GUNS N' ROSES guitarist DJ Ashba tells RollingStone.com that the band is proceeding with the songwriting sessions for the follow-up to 2008's "Chinese Democracy" while preparing for an appearance at Neil Young's Bridge School Benefit in Mountain View, California, and the 12-date residency at the Hard Rock Hotel's Joint club in Las Vegas.

"[Axl Rose] has tons of stuff done [and] recorded that he's played for me and wants my input on," Ashba said. "Axl's put together such a talented group of musicians and there are so many songs that are already worked out. So we've got a good jump on it, for sure."

He added, "[The Vegas residency] is the first time we're all gonna be in the same place for a month solid and that will be, and already has been talked about, our main focus. So I think we're gonna get a lot of done. There's a lot of stuff recorded and I think it's just a matter of sitting down and working together as a band, putting together what we feel is gonna be the next best GUNS N' ROSES record. And I can't wait; I'm so excited to dive even deeper into that."

The Bridge School Benefit will see GUNS N' ROSES perform an entirely unplugged set. "A lot of the acoustic shows in the past, I would still play on the [electric] Les Paul — but for this, we're going all acoustic, no electric anything. That's how Neil kind of envisioned the whole thing, so we're gonna stay true to that, for sure," Ashba explained to RollingStone.com. "We're gonna add a couple [songs] that the band's never played... I know Axl is really excited to do it."

As the group's Vegas run, Ashba said, "We're playing three shows a week and our main goal is to make every show unique and really change it up because we do realize there are going to be a lot of people flying from all over the world to see maybe one, two, three shows. But there are the local people that we do take into consideration that may show up to every single show. That's kind of what's been cool about GUNS: it's so spontaneous live, we've never followed a set list."