GUNS N' ROSES' guitarist Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal talks to Live-Metal.net about his upcoming solo album Abnormal, his work for Rock Against Diabetes and a little GN'R.

The following is an excerpt from the interview:

Q: What inspired you to get into music and to go this route?

A: "Oh man, this goes way back to when I was about 5 years old. All the older kids in my neighborhood were into KISS. Then I heard the KISS Alive album for the first time and it just blew my mind! I wanted to be a drummer and so did my brother. So we got into this contest where whoever had the faster drum roll got to be the drummer.

Me being 5 and him being 8, he was a little bit faster, so he ended up being the drums. So I was like, 'OK, I want to be a bass player because Gene Simmons is badass with the fire, the blood and the high shoes!' Bad shoes! [laughs]

So, I went to a place to start taking bass lessons and at this point I was about 6. The bass was taller than I was and the strings were thicker than my fingers, so that wasn't going to happen. So they lied to me at the music store and told me that by law you have to play acoustic guitar for two years before you can switch to bass.

So I was like, 'OK, if that is what I need to do I will do my time, man! I am gonna take it like a man, like a 6 year old man, and do it!'

So I got into it and just stuck with it and forgot that I was supposed to switch to bass. Twenty years and I forgot! But I do play bass now too, but I play it like shit because I never did get those bass lessons when I was 6. So it all kinda worked out and I have gotten to do everything, although I am the world's shittest drummer. So it is a good thing that I didn't take the drum lessons!"

Read the full interview at Live-Metal.net.