“He said to me, ‘Hey man, your upstrokes are weak!’ I’m like, ‘You effin’ what?’ But he was right”: Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith says you never stop learning as a player

Adrian Smith on stage in 2025.

Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith says he couldn’t believe what he was hearing when another player criticised his technique — but it ended up being one of the most important lessons he ever learned.

It happened in 1997, when both Smith and singer Bruce Dickinson were out of Iron Maiden.