Oh, Oh, Oh, Wolfie’s Tapping

[Heater]

Is tapping a little played out by now? Even before now? While the technique soon became synonymous with. Edward, it was done by other players here and there to the point it was assumed doing it was aping Ed.
Young Wolfie says of his upcoming album most of the new songs solos contain tapping. I think tapping has lost, some of the original mystery and is a way to sound like a lot more is
Happening than really is. Does tapping seem dated overplayed or an unnecessary throwback to another time?. Does any music associated with the VH name need a tapping section? The is a thin line between good music and self parody. He has stated manny times he wants to be his own musician, he certainly seems to want everyone know he isWVH…..birthrite to the,tapping scepter.

[Terry]

Tapping seemed a bit played out by the end of the 1980s to my ears. Probably because most of the rock guitar players who came out in Ed's wake came off - to me anyways - as if they were doing it for the mere flash of it. This had even filtered down to guitar players in local bands or people playing a guitar in a music store: certainly by the end of the 1980s, everybody had figured out how to tap...everybody was doing it and it became passe. There was much more to Ed's playing than tapping.

[twonabomber]

Tapping ain't gonna help if the songs are shit.

[Terry]

And that's the thing about it, isn't it? Ed played great solos but he also came up with great tunes. Like, with Van Halen, it never felt like the songs were second-rate or sort of fobbed off quickly and just an excuse for Ed to solo over.

[Nickdfresh]

Tapping ain't gonna help if the songs are shit.

Truth...

[ZahZoo]

Tapping used to be a rarity... existed way before EVH, but Ed did bring the technique to the forefront for a global audience in a way that was remarkable.

Like many other guitar playing techniques it's just another expressive tool in the tool box. It has it's place for usage... should be used sparingly in the right type of composition... no different than pinch-harmonics, bends, vibrato, etc...

[Terry]

I don't really see where Wolfgang has inherited the mantle or any such thing re: his father's talent being passed down to him. I don't really think music ability is something genetic or inherited to begin with. Some people obviously develop the ability to play a musical instrument quicker than other people, but I don't really believe said ability is 'in the blood' or whatever. I don't really think Wolfgang is notable as either a musician or a songwriter. [Wolfgang] has always sounded average to me as a player and the material he has come up with is literally in one ear and out the other.

[Silexxx]

https://youtu.be/uy0mCPvGFeY?si=-S1sijhNcG7GkNHW

Here's Wolfie's new video. Still milking that multiple Wolfies joke. I don't know, still sounds like a poor man's Foo Fighters to me. Woo Fighters if you will.

He has a okay voice but not whole lotta personality in it. No oomph. I'm probably not gonna even remember this song tomorrow.

[twonabomber]

Is that a picture of the dart board in Von's garage? :D

[Von Halen]

Is that a picture of the dart board in Von's garage? :D

Yes!

[Kristy]

Tapping ain't gonna help if the songs are shit.

All I want to know is where is Dave Grohl to exploit this and therefore make the F A T Wolf Boy's tapping all about him? If Dave Grohl is not making money off of this I'm not interested.

[Nickdfresh]

All I want to know is where is Dave Grohl to exploit this and therefore make the F A T Wolf Boy's tapping all about him? If Dave Grohl is not making money off of this I'm not interested.

?? Huh

[Seshmeister]

I don't work in marketing music professionally but taking a step back it's not an easy sell.

Even something like 'Battle of the bands' just reminds his audience that he never had to go through that stage earning his spurs. The multiple Wolf thing might have been cute with Prince just maybe, a 5 foot tall guy who could steal your girlfriend from under your nose while wearing high heels but do we really want more fat guy and reminders this isn't a band it's a vanity project?

[Heater]

I don't really see where Wolfgang has inherited the mantle or any such thing re: his father's talent being passed down to him. I don't really think music ability is something genetic or inherited to begin with. Some people obviously develop the ability to play a musical instrument quicker than other people, but I don't really believe said ability is 'in the blood' or whatever. I don't really think Wolfgang is notable as either a musician or a songwriter. [Wolfgang] has always sounded average to me as a player and the material he has come up with is literally in one ear and out the other.

I think Wolf inherited some kind of musical ability, perhaps a diluted version of his dad’s, but no he is not Ed reincarnate. He is pretty shrewd the way he plays “I’m my own man/I’m EVH’s kid” though. I think nepo babies have varying levels of talent, there are a lot of performers out there we may never have heard of if we hadn’t already been familiar with one or both of their parents. Some do quite well too….lookin at you Jamie Lee.

[Nickdfresh]

Noel Monk wrote that Ed basically played his balls off 24/7 and before the 1984, maybe end