In a recent interview with Ultimate Guitar, Mark Tremonti discussed the most challenging Creed songs to play.
He explained, “The most difficult stuff with Creed is there’s a lot of isolated clean guitar stuff. If you miss one single note, everybody in the world’s going to hear it. It’s just a lot of intros where it’s just me, nobody else.”
He continued, “Nobody’s singing, nobody’s playing, there’s no bass. It’s just a finger-picked clean part. That to me, is way more challenging than the fastest of solos because you have everything going on.”
Tremonti shared that performing these parts in front of large crowds adds to the challenge, saying, “So, even if a part seems simple and straightforward a lot of times when you’re standing in front of an arena full of people and it’s just you with a spotlight sometimes, it gets a little nerve-wracking, like one last breath. That finger-style verse when it’s just you and all those people. You got to make sure your guitar is at the right height and you’re ready to go.”
He also reflected on Creed’s early struggles with Rick Beato, revealing how they faced doubts during the band’s beginnings: “The bad thing about the early part of our career is that everybody was doubting us the entire time.”
He noted the challenges throughout their career, saying, “I felt like I was fighting survival my entire career, up until our third Alter Bridge record [2010’s ‘ABIII’]. I felt like every record I put out, every single I put out, my career could be over, somebody else is going to take my job, right?”
Tremonti explained how the band overcame doubts, “So, with ‘My Own Prison,’ we came out with that single, and they’re like, ‘Oh, you’re going to be a one-hit-wonder.’ And we came out with, I think, ‘Torn’ next, and that went number one. We’re like, ‘All right, we’re not a one-hit wonder.’ Then they’re like, ‘You’re going to have a sophomore slump on the next record.’ Well, thanks.”
While most bands have wrapped up their tours for the year, Creed still has three shows left, with their next performance scheduled for December 28 in Durant, Oklahoma.
