Kurt Cobain is rightly regarded as one of the most trailblazing artists ever, the Nirvana leader ushering in a new era of rock music with his band in the early ‘90s. But whilst some of the most iconic images of Cobain are of him onstage, thrashing away at either his Fender Jaguar or Mustang, the frontman saw himself as a songwriter rather than a guitarist. To him, the idea of being a virtuoso was both an anathema and an anachronism. Even his band becoming one of the biggest groups in the world wasn’t reason enough for Cobain to try and get better at his instrument.
“I have no desire to become any better of a guitar player,” Kurt said in an interview with the German journalist Edgar Klüsener in 1993, footage of which can be found below. “I have no concept of knowing how to be a musician at all, whatsoever. I don't know the name of chords to play, I don't know how to do major or minor chords on a guitar. I couldn't even pass Guitar 101. Everyone knows more than I do."
