It’s Friday! Do you have guitar-squeezin’ in your weekend? Is it part of the plan? It should be if not, even if you have to…squeeze it in. (I wish I could find an amp that I could crank through headphones late at night that would sound like roasting EL84s or EL34s.) Anyhow, to get your [...]
New CD – Last Part of the Trilogy – Out Now In an era when the word “artist” is thrown around for everyone from “rap artists” (oxymoron) to people who couldn’t shovel snow with a guitar let alone play it (but are famous), I’m here to tell you something we already know: Steve Vai is [...]
Human Voice-Emulating… PremierGuitar.com had an article on its website titled “The Science of Tone.” Caught my eye, read it, turned out to be only semi-interesting. The bottom line of the article is that there really isn’t much of a science because it’s all in the ears of the beholder, and everyone’s ears are different. Duh. [...]
Vai and Sammy Merry Christmas if you celebrate it, and if not, happy holidays. Hope yours is fun, relaxing and you get at least one new piece of gear. (If anyone out there is reading this while on military duty, you have my sincere thanks. Keep your head down.)
Vai and Crimson I think that headline is self-explanatory. So here you go: first Steve Vai playing Zappa, then King Crimson playing ‘Elephant Talk.’ Re: Elephant Talk, I’d never heard that song before – or anything remotely like that song – which several of my buds could not believe. Maybe you’re in the same boat!
Wow. I caught Jeff Beck at the Scranton, Pa. Cultural Center last night on the first night of what looks like a short U.S. tour, and it was incredible. Just absolutely mind-blowing.
Yours truly scrolled through all 700+ Winter 2009 NAMM show YouTube vidoes (and a few others) to find the best vids uploaded so far – WoodyTone-wise, that is – and they are below, in no particular order. Tone-wise, my favorites are the Wizard amps – I believe Wizards are made by Angus Young’s roadie and [...]
Steve Vai said on his website that a new Carvin Legacy amp, the Legacy II, would be announced in a couple weeks at the winter NAMM show. Well, the newest Carvin catalog is available on the Carvin site via PDF, and Vai is on the cover with his Legacy II. One download later, and here’s [...]
Kind of a news round-up: New Jason Becker Guitar (and more) If you don’t know who Jason Becker is, do a Google search on him. He went from being one of the hottest six-string gunners on the planet to one of the most enlightened human beings on the planet (which would you rather be?). The [...]
Can anyone get woodytone out of a solid basswood guitar body? Or is this just the worst guitar wood ever? Here’s my ear experience with it. 1. Not even the great EVH can get a true woodytone out of basswood, though he has come close on stage with the EVH Art Series Charvels.
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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