New Van Halen book comin'... includes tribute to EVH by world's greatest...

[Shredaholica]

Hi everyone...

 

I posted this up at one other spot but I knew I had to post it up here in the Guitar Forum.

 

I've put together a comprehensive guide to the amazing history, music, impact & influence of Edward Van Halen and his band. Literally hundreds of pages.

 

There's even a section about Randy Rhoads & the Sunset Strip where I interviewed Kevin DuBrow and he talks about RR and the club days and seeing VH in those days.

 

I also cover everything from the elements that make EVH a complete player to the story of the frankenstrat to the story of Eruption to the history of tapping (includes my interviews with Harvey Mandel & Steve Hackett).

 

In fact, my book is not one of these "Eddie rules, everyone else sucks" type of deals. In my book we talk about and give props to everyone from Randy and Jimi to Holdsworth and Petrucci.

 

However, the best part is the tribute to EVH. Simply put, over 100 of the world's greatest musicians personally came forward and participated. From Holdsworth and Vai to Hetfield and Satch to Wylde and McLaughlin to Levin and even the late great Dimebag Darrell, over 100 of the big dogs stepped up to share their thoughts, memories and stories about EVH (plenty of commentary on the band, too).

 

Nothing like this has ever been done. Ever. Period. It is being published as we speak and should be ready to go in September. If this sounds like something you would like to check out, please hit me up at: Sonicninja9@aol.com

 

This book is for US. And by "US" I mean true fans of VH, true fans of hard rock/metal, and true fans of guitar. As I stated in my other post, you won't be seeing a post like this over at some freakin' TRL site, dig?

 

Thank you so much for your time...

[zeronyne]

Spam or not, I look forward to seeing it.

[Darklava]

I'm in

[robbue]

I want one too....

[Caevan O’Shite]

Smells like spam. Good, though!

 

Sounds like quite an effort above and beyond the usual, and most likely an interesting read, at the least.

 

Stick around and discuss a few things (including your book and its subject material, AND other guitarcentric topics), that'd be great. (It'd sure take the spam-stigma outta the picture, and I'm sure that you'd fit in just fine around here- hey, did you just change your displayed-name while I was typing this up?)

 

Give us this much in advance, in a nutshell- how does your book cover the EVH/Ernie Ball-Music Man/Peavey switch? And the real factual truth of the variac use?

[Shredaholica]

Spam? Shit, that's a lunch meat, ain't it? hehe

No spam here, baby. I sure hope it doesn't come across that way. I feared it would. I personally came over here and posted up about it cuz I know the people on these boards are TRUE fans of guitar and would appreciate a book like this. I simply wanted to stop by and make a quick note of it here.

 

Far as the EVH Peavey/Ernie Ball, well, I focus on the positive in my book. However, I did hear it was a simple matter of bigger company = bigger production. People were having to wait a good amount of time to get the EVH MM axe...in some cases, up to 18 months!! I mean, it was and still still a terrific, quality guitar. But I hear EVH simply wanted to go with a company that could make an axe and get it out there to the people in faster time (without sacrificing quality, of course). So I guess that's how he ended up with Peavey, who he was already doin his 5150 amp series with. Again, that's just what I heard, you know?

 

Far as the variac, he did indeed use it back in the early days. I believe he'd notch the voltage to his marshall at about 90-92 volts. That's kind of a sweet spot and gives you more edge. It ends up making the tubes work harder. Usually to the point of meltdown!!

 

Overall, yeah, this project was a major effort. Two years of work and research, thousands of hours chained to the freakin' computer, and many more hours on the phone dealing with managers and publicists to get the tribute done. Unreal.

[Darklava]

Thanks man I'm looking foward to it keep us posted

[stanner]

i'll buy the book just to get the inside poop on the "gene simmons sessions".

s

[Shredaholica]

It's in there, with a coupla quotes from the Demon himself, too. Thanks.

[Gifthorse]

I look forward to reading it. EVH is a state of the art rock player even today. SO is his old tone!!

[Guitarzan]

i am interested as well.

[timrocker]

Yeah, count me in for a copy. I'll read it cover to cover and believe about 1/20th of it. After all, it's rock and roll.

[tilt]

Count me in.

[MILLO]

history of tapping? Did you include Celedonio Romero's name? Did you interview his sons Angel and Pepe, who live in California, I think in the San Diego area?

