KISS Guitarist Had Difficulty ‘Emulating’ Ace Frehley

Bruce Kulick recently reflected on Ace Frehley‘s tragic passing and stated that the late KISS guitarist “defined what it means to be a rock star.”

Bruce Kulick talks about Ace Frehley

Frehley passed away on October 16th, aged 74, after being hospitalized on life support due to a brain bleed from a fall in his home studio. His former bandmates in KISS, Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons paid tribute to him.

As Kulick revealed to Guitar World, there was something about Ace Frehley’s musical expression that piqued his interest “Ace influenced so many guitarists,” he said, “and I wanted to learn what it was about his playing that connected with them. He made me think of a primal Jimmy Page style of playing.”

During a 2010 interview with Premier Guitar, Frehley shared an early setup, a tobacco sunburst Gibson Les Paul Standard with a rewound hot pickup on the early KISS records. He also used a Marshall stack or old Fender tweed amp, and an Electro-Harmonix Big Muff when he needed the extra overdrive.

Examining Frehley’s approach, Kulick highligted that the guitarist’s sound could not be easily reproduced even if you had the same gear, and that he was confounded many times while attempting to do so:

“He loved Hendrix and Page. But his tone, his pick technique, and choice of notes were uniquely Ace. For me, he was not easy to emulate. His solos and playing on ‘100,000 Years’ were difficult.”

“It has wildly syncopated riffs (phrases that emphasize the offbeat) with interval jumps (leaps between non-adjacent notes) that were so special – truly in my mind it defined Ace’s approach. In my Kiss era I wanted to perform it. I kept shaking my head in awe as I recreated the riffs!”

“His picking technique was unique; fingers were large and wide. The way he held his pick was special to his playing as well. Tone, I always say, is in the player’s hands. Ace had his special tone that I’d never be able to copy.”