The Gaspedals Carb! What if a stompbox gave you only two things: more and better. More of the tone you worked hard at creating for yourself, then opening that up with more clarity, dynamics, harmonics and whatever other descriptors you want to toss in there that equal better to you. Would you jump all over [...]
Did you see Edward Van Halen on the Two and a Half Men TV show last week? Naturally they left him until the last part of the show, but for Ed fans the wait was worth it – because Ed had a guitar in his hands and proceeded to whip off 10 or so seconds [...]
Some Gear Now Appearing on eBay? Any Savatage fans out there? I know there must be, and if Criss Oliva were still alive today there would probably be a lot more (RIP Criss). I remember the first time I heard “Hall of the Mountain King,” with the classical music intro. I knew I’d heard the [...]
George Lynch is one of my favorite guitarists, but for guitar fans he seems to be a love him or hate him guy – no middle ground. Maybe that’s because he has a distinctive style, and he’s very experimental having tried the rock-rap thing (I love the Smoke This CD), entire albums and concerts with [...]
In the same April 1979 issue of Record Review Magazine mentioned in last Friday’s post, Ed was asked when he started playing guitar. He said: “I’d say that I really didn’t start playing guitar and getting into lead guitar until Cream and the heavy guitar things started happening.” Ask how old he was, he said: [...]
Here we are again, I guess – another episode of “is it true or not?” starring Edward Van Halen. Can you take him at his word, or not? Is 90% of what he said truth or was 90% misdirection? Was it more like 50/50? Who knows. I’m not in one camp or another. I just [...]
And Why Hatchet’s First Album Sounded Like Skynyrd I still love Molly Hatchet’s tune “Flirtin’ With Disaster”…and I know I’m not alone! A great song, fast tempo, some great guitar-playing, multiple leads – separated by the southern lead singer whistle which means “c’mon and play something” – harmony leads, it’s all there. Tone of the [...]
An Ode to Joy (Seriously) By now I assume you’ve heard about the documentary on the Canadian metal band Anvil. It’s called “Anvil: The Story of Anvil,” and is showing in smaller theaters in the U.S. and Canada (I’m not sure about Europe). I was given a promo copy by a friend in the music [...]
A couple of decent Ace interviews were published recently – decent because there’s some gear info in them, some good stuff, but both come up a little short on details (when I interview Ace I’ll rectify that!). Anyhow, here are the most interesting bits from modernguitars.com and iheartguitarblog.com. Anything in quotes is Ace speaking. Gear [...]
Yeah! (Anomaly Streaming Link Below…) Wooo-hooooooooo!! I got an advance copy of Ace Frehley’s new Anomaly CD, his first new music in 20 years, and…well, before I tell you about it, I gotta be honest: I had huge hopes and a little fear sliding it into the CD player.
Slash signature Les Pauls must be selling pretty well because word is that the Gibson Custom Shop is working on another one, Slash’s fifth by my count. I believe that would make Slash the guy with the most signature Les Pauls ever: > In the late ’90s the Gibson Custom Shop produced the Slash Snakepit [...]
Plus Short Interview With ZT Lunchbox Inventor As any ZZ Top fan will know, the band recently had a “Storytellers” special on U.S. cable channel VH1 (a sister channel to MTV). The format of Storytellers is that a band plays a few tunes before a small crowd, and tells stories in the form of answering [...]
Here’s the New VH Single/Vid: 50w?
Update from a reader (thanks!): Tattoo is is based on an old song, “Down in Flames” – check it below. “Tattoo.” Is it me or have we never heard a Van Halen tune like this before? If Ed used his “grail” Marshall Super Lead on this album, don’t think we’re hearing it on this tune! [...]
Breaking Down the VH NYC Debut
She’s the Woman! Cafe Wha – yeah man! Couldn’t wrangle my son and I an invite, so instead awaited the sure-to-follow YouTube vids. Fingers were crossed that the band would play some new tunes, though had to admit that didn’t make much sense since they hadn’t even released a tune yet. Anyhow, here’s what we [...]
Bonamassa Hears Clapton in EVH: You?
Lots of well-known axe-slingers are quoted in Neil Zlozower’s new (and awesome) Eddie Van Halen book. One is the current white bluesman extraordinaire, Joe “gingers o’ fire” Bonamassa. What he says is interesting, and not sure I can hear what he’s hearing. Bear in mind a couple things: 1. EVH has said many times that [...]
Have You Gone Extra Slinky Yet?
When I recently got an email from a WoodyTone reader – let’s call him Mike because…that’s his real name – I was stoked because I like light strings. I played 10s for years, then went to 9s after getting back into the whole EVH tone quest. With 9s I noticed that the notes “opened up,” [...]
If I ever had a doubt I’m a huge Edward Van Halen fan (never had any doubt, but…), any such insane thought was erased when I finished reading Neil Zlozower’s new Eddie Van Halen book. Yep, reading. Actually got a little emotional at the end of it (*sniff*), reading Nuno Bettencourt’s story about a recent [...]
Did Edward Van Halen have his MXR phaser and flanger modded to boost or not? The initial interviews are inconclusive. Exhibit A, from this recent post: I use a phase shifter, a Phase 90 – MXR, I think. It doesn’t really phase – it just kind of gives you treble boost, which I like. Cuts [...]
Last Cool Stuff From ’78 EVH Transcript
Here’s the last of the interesting stuff from the newly published transcript of the entire 1978 interview of Edward Van Halen that Jas Obrecht did for Guitar Player mag. Wish there was a lot more! Guitar Stuff The Shark/Destroyer Jas: Does it have a standard neck? EVH: Yeah. It’s completely stock, really, except for the [...]
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