Khruangbin

[Nitro Express]

Oh hell. The sheet music is even more off than the Tab is. Most rock sheet music sucks.

[Nitro Express]

I probably have 20 amplifiers. A couple probably need a cap job done. Two need new power tubes. I probably need to thin the herd but I’m not ready to let my 72 big box or 69 Super Lead go. Lately I’ve just been playing through my Fender Mustang Micro headphone amp.

[Terry]

Oh hell. The sheet music is even more off than the Tab is. Most rock sheet music sucks.

The tab books weren't flawless, but they were pretty accurate.

[ashstralia]

I was never into guitar wankery. It’s always been about the song for me. It’s about doing your part to make the song interesting. I play other instruments so I guess I have a broader view. Each part of a band is very different.

But you have thirty amps and a guitar collection.
Me too! (Except the amps; three fills my needs)

[Kristy]

Would readily agree there is only one Eddie. It always seemed weird to me - even more so circa early 2000s when all that EVH signature gear came out - that guitar players would run out and spend thousands upon thousands of dollars scooping up all that EVH gear, then learning Eddie's stuff note-for-note, then youtubing themselves trying to approximate what Eddie did:

It had already been done.

That's marketing for you. No different from when $3,000 Ludwig John Bonham drum came out and people who bought them thought if they had a kit like Bonham they play exactly like Bonham. Wonder how many of those kits are on eBay now. The same with signature guitars and reissues.

[Kristy]

I suppose I really started to notice the pervasiveness of Eddie's influence and flash guitar in general around 1984 or so (kicked into higher gear with guys like Vai and Malmsteen), and then for the rest of the 1980s with any given rock band - be it bands who had national exposure or local/amatuer bands - every single song had a guitar solo where the guitarist would throw everything and the kitchen sink into it. Rock guitarists in general terms became more concerned with flash solos than constructing great rock songs.

I think back upon reading in Mojo Magazine's "Real Gone" section where they wrote a eulogy on Eddie called 'The Toughest Around' where they talked about Eddie coming out of nowhere only to leave a trial of copy cats and wannabes that made name for themselves without giving any respect to the man who made they playing better and that Eddie was a "bag of tricks" player and once people figured out what he did he wasn't that great. That's genius for you and Eddie was not only a genius but an innovator and a creator that took the six-sting to new heights especially at a time when shitbirds like Clapton and Gilmour were making the guitar to be a boring as ever (they still do). I was never a big fan of Van Halen maybe due to the S P A M M Y years and that most people who listened to Eddie's playing only listened to him technically. So what a refreshing surprise to hear that Eddie's playing made them feel good and that there is no other reason needed to pick up a guitar and emulate that person who picked you up in life.

The Los Bitchos weren't even born when Eddie recorded what he did and that they see him in a new light that goes beyond just tapping and tone. I don't have much faith in a lot of "today's music" where you have hacks with drum machines and Abletons pressing buttons all day long to achieve a synthetic quality of music which, let's face it, is not music. I need to hear real musicians who sweat and frustrate while manipulating their instrument (that sounded kind of pornish) in order to make their audience feel good. Which is what music is all about.

[Terry]

I think back upon reading in Mojo Magazine's "Real Gone" section where they wrote a eulogy on Eddie called 'The Toughest Around' where they talked about Eddie coming out of nowhere only to leave a trial of copy cats and wannabes that made name for themselves without giving any respect to the man who made they playing better and that Eddie was a "bag of tricks" player and once people figured out what he did he wasn't that great. That's genius for you and Eddie was not only a genius but an innovator and a creator that took the six-sting to new heights especially at a time when shitbirds like Clapton and Gilmour were making the guitar to be a boring as ever (they still do). I was never a big fan of Van Halen maybe due to the S P A M M Y years and that most people who listened to Eddie's playing only listened to him technically. So what a refreshing surprise to hear that Eddie's playing made them feel good and that there is no other reason needed to pick up a guitar and emulate that person who picked you up in life.

The Los Bitchos weren't even born when Eddie recorded what he did and that they see him in a new light that goes beyond just tapping and tone. I don't have much faith in a lot of "today's music" where you have hacks with drum machines and Abletons pressing buttons all day long to achieve a synthetic quality of music which, let's face it, is not music. I need to hear real musicians who sweat and frustrate while manipulating their instrument (that sounded kind of pornish) in order to make their audience feel good. Which is what music is all about.

