The Who’s Pete Townshend says it’s ‘terribly painful’ performing guitar like him

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The all-time great guitarists play like nobody else, and sometimes it can be painful to play like them.

At least, that’s what The Who guitarist Pete Townshend believes, as he claimed it’s “terribly painful” to perform as he does. The veteran guitarist would enjoy a successful solo career after The Who’s first disbandment in 1983. The Roger Daltrey-fronted group are currently performing a series of farewell shows in the United States. Daltrey and Townshend have toured together for decades, and during that time, the guitarist has made himself an indispensable part of the band’s sound. Townshend says on just about every tour, he ends up ripping his fingernails off because of how he plays the guitar and his iconic windmill style leaves him spritzing blood all over the stage. That feeling, however, means he is in the groove of a great performance, he says.

Speaking to David Sheff of Playboy Magazine, Townshend confirmed that while the bloodied stage performance may seem a bit concerning, it actually energises him. He said: “It is terribly painful. But I’m used to the fact that there will be pain. I know that I will take my nail off at the beginning of every tour. Still.

“The string gets under the fingernails and rips it off. It’s part of the job. I am playing sometimes and I go does a windmill, ‘Wang, wang, wang, blood’ and then I think, ‘This is it. I’ve arrived.’ It is the place where I should be, like a boxer in the middle of a fight. It’s difficult to hold the pick because it gets slippery. But that doesn’t matter. It actually energises me.”

Not only is it painful to play guitar like Townshend, but he believes it’s “embarrassing” to have to smash his guitars on stage, as that’s what fans expect of him. Though The Who guitarist would make a name for himself through his stylish riffs and explosive on-stage attitude, the requests he would receive later on in the band’s career to break instruments left him feeling a little disappointed.

He said: “Well you have to remember I’m not angry all the time. Even now I occasionally get frustrated on the stage with guitars and want to smash them. I tend not to do it, but the opportunity’s always there. I smashed a guitar on the Psycho Derelict tour and it was great fun.”

“It’s also embarrassing, is what it is. It’s like comedians being forced to use their catchphrase after they’ve become serious actors.” Townshend would also confirm he is sometimes asked to smash the guitars, rather than letting it be a natural part of the performance. An appearance on the David Letterman talk show would be one such moment.

Townshend explained: “Yeah. I smashed the one on the Letterman show even though I didn’t really want to. They asked me to do it, and I told them I would if they sold the guitar for charity. They gave me a fabulous guitar–a Gibson J-200 blond, an Elvis Presley-type guitar.”