Jason Newsted spent 15 years holding down the low end in Metallica, playing bass for the band from 1986 through 2001. That era included records like&nbsp;…And Justice For All&nbsp;and&nbsp;Metallica—AKA&nbsp;The Black Album—plus the iconic&nbsp;S&amp;M&nbsp;live album with the San Francisco Symphony.But that was just the beginning for Newsted, an artistic polymath who has since pursued a life of balance and creative freedom. On this episode of&nbsp;Wong Notes, he opens up to Cory Wong about why he left Metallica, and details the “Olympian” physicality and discipline that hard international touring requires. Newsted needed a break; the band wanted to keep going. “You gotta sometimes give it a minute,” he says.Newsted shares his thoughts on Dave Mustaine and his predecessor Cliff Burton, and goes deep on the issue of cellphone usage at concerts. (Spoiler alert: He doesn’t like it very much, and he’s got good reasons for his disdain.) But Newsted isn’t just a performer. He talks about his painting and the way that practice differs from music-making, plus his private artistic journeys with theremin, mandolin, and sequencers and loopers—rabbit holes he might not have gone down if he stayed in Metallica. “I don’t say no to any medium,” he says.Maybe leaving Metallica created the need to explore. “I did not get to fulfill that journey,” he says, “so I’m making up for it.”Listen to the full episode here: https://bit.ly/WongNotesGet 30% off your first year of DistroKid by going here: http://distrokid.com/vip/corywongHit us up: [email protected] Cory: https://www.corywongmusic.comVisit Premier Guitar: http://premierguitar.comTwitter: https://twitter.com/wongnotespodIG: <a...

We know what you’re thinking: Dave Navarro is gonna talk about the onstage brawl. But Cory Wong starts this episode of&nbsp;Wong Notes&nbsp;with an important caveat. This show was recorded long before the awful breakdown and confrontation between Navarro and Jane’s Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell, so don’t expect any salacious gossip. But that just makes this episode all the more interesting.Navarro talks Wong through his formative influences, from Hendrix, Zeppelin, and the Doors to Maiden, heavy metal, and goth. That melting pot, he says, became one of Jane’s Addiction’s calling cards: “Perry and Eric [Avery] ended up in a band that is influenced by bands they hate,” laughs Navarro, who geeks out on Rush and prog-rock.Navarro discusses how Jane’s Addiction has a propensity for jamming live, a practice developed out of a mutual appreciation for nontraditional song structures. But the delineations can sometimes go wrong. “We do run into trainwrecks,” says Farrell. “Sometimes we’ll find ourselves in a part that we’re vibing on, and we’ll keep going, and Perry doesn’t know what we’re doing. He’ll come in and it’s in the wrong place, and we’re fucking him up.”Tune in to hear Navarro talk his “rabbit hole de jour” practice style, how to exercise your fingers&nbsp;and&nbsp;your brain, and a lead technique he calls “the Navarro smear.” All this and more on this latest episode of&nbsp;Wong Notes.Get 30% off your first year of DistroKid by going here: http://distrokid.com/vip/corywongVisit Dave Navarro: https://www.instagram.com/davenavarro/Hit us up: [email protected] Cory: https://www.corywongmusic.comVisit Premier Guitar: http://premierguitar.comTwitter: https://twitter.com/wongnotespodIG: https://www.instagram.com/wongnotespodProduced by...

Keith Urban has spent decades traveling the world and topping global country-music charts, and on this episode of&nbsp;Wong Notes, the country-guitar hero tells host Cory Wong how he conquered the world—and what keeps him chasing new sounds on his 6-string via a new record,&nbsp;High, which releases on September 20.Urban came up as guitarist and singer at the same time, and he details how his playing and singing have always worked as a duet in service of the song: “When I stop singing, [my guitar] wants to say something, and he says it in a different way.” Those traits served him well when he made his move into the American music industry, a story that begins in part with a fateful meeting with a 6-string banjo in a Nashville music store in 1995.It’s a different world for working musicians now, and Urban weighs in on the state of radio, social media, and podcasts for modern guitarists, but he still believes in word-of-mouth over the algorithm when it comes to discovering exciting new players.And in case you didn’t know, Keith Urban is a total gearhead. He shares his essential budget stomps and admits he’s a pedal hound, chasing new sounds week in and week out, but what role does new gear play in his routine? Urban puts it simply: “I’m not chasing tone, I’m pursuing inspiration.”Get 30% off your first year of DistroKid by going here: http://distrokid.com/vip/corywongVisit Keith Urban: https://keithurban.comHit us up: [email protected] Cory: https://www.corywongmusic.comVisit Premier Guitar: http://premierguitar.comTwitter: https://twitter.com/wongnotespodIG: https://www.instagram.com/wongnotespodProduced by Jason Shadrick and Cory WongAdditional Editing by Shawn PersingerPresented by DistroKid