I just love the songs and I always thought Eddie had a great Style. To be sure he had a bag of tricks but for me he was just a fantastic all-around rock guitarist. I think Frank Zappa had said that Eddie had brought rock guitar into the 1980s - out of the blues pentatonic doldrums - and obviously Zappa was right. Technically, Eddie's stuff wasn't all that difficult once you figured out how he did what he did, but when other guitarists say that they tend not to mention that Eddie also brought all that stuff (tapped harmonics, two-handed tapping, etc) to the forefront: sure, Eddie wasn't the first to do a lot of the stuff he did, but he synthesized it all together into this singular style...nobody had heard a rock guitar player who played the way he did before. I'd also agree 100% re: real musicians playing real instruments over somebody generating music via a computer in terms of my own preference.

[twonabomber]

I need to hear real musicians who sweat and frustrate while manipulating their instrument (that sounded kind of pornish)

I chubbed

[Nitro Express]

But you have thirty amps and a guitar collection.
Me too! (Except the amps; three fills my needs)

I might have 30 amps if you throw in all the little practice ones. Ha! Ha! I have no idea how many guitars I have. I bust a string I just grab another one so I probably have fifteen that need new strings. I've been buying guitar stuff since I was 12. So that’s 44 years worth of collecting and really, not a bad investment. A lot of that stuff is worth more now than when I bought it. Even the rack stuff. I still have the 78 Stratocaster I bought new and even still have the original receipt.

[Nitro Express]

But I only have one piano and drum kit. Ha! Ha!

[Nitro Express]

That's marketing for you. No different from when $3,000 Ludwig John Bonham drum came out and people who bought them thought if they had a kit like Bonham they play exactly like Bonham. Wonder how many of those kits are on eBay now. The same with signature guitars and reissues.

I have no problem with it. Steinway would go out of business but people buy their grand pianos because they look cool in the living room. That allows real players to buy a piano that’s built the old school way and has that feel. Some signature stuff does get a unique sound. A Stewart Copeland snare drum does not sound like any other snare drum. So if you want that particular sound you have to get that particular drum.

But is buying the same gear your hero plays going to make you play like them? Nope.

[Nitro Express]

Some Van Halen stuff is easy. Eruption isn’t all that difficult to play when you get it down. The Mean Streets the intro is a tricky bugger. You have to have the right touch or it’s just off. It’s basically slap funk on a guitar. Ed just had that magical touch and only Ed played like Ed. I’ve heard good imitators but something is always a bit off or missing.

[Nitro Express]

I think back upon reading in Mojo Magazine's "Real Gone" section where they wrote a eulogy on Eddie called 'The Toughest Around' where they talked about Eddie coming out of nowhere only to leave a trial of copy cats and wannabes that made name for themselves without giving any respect to the man who made they playing better and that Eddie was a "bag of tricks" player and once people figured out what he did he wasn't that great. That's genius for you and Eddie was not only a genius but an innovator and a creator that took the six-sting to new heights especially at a time when shitbirds like Clapton and Gilmour were making the guitar to be a boring as ever (they still do). I was never a big fan of Van Halen maybe due to the S P A M M Y years and that most people who listened to Eddie's playing only listened to him technically. So what a refreshing surprise to hear that Eddie's playing made them feel good and that there is no other reason needed to pick up a guitar and emulate that person who picked you up in life.

The Los Bitchos weren't even born when Eddie recorded what he did and that they see him in a new light that goes beyond just tapping and tone. I don't have much faith in a lot of "today's music" where you have hacks with drum machines and Abletons pressing buttons all day long to achieve a synthetic quality of music which, let's face it, is not music. I need to hear real musicians who sweat and frustrate while manipulating their instrument (that sounded kind of pornish) in order to make their audience feel good. Which is what music is all about.

The last cat I saw live who really wrangled his guitar on stage was Stevie Ray Vaughan. Haven’t seen anyone do that since but SRV was just killing it.

[Terry]

Some Van Halen stuff is easy. Eruption isn’t all that difficult to play when you get it down. The Mean Streets the intro is a tricky bugger. You have to have the right touch or it’s just off. It’s basically slap funk on a guitar. Ed just had that magical touch and only Ed played like Ed. I’ve heard good imitators but something is always a bit off or missing.

I'd say the Meanstreet Intro is much more difficult to get sounding like Eddie than Eruption. As you say, that combo of slap funk and the tapped harmonics...it's a bitch. I tried fucking around with it twenty odd years ago...watching footage of Ed doing it live from three different shows, had the tab for it...I could never get it to flow nearly as well...a lot of quick stops and starts shifting between various techniques...

Brian Young did a pretty good job of it when he was in Dave's band.

[Seshmeister]

Yeah I tried it back in the day like everyone else but couldn't do the timing.

I asked Brian Young about it and he said it took him three weeks. I also remember saying to Ray Luzier that it was a lot harder than the intro to HFT based on absolutely nothing, how would I know?

I think he maybe disagreed.