“I got a writeup in a guitar magazine, and a gentleman from the UK sent me ahandwritten letter in the mail saying, ‘Hello, my name is Guthrie’”: Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal on the unifying magic of the guitar instrumental

Ron 'Bumblefoot' Thal plays a doubleneck electric onstage in 2020. He wears a wide-brimmed hat and the stagelights are green-gray.

From his earliest days as the apple of Mike Varney’s eye to stepping in for Slash in Guns N’ Roses, songwriting has always the same for Ron Thal, aka Bumblefoot.

“With every album, the inspiration comes from living life, from whatever you’re feeling in the moment,” he says. “Suddenly a riff pops into your head, and that expression of whatever you’re feeling and experiencing turns into a song. That pretty much sums up my last couple of years of putting wackiness to music.”