 

Supposedly, Celedonio (who is dead now), an Andalusian, wanted to imitate the drone-and-fast-fluent-arpeggio sound of a bagpipe to convince a young lady from Galicia, the Celtic region of Spain (in which the bagpipe is a traditional instrument), to go out with him. So he dropped the 6th to a D and figured he could tap arpeggios while playing the d and a drones on the basses. This was, I guess, in the 20's or 30's.

 

They eventually married, and had a bunch of children --Celedonio formed a world-famous Classical guitar quartet with his kids as members. They fled Spain due to the outcome of the Spanish Civil War (facist dictator Francisco Franco had negotitaed w/ the US and allies to let them go through the Iberic Peninsula and get to attack France, Italy, etc. in order to defeat the Nazis --he stayed in power until he died in 1975), and finally settled in Southern California. Celedonio wrote a few pieces that included this effect here and there. These pieces are kinda cheezy and largely trick-oriented, but they always get the audience fired up. I'd been hearing about that ever since I started taking Classical guitar lessons as a teenager, and got to see Angel play the Concierto de Aranjuez and some of those pieces in Indiana about 3 yrs. ago.

 

Sounds like a nice idea, spam or not. I'd like to get one....

[Caevan O’Shite]

Originally posted by MILLO:

"History of tapping? Did you include Celedonio Romero's name? Did you interview his sons Angel and Pepe, who live in California, I think in the San Diego area?

 

Supposedly, Celedonio (who is dead now), an Andalusian, wanted to imitate the drone-and-fast-fluent-arpeggio sound of a bagpipe to convince a young lady from Galicia, the Celtic region of Spain (in which the bagpipe is a traditional instrument), to go out with him. So he dropped the 6th to a D and figured he could tap arpeggios while playing the d and a drones on the basses. This was, I guess, in the 20's or 30's.

 

They eventually married, and had a bunch of children --Celedonio formed a world-famous Classical guitar quartet with his kids as members. They fled Spain due to the outcome of the Spanish Civil War (facist dictator Francisco Franco had negotitaed w/ the US and allies to let them go through the Iberic Peninsula and get to attack France, Italy, etc. in order to defeat the Nazis --he stayed in power until he died in 1975), and finally settled in Southern California. Celedonio wrote a few pieces that included this effect here and there. These pieces are kinda cheezy and largely trick-oriented, but they always get the audience fired up. I'd been hearing about that ever since I started taking Classical guitar lessons as a teenager, and got to see Angel play the Concierto de Aranjuez and some of those pieces in Indiana about 3 yrs. ago."

Too cool! I love stuff like this! Thanks, MILLO!

[Darklava]

I thought tapping was when you tapped out harmonics with the right hand,the other is called right hand hammer on's.Any who he credits Jimmy Page for that.Rumor is Gabrial tapped out tunes

on his harp for God back in the day I would say

that was 0000 b.c

[Caevan O’Shite]

Originally posted by Darklava:

"I thought tapping was when you tapped out harmonics with the right hand,the other is called right hand hammer on's.Any who he credits Jimmy Page for that.Rumor is Gabrial tapped out tunes

on his harp for God back in the day I would say

that was 0000 b.c"

 

Oh, man, I had it ALL wrong, I was thinkin', tapping, hammering, sweeping, raking, pruning, drilling, tap 'n' die sets, putting the "Metal" in "Metal Shop"...

[sbrock1san.rr.com]

Originally posted by Shredaholica:

I also cover everything from the elements that make EVH a complete player to the story of the frankenstrat to the story of Eruption to the history of tapping (includes my interviews with Harvey Mandel & Steve Hackett).

Steve Hackett is touring the U.S. and Canada as an acoustic trio this fall, with his brother John on flute and Roger King on keyboards. Dates on his website. www.stevehackett.com

[alanfc]

Originally posted by stanner:

i'll buy the book just to get the inside poop on the "gene simmons sessions".

s

are these the demos of pre VH #1 ?

 

I heard those a few months ago on this site (can't remember ) and it was =fascinating=. You all must find it and hear these recordings. I think theres 10 or 11 + songs on there.

I seem to remember Eddie's tone as sort of dry and garage-y.

I get so sick of the little twerps on some of the other website forums that judge Eddie harshly. Eddie changed everything. Its not just the two hand hammer-on thing, its his aggression and fluidity and authority on that guitar. They don't realize it because they wern't there when Eddie first came out. Pretty much what they say is as ridiculous as saying "yeah Model T's suck man, Mustangs are much faster"

[Gabriel E.]

Originally posted by alanfc:

Originally posted by stanner:

i'll buy the book just to get the inside poop on the "gene simmons sessions".

s

are these the demos of pre VH #1 ?

