“He said to me, ‘Hey man, your upstrokes are weak!’ I’m like, ‘You effin’ what?’ But he was right”: Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith says you never stop learning as a player.

Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith recalls being taken aback when another musician criticized his playing technique, a moment that ultimately turned into one of the most valuable lessons of his career. This occurred in 1997, when both Smith and Iron Maiden’s lead singer, Bruce Dickinson, were not in the band. Smith had teamed up with Dickinson to work on his fourth solo album, Accident of Birth, where Smith was one of the guitarists, alongside Roy Z, who was the primary collaborator, co-writer, and producer.

Smith, having spent nearly ten years in one of the world’s biggest bands and contributing to iconic songs like Flight of Icarus, 2 Minutes to Midnight, Wasted Years, and Can I Play With Madness, was taken aback when Roy Z, a virtuoso guitarist with deep knowledge of music theory, began offering advice on his technique.

“Roy’s a total virtuoso,” Smith explains. “He’s a teacher and respects the theory side. I mean, total respect.” Despite initially feeling insulted, Smith acknowledged that Roy Z was right, and he introduced him to new exercises that Smith hadn’t focused on before. Though Smith hadn’t previously invested much time in practicing theory, he soon found himself dedicating more time to it and noticing progress in his playing.

Smith reflects that as a musician in a successful band, it’s easy to plateau, playing the same material repeatedly. “When you’re playing the same thing every night, you don’t tend to grow,” he admits. “You have to push yourself, experiment, and collaborate with new people to continue evolving.”

In recent years, Smith has worked on two albums with American guitarist Richie Kotzen. Smith also draws inspiration from genres far removed from Iron Maiden, such as blues rock, listening to artists like Stevie Ray Vaughan, Gary Moore, and Joe Bonamassa. He imagines that if Iron Maiden’s long run were to end, he would likely pursue this style in his music, with a focus on rock and strong songwriting.

However, as long as Maiden is active, Smith feels he still has much to offer as a writer. He explains that his songwriting typically begins with a riff, or by suggesting vocal melodies to Dickinson, who then develops them further. Smith admits he’s not particularly strong with lyrics but enjoys the convenience of modern technology, with his own studio setup that includes a laptop and Pro Tools, allowing him to quickly turn ideas into demos.

Smith concludes with a lighthearted take on the creative process: “You’d rather bring a demo to the band than sit there with an acoustic, baring your soul while everyone watches and goes, ‘Here you go, boys and girls!’”