Watch the Doors’ Robby Krieger Play His Favorite Guitar Riffs
The Doors' Robby Krieger recently looked back at his career for Loudwire's Gear Factor, powered by Sweetwater.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame guitarist said rock 'n' roll pioneers were his earliest inspirations in the video, which you can watch below. "The first thing I heard, I think, was Elvis [Presley]," he said. "I didn't know it at the time, but it was 'Don't Be Cruel.'"
Krieger also credits Chuck Berry for changing his career path. "I loved Little Richard and Fats Domino and Chuck Berry," he said. "He was really the reason I went to electric guitar. Before that I was playing flamenco and folk music and stuff like that and I loved Bob Dylan, so I had the harmonica holder and the whole thing."
You can watch the video below.
The guitarist has enjoyed a long relationship with Gibson guitars, dating back to before he was even associated with the company. "The first one I got, the Melody Maker, it was just the cheapest guitar in the shop," he recalled. "But when I got it home and started playing, I just loved how it looked and how it felt. [It's got] the two cutaways, and I was on this acid trip one time and it reminded me of the devil. For some reason, it just looked very devilish, which I liked."
As you'll see in the video, Krieger shared some of his favorite songs he recorded with the Doors, performing bits of "Love Me Two Times," "20th Century Fox" and "Roadhouse Blues."
Check Out Robby Krieger's Gear
Krieger said Jose Feliciano's version of "Light My Fire" is his favorite cover of a Doors song, even though "at first I didn't like it. I said, 'Jeez, he did it totally different than us.' It's kind of jazzy, which is okay. It's almost MOR, I could say, but then the more I heard it, the more I started liking it. I just really ended up liking it, especially the guitar stuff that he does at the end."