 

I heard those a few months ago on this site (can't remember ) and it was =fascinating=. You all must find it and hear these recordings. I think theres 10 or 11 + songs on there.

I seem to remember Eddie's tone as sort of dry and garage-y.

I get so sick of the little twerps on some of the other website forums that judge Eddie harshly. Eddie changed everything. Its not just the two hand hammer-on thing, its his aggression and fluidity and authority on that guitar. They don't realize it because they wern't there when Eddie first came out. Pretty much what they say is as ridiculous as saying "yeah Model T's suck man, Mustangs are much faster"

I think those demos showed what an influence Ted Templeman was on getting the band's sound and arrangements together. I would say that the demos showed that VH lacked focus at that time.

 

I never understood why anyone would judge Eddie's playing harshly either. I'm not a fan of the Hagar stuff but Eddie's playing has always been inventive and full of attitude.

[Guitarzan]

i would love to hear these demos, does anyone have a link?

[alanfc]

hey I =had= find this again,

 

also came across this

http://www.classicvanhalen.com/unreleased.shtml

 

here's the Gene Simmons stuff

this is what I was talking about

 

http://www.classicvanhalen.com/cgi-bin/imageFolio.cgi?direct=Audio_Collection/Gene_Simmons_Demos

[Guitarzan]

hot damn, great stuff Alan!! thanks.

[alanfc]

sure these are great aren't they?-

 

I'm going to put these on my computer at home to listen to, because through that dry thin tone he has in those demos, you still hear his authority and skill, very inspirational.

[Caevan O’Shite]

Originally posted by Gabriel E.:

"I think those demos showed what an influence Ted Templeman was on getting the band's sound and arrangements together. I would say that the demos showed that VH lacked focus at that time."

I wouldn't doubt that he had a lot to do with the "plate-'verb on the right/dry-guitar on the left", EVH sound. Of course, I'm sure that EVH had a lot to do with it, too.

 

Originally posted by Gabriel E.:

"I never understood why anyone would judge Eddie's playing harshly either. I'm not a fan of the Hagar stuff but Eddie's playing has always been inventive and full of attitude."

Yeah, while I've never been much of a fan of Van Halen's (the band's) albums and songs- or DLR (though his voice fronts the definitive VH), I always loved EVH's tone and playing and sound, most especially on the first two or three albums. In fact, while I sound and play nothing at all like EVH, some of his kind of tone is something I love and go for in medium to high ovedrive and distortion!

[Guitarzan]

ah the sweet tone of a PAF humbucker shoved into a Marshall amp dialed to "have mercy"!

[Gifthorse]

are these the demos of pre VH #1 ?

 

I heard those a few months ago on this site (can't remember ) and it was =fascinating=. You all must find it and hear these recordings. I think theres 10 or 11 + songs on there.

I seem to remember Eddie's tone as sort of dry and garage-y.

I get so sick of the little twerps on some of the other website forums that judge Eddie harshly. Eddie changed everything. Its not just the two hand hammer-on thing, its his aggression and fluidity and authority on that guitar. They don't realize it because they wern't there when Eddie first came out. Pretty much what they say is as ridiculous as saying "yeah Model T's suck man, Mustangs are much faster"

EVH is an incredibly dynamic player, he is so much more than just a tapping solo guy. To me his biggest attribute is his sense of rythmn. He plays rythmn guitar the way it should be played. Every single riff is totally in the pocket and dynamically controlled EXACTLY the way he wants it to be. Alex is a huge part of Eddie, he makes Eddie sound great. SO much synchopation and accenting with the drums. My favorite solo is 'Outta Love'. Killer tone and drums.

 

EVH tone on VH 1 is still cutting edge, but that is in his hands.

[Guitarzan]

that is why i love VH. it is the songs driven by killer rythym playing.

and you are right about the drumming. i was listening to the demos and there is no holes anywhere that need filling. the band smokes.

[Gifthorse]

Dude I never get sick of old VH. I am obsessed. To me old VH is beyond Eddie though. It is about a team working perfectly. Roth trying to outshine everyone, Eddie trying to outshine Roth. What better chemistry could you imagine to fuel the guitar hero of the last 25 years.

[Guitarzan]

i know it isn't all about Ed. that is why they rocked, the whole bands rythym was tight and in the groove. everything just fit.

an awesome drummer makes a big diff.

and Dave was the perfect addition to the sonic assault that Ed, Alex and Mike were pouring out.

i noticed on the demos that Ed didn't throw as much in for fills and such. and the tone isn't that thin. i kind of like its crispness.