Foo Fighters Guitarist Chris Shiflett on His Biggest On-Stage Goof: Dave Grohl Said “Don’t Do That Again”

Foo Fighters’ longtime guitarist Chris Shiflett has been with the alt-rock band for about a quarter of a century at this point. According to Shiflett himself, there was one incident that took place during his second-ever live performance with the band that almost landed him in hot water.

In a recent interview with Premier Guitar, Shiflett, Dave Grohl, and Pat Smear sat down to chat about everything from guitars to performing live. Shiflett reflected on one particular incident that could have turned into the end of his career with the Foo Fighters. Thankfully, it didn’t.

“I remember that was my first massive Foo Fighters blunder,” Shiflett recalled during the interview, quite playfully. “It was my second show at the sound check. I’d never had a guitar tuned to a low A on the E string, and I think I tuned it to A sharp. And then [I] played the whole song that way. I remember at the end of it I realized, and Dave [Grohl] said, ‘Hey, come here… Don’t do that again. Maybe don’t do that ever again.’”

You can watch the Premier Guitar interview below:

Chris Shiflett Reflects on a Life Well-Lived With Rock Band Foo Fighters

That initial blunder aside, it’s clear why Shiflett has been with the band for so long. He’s known for not just being a fantastic guitarist, but also a dependable one. His particular style of playing is at the core of Foo Fighters, just as much as Grohl’s presence is.

Further on in the Premier Guitar interview, Shiflett also reflected on when Grohl took him guitar shopping for the very first time.

“When I joined the band you said, ‘Oh, you’re gonna need more than one guitar,’” said Shiflett, speaking to Grohl. “And you took me shopping. This might be day two of being in the Foo Fighters, talk about a dream come true… So, we drive over before rehearsal to Voltage, these shops that I had been going to since I was a little kid, being yelled at, ‘Don’t touch that!’ And now I walk in there and I’ve got Dave Grohl with me, with his American Express, like, ‘We’re going shopping, get whatever you want.’”

Shiflett went on to say that he was “freaked out” because he had only been in the band for about 48 hours.

“I got two amazing guitars, but I laugh about it now, it’d be a very different shopping spree today,” he laughed.

Sadly, Shiflett did not explicitly name which two guitars he picked up that day. We can only imagine he got the best that Dave Grohl’s American Express card could buy.

Photo by Frank Micelotta/Getty Images

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