy jazz practice could go some way to explaining why Perry's Aerosmith bandmate Brad Whitford recently told MusicRadar that "everything always takes forever with Aerosmith".
And while we've taught you how to play guitar like Joe Perry in the past, it sounds like we need to give Johnny Depp the same treatment…
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Mike has been Editor-in-Chief of GuitarWorld.com since 2019, and an offset fiend and recovering pedal addict for far longer. He has a master's degree in journalism from Cardiff University, and 15 years' experience writing and editing for guitar publications including MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitarist, as well as 20 years of recording and live experience in original and function bands. During his career, he has interviewed the likes of John Frusciante, Chris Cornell, Tom Morello, Matt Bellamy, Kirk Hammett, Jerry Cantrell, Joe Satriani, Tom DeLonge, Radiohead's Ed O'Brien, Polyphia, Tosin Abasi, Yvette Young and many more. His writing also appears in the The Cambridge Companion to the Electric Guitar. In his free time, you'll find him making progressive instrumental rock as Maebe.
