ANYBODY WHO HAS heard Nita Strauss play guitar — whether on her own chart-topping solo releases, during her longtime stretch in Alice Cooper’s band or now as Demi Lovato’s six-string sidekick — has marveled at her versatility and seemingly boundless creativity.
But where does that inventiveness come from? As Strauss tells us, sometimes it’s born out of frustration. “I’m just like anybody else,” she says. “There are days when I feel like I’m playing the same old things and I’m not doing anything new. It’s rare, thank goodness, but when it happens it can be a drag.”
Strauss’s remedy starts by making her mind a blank. “I just clear out all the stress and mental cobwebs,” she says. Next, she starts to improvise. “I’ll just play without
