The origin of “Sweet Child O’ Mine” is one of the most famous stories in rock history – but Slash says it’s nothing more than an urban legend.

You’ve likely heard the story: Slash was playing the song’s iconic riff as a ‘warm-up exercise’, when Axl Rose heard it and turned it into a song.

It’s a great story, but unfortunately it’s not true. Slash told the Eddie Trunk Podcast “Somebody else said that and it just became one of those things. It wasn’t a warm-up exercise”.

The real story is much more mundane: “It was just me messing around and putting notes together like any riff you do…then Izzy started playing the chords behind it and then Axl heard it and it started from there.”

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