When we asked TG readers to choose their favourite Chilis songs featuring John Frusciante on guitar, thousands of votes flooded in.
Here we present the top 10 – with analysis of what John brought to each track. Some of the band’s biggest hits are missing – including Give It Away, The Zephyr Song and By The Way. But in these ten songs, the brilliance of John Frusciante shines bright.
10 CALIFORNICATION
The intro to the title track of the Chili’s 1999 masterpiece uses open-position A minor and F major arpeggios with open string notes to add colour. Flea’s bass plays the melodic fills Frusciante would normally add himself. The end of the verse builds momentum by changing chords twice as often, through C-G-F-Dm. John plays soft, arpeggiated voicings, so when he starts aggressively strumming Am and Fmaj7, there’s a real lift. The solo changes key to F# minor, with a tone more typical of funk rhythm than rock lead. John repeats and develops simple melodic ideas, varying the rhythm or changing the ending, to make a satisfying break without the need for speed.
9 I COULD HAVE LIED
The acoustic part opens, coincidentally, with the same notes as Metallica’s : a B5 powerchord at the 2nd fret, alternating the open D string. The mysterious chord ending the first chorus plugged straight into the desk even for solos, distorted by overloading the input, but this sounds more like an amp, possibly the cheap Fender HOT practice amp John unexpectedly loved.
