Jim Root is planning a solo project in his Slipknot downtime

(Image credit: Fender)

Slipknot might be off the road right now but it's all go in the world of their #4 aka Jim Root. His latest signature Fender Jazzmaster has just been released and it's a real bobby-dazzler, but now he's putting his mind to a future project – the first solo release from a Slipknot guitarist.

“I’ve had a lot of people ask me about doing a solo project," Root told Loudwire in a new interview. "I think now I have a little bit of extra time to dedicate to that, so I’ve been writing some stuff that maybe wouldn’t slide into the Slipknot world.

“I would like to [start a solo project] just because I need to stay busy," Root added. "You know, I didn’t start a family, I never got married, I didn’t do any of that stuff. I know Corey wants to do a solo project that’s outside of Stone Sour; he’s mentioned that.

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(Image credit: Katja Ogrin / Getty)

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“For a solo project, I’m gonna overthink that until I’m insane and it may never ever come out,” he joked. “What direction do I go? Do I even think about a direction? Do I just let it naturally come out? Do I use things that I’ve written intended for Slipknot that maybe Slipknot didn't gravitate towards?

“Obviously, Slipknot is my priority and it’s what I’m always gonna have as a priority … With all the arrangements I’ve written for the last couple of Slipknot records, I don’t know that I need another outlet, but I’m going to try. Set a goal, maybe see if I can achieve it.”

We look forward to hearing the results of that. 

Rob Laing
Guitars Editor, MusicRadar

I'm the Guitars Editor for MusicRadar, handling news, reviews, features, tuition, advice for the strings side of the site and everything in between. Before MusicRadar I worked on guitar magazines for 15 years, including Editor of Total Guitar in the UK. When I'm not rejigging pedalboards I'm usually thinking about rejigging pedalboards.