Guitarist’s Embarrassing Mistake Could Have Cost Him His Dream Job with Foo Fighters
Chris Shiflett nearly derailed his career with the Foo Fighters during just his second show with the band, due to a simple tuning mistake. The longtime guitarist, who has been with the group for about 25 years, recently shared the story of his biggest on-stage blunder.
The incident happened during a soundcheck when Shiflett was still new to the band. “I’d never had a guitar tuned to a low A on the E string, and I think I tuned it to A sharp. And then I played the whole song that way,” he explained. “I remember at the end of it I realized, and Dave [Grohl] said, ‘Hey, come here… Don’t do that again. Maybe don’t do that ever again.'”
Early mishap
Despite this early mishap, Shiflett went on to become a core member of the band, as Premier Guitar writes in their recent interview with the group. He even shared a heartwarming story about his early days, when Grohl took him guitar shopping.
“This might be day two of being in the Foo Fighters, talk about a dream come true”, Shiflett recalled. “And now I walk in there and I’ve got Dave Grohl with me, with his American Express, like, ‘We’re going shopping, get whatever you want.'”
Overwhelmed by the experience
The new guitarist was overwhelmed by the experience, having only been in the band for about two days. Though he picked up two guitars that day, he admits that his choices would be quite different if he went shopping now.
