A PAINFULL DEPARTURE: Guns N' Roses member Axl Rose has announce his departure

Some musicians seem to have such a natural talent that it’s easy to imagine that they were born with an instrument already in hand. Guns N’ Roses and Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash might seem like one of those people, but in his book “Slash: The Autobiography,” he wrote that he credits GN’R bandmate Steven Adler with introducing him to the idea of the guitar — and they met when they were 13 years old. But it wasn’t an easy ride from then on for Slash

Slash stresses that he started from knowing nothing, attending Fairfax Music School, and being taught the basics by a guy who “didn’t look like a rock star at all.” Still, the sound stuck, and within years, he was in a chart-topping band performing before legions of fans.

GN’R has had a famously contemptuous run, often defined by controversial moments that lead singer Axl Rose will never be able to leave behind him. Slash, meanwhile, has lived an almost low-key life, at least as far as rock stardom is concerned. In an interview with Louder Sound, he explained, “There’s definitely moments that I have memories of that I don’t savor — things that I’ve done But there’s nothing catastrophic, and nothing that I would wish I could go back and fix, because it’s just not realistic. I just don’t believe in carrying regrets for things that happened in life that don’t have a massively negative effect on somebody else.” That’s a very way of looking at things, and that’s not to say that he didn’t have his struggles: He definitely