Some selected Eddie videos…

Here are some Eddie videos… enjoy… and happy birthday, Eddie!

 

On his replica guitar:

1988 tour, Tokyo:

Ancient VH clip from 1976, with random old pics:

Another clip like that, 1977:

And finally, 30 years later, from the current tour:

Enjoy!

Happy birthday, Eddie

 January 26th is the birthday of Eddie Van Halen, and I’d just like to write a tiny bit about that. I could write so much about him, about what an amazing player he is, how much he has changed the guitar scene, how influential he is, etc. Of course, opinions on that (and so many other topics) differ big time, but thats my opinion, and I will stick to it.

I remember that fateful day, when I was watching TV as a kid, aged 9 or 10, and I saw the video of “Jump” come on. I had heard the song on the radio, and  loved it, and seeing that video changed my life… suddenly, I knew what he wanted to do. Here was such a cool looking dude with a killer looking guitar (as seen above), playing a cool song, with an awesome solo, and he looked like he was having the time of his life… all that completely ignited the spark in me, and I wanted to become a guitarist.

I also remember hearing the first VH album and especially “Eruption” the first time, and how blown away I was. People who try to point out how many players better than him are around, or who has a better sound would probably be surprised seeing what I see when I introduce a student to “Eruption”. Its been 30 years since the album was released, and to this day, kids who usually listen to Korn or Slipknot are completely blown away and fascinated. I remember playing a 16 year old the VH-version of “You Really Got Me” last year, thinking “I wonder whether he will like that, its not exactly similar to what he usually listens to”. Afterwards he said “OMG, why does that guitar just sound SO awesome?!”

Eddie influenced so many players, and it doesnt matter whether HE invented tapping, or volume swells or divebombs or whatever… he made it popular, he changed the guitar scene a lot (to this day… the whole “strat with a humbucker and whammy bar” thing etc.), and inspired so many players to pick up a guitar and learn.

He always makes it look like fun, and plays from the heart, sticking to his style. I might be biased, but every piece of VH-gear I tried, whether its the guitars, the amps or FX was amazing, from the Peavey 5150 to the current, amazing 5150 III, from the Music Man Ernie Ball guitar to the Peavey Wolfgang. He has such great ears, and knows about tone and sound, and I think that his sounds still are a benchmark (just google “brown sound”), and will probably forever be.

He was having fun, being unconventional, just doing anything to get the sounds he wanted, as you i.e. can tell from what he did to those guitars, from sawing apart the whammy bars to screwing coins onto them to “unfloat” the bridge, from the “tablet” at the back of his guitar ( to play it while the fretboard was pointing up) to the use of the Variac…

I love his playing, his music (all eras, whether its DLR, Sammy or Gary), and I will forever be a fan, and grateful for what he did. I dont think Id be playing today if it wasnt for him, and I will never forget that moment when I first saw the video, first heard “Eruption”, “Spanish Fly”, “Youre No Good”, first saw him live, the big smile on my face later on when I saw him again on the III tour, looking younger than ever, jumping around, will never forget trying to mod my guitars, not to be just like his, but inspired by him to do whatever it takes to get the guitar to be and do what I needed, putting in humbuckers, changing the bridges etc.

Thank you so much, Eddie. I hope you are happy, and will continue to play, write and record music. THanks for everything, and happy birthday!

LOTW #5: Tapping in D Mixolydian

This week, I’d like to a lick in the key of D Mixolydian, using an approach I use quite a lot in my own playing (a trademark?). I am talking about the combination of longer notes (the tapped ones) and fast flurries of notes in between, instead of playing all sixtuplets or whatever.
That way, it makes both the tapped notes (which can be used to create a little melody on top) and the speedy aspect (the “bursts” played with the left) stand out more. I remember reading an interview with Blues Saraceno after he had released “Plaid” (awesome album, and very tasteful playing) and he said “If you use fast playing, then make it stand out. If its just one long blur of notes, it gets kinda boring, tiring. Make it stand out, and it does stand out more in between slower parts.”
This is what this kinda lick is based on, and I use it quite a bit. The notes imply D Mixolydian (D major until the C is being tapped), and I like the major third interval between the first and second l.h. note. The tapped note keeps changing, and you get some big intervals (such as the octave between the lowest note and the tapped high D).
As usual, experiment and try to use this kinda lick in your playing!

And here is a soundfile of a variation of the above example

Marshall Randy Rhoads signature amp

I just saw these news about an upcoming Randy Rhoads signature amp by Marshall, introduced at the winter NAMM. Check it out.

Other than getting me interested in trying those soon (and I love the white layout), it got me thinking about Randy. I haven’t listened to his playing in some time, other than the Ozzy-songs playing on the radio.
I remember though that there was a time when I was like 14 or 15 when I listened to Randy on a daily base, trying to learn some of his licks and riffs, and he was quite an influence back then. Together with Michael Schenker, he was a reason for me to play a Flying V.

I loved to listen to his playing because of his melodies, the vibe and emotion, his sound and tone, and we quite a hero for me back then. I remember buying “The Randy RHoads Years”, a compilation by Quiet Riot, focussing on their time with Randy (who played on their first two albums), and featuring a previously unreleased song and guitar solo, “Laughing Gas” (actually, its two solos merged together). Its a great record to get an idea about Randy’s development, and some of the melodies and licks in that solo were later reused for the Ozzy albums (i.e. one riff from “Laughing Gas” later was used for the intro and outro of “Crazy Train”, and Randy also played an early version of the “Goodbye To Romance” intro in his solo).
I wonder (like many others) what he’d be playing today. I know he wanted to quit Ozzys band and study classical guitar, so I wonder what he’d be up to today. A very talented, very influential player, and its so sad he was killed at such an early age.
RIP, Randy!

