FOR MORE THAN 40 years, Keith Scott has served as Bryan Adams’ lead guitarist, which means he’s performed a cavalcade of ginormous smash hit songs — there’s “Cuts Like a Knife,” “Run to You,” “Summer of ’69,” “It’s Only Love,” “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You,” “One Night Love Affair” and tons more — thousands of times. “I couldn’t guess at the actual number of times we’ve played some of those songs,” he says, then adds with a laugh, “It’s a lot, I know that.”
Even so, the Canadian-born picker maintains that each night on stage feels fresh. “It’s interesting. Back when I was playing clubs, we’d do cover songs,” he says. “After a while, I’d get bored playing the same songs over and over, and I’d want to move on. With Bryan, though, it’s different. For one thing, if a song is popular, the fans end up singing it, and that’s so exciting. But it’s also true that each night presents a new set of challenges. There’s always things you can’t control, so you always play your best, as if you’re performing a song for the first time. The songs deserve it, as do the fans.”
Scott’s vibrant playing style — a fiery, sophisticated blend of gritty blues and subtle jazz turns — has long been the secret sauce of Bryan Adams’ recipe for hits. When each track called for a stand-out moment — whether short, head-turning bursts between passages or high-wattage, hook-filled solos that doubled as songs within songs — Scott came through with uncanny artfulness and dazzling showmanship. Yet he remains something of
