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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 […]
The middle and right photos above were recently posted on David Lee Roth’s website. Seems obvious they’re from the Van Halen I photo shoot that gave us Ed and the freshly striped Franky guitar on the album cover (left photo). So for gear heads, this raises some interesting questions:
I tripped over this great video of Brian May playing his solo in “It’s Late.” It’s really amazing how Edward Van Halen-esque it is, and it’s interesting that Brian didn’t pursue the right-hand hammer-on technique and didn’t see the possibilities in it that Ed did. From watching the vid, seems like Brian feels that way […]
Didn’t Play Stock LPs, Hated the SG, Tried to Get Zep Back Together? After Les Paul died last week, several sites posted tributes to him. Ultimate-guitar.com had an interesting series of articles, all by Steve Rosen, which are excerpted here but are worth a full read. Les Paul was a brilliant guy, an innovator well […]
There’s been a lot of stuff written about, said about and speculated about regarding Edward Van Halen’s mind-blowing, world-altering Van Halen I setup. Was he running “slaved” amps (one amp into another), was he using some sort of boost and/or distortion pedal, etc. If you read hard and don’t fall prey to speculation (which is […]
Do Some Players Think So? I’ve always used my left-hand pinky while at the same time being acutely aware that many of the great players don’t – or not much. I’m talking riffing and soloing, not chording, obviously.
(Note: Check out Ace’s redone website! Sweet!) Just like every other guitar player playing covers in the 1970s, Eddie Van Halen was familiar with the KISS catalog and thus Ace Frehley’s stuff. So whenever the topic of “did Ed right-hand tap first?” comes up – in my opinion a pointless debate (Ed took all previous […]
If you’re a regular, or semi-regular, reader of WoodyTone.com, you will have seen the post (here) that postulates that Edward Van Halen may have learned “tapping” (right-handed hammer-ons) from Brian May, who said he learned it from someone who saw Billy Gibbons do it. However, Eddie has said he got it from watching Jimmy Page […]
Isolated Solo Track Below! I really didn’t want to do a Michael Jackson-related post because I hate being around a herd, but here I am doing it. Why? Because it encapsulates all the reasons why a) it’s nearly impossible to know for sure what Eddie Van Halen used on any song on any album and […]
Wayne Charvel Suggested an Ash Body to Ed? Here are some more Edward Van Halen “back in the day” tidbits, though not as far back as last week’s article. We’ll go from farthest back to most recent. As with all Ed-related info, it’s best taken with a grain of salt because there’s been so much […]
One Man’s Recollections, Anyway… And: Why Ed Used a Variac and Greenbacks? [A quick request: Please do not copy and paste this entire post somewhere else. Thanks!] Not too long ago I had the pleasure of connecting with a guy who grew up with Eddie Van Halen. Ed went to the same high school, they […]
We’re finally seeing sun here in Jersey for the first time in about 15 years, so it’s inspired a “head into the weekend with Van Halen” post. It’s Friday – I’ll keep it light. Three vids: the first a short convo between Jimmy Page and Les Paul in which they discuss EVH; then a KILLER […]
Before the Chickenfoot show last night, my buddy and I hit the guitar stores on 48th Street – the three of them that remain, anyway.
Page Played ‘You Really Got Me?!’ Here’s part 2, the last part for now, of my deep dive into Ritchie Blackmore’s tone. Below Ritchie first talks about his technique, and then he issues opinions on everyone from Yngwie Malmsteen to Jeff Beck (all from the same sources as used in part 1).