New GUITAR issue (02/08)

The newest issue of GUITAR magazine is gonna hit the newsstands today. It features the next episode of “Talking Hands”… “Phrasing Pt. II”. Its quite interesting to write about a topic like that, phrasing, tone and expression after writing so many articles that focussed mainly on shred techniques and stuff. But in the end, that phrasing and those little details are even more important, and often forgot about, and if you i.e. listen to guys like Paul Gilbert or Andy Timmons, its amazing to hear not only great chops but also a wonderful tone and amazing phrasing.
Articles about that might not look as attractive as “45 killer speed licks to chop someones head off” type articles to some, but I believe that it should be interesting for a lot of people out there who wanna work on other things than speed, too =)

Also featured: my reviews of two small practice combos, the Digitech RP350 and a Schecter Scorpion Baritone guitar.
Zakk Wylde is on the cover, and there’s a huge lesson with him in there. And lots more cool stuff, so check it out!

LOTW #4: Tapping Lick, Pedaltone-ish, Nuno-ish

This week, I am showing you a lick/exercise I tabbed out and made a video of for an article I wrote for ibreathemusic.com a few years ago.
Its a pedaltone-ish tapping lick along the B-String. The left hand stays in place, while the tapping hand moves along the string. This is quite similar to something Nuno Bettencourt played on the song “Lil’ Jack Horny” (from Extreme’s “Pornographitti” album).

And here’s a video. Sorry for the sound, was using a cheap modeling preamp
I used to have hooked up directly to the PC. I guess its ok for presentations like this one though.
And of course, as usual: Experiment and find your own variations!

LOTW 3 – Pentatonic Lick #1

New week, new lick =)
When I conduct a workshop and talk to some of the people in the audience, or when I teach, it seems as if a lot of players seem to think that the pentatonic scale is more of a “beginners scale”, or something only used for blues or classic rock.

However, its such a cool scale, and you can some very unusual licks with it, stuff that doesn’t sound like your “typical” pentatonic rock-licks at all. And if you listen to guys like Greg Howe, Richie Kotzen, Eric Johnson or Paul Gilbert, you’ll hear them play some jaw-dropping pentatonic licks, coaxing some awesome sounds out of the scale.
And no wonder, after all the scale lends itself to bigger intervals, which can give your licks a very nice, open sound.
Problem is playing them at a higher speed, as the pentatonic scale requires some big stretches, especially if you distribute it three notes per string (something I like to do a lot, hence my articles on the “stretch pentatonic”. You can hear me use it a lot, for example in songs like “Make A Noize” or “Hold On Tight”).

So here is a nice repeating pattern using 3 notes per string, key of Emaj/C#min. I recommend to use a combination of picking and legato for a more fluid sound, but you can also try picking all notes. Be careful about those stretches! If it hurts, take a break. Also, you might consider starting to work on this by moving it to even higher areas of the neck, where the stretches aren’t as tough on the hands.
And of course, try to come up with your own pentatonic ideas!

Soundfile

All Along The Watchtower

One of my all time favorite songs is “All Along The Watchtower”, especially in the incredibly version of Jimi Hendrix. Its been referred to as “one of the best guitar arrangements ever”, and it’s quite unbelievable how Jimi took that Dylan-song and turned it into something else.

I admit then I first got into Hendrix, I couldnt get into many of his most popular songs… I didn’t really like “Purple Haze” or “Foxey Lady” (I do these days, though), but “All Along The Watchtower” I was immediately in love with.
I loved the song, the lead guitar, the sounds and the whole vibe. The Wah-part still is one of my favorites, and it made me wanna get a Wah pedal back then. At first, a friend sold me a rather crappy old envelope filter pedal which, with a LOT of imagination kinda sounded like a Wah, but when I got my first CryBaby, I went nuts.
Anyway, I really recommend to anyone to take a closer look at Jimis version of the song, if you haven’t yet. I learned the lead-parts and some of the little “rhythm licks” in the song are wonderful. Whenever I play it, I go nuts with it, it’s so much fun.
Also amazing: Shawn Lane’s breath-taking version, recorded with his coverband “The Willies”. That live version was released on some GFTPM-sampler. Shawn plays Jimi’s licks almost note per note, and even gets close to the original sound and tone.
When, in the Hendrix-version, the slide-part kicks in, Shawn kicks into some space age-sounding thing, then played pretty much the original solo note for note, only to slip into some mind-bogglingly fast licks at the very end, taking it up another notch. If you can, check it out!

Anyway, here’s Jimis version. Of course, you’re prolly very familiar with it already, after all it’s so popular, but still…

RIP, Jimi, and thank you!

 And a WIKI-Page on the song…

LOTW 2: Pedaltone-ish Lick

Happy new year everyone!
Yes, I am back, and so its time for a new LOTW.
This time, its a pedal-point style melodic lick. Its an interesting exercise if you use it to work on adjacent and non-adjacent strings, and also, I like some of the interval skips in this one. Make sure you mute the E-pedaltone…
I use stuff like this in solos and improvs too, so it might be a good idea to experiment with this kinda lick/approach using different scales, patterns, rhythms etc.
I hope you will like it!

And here’s a soundfile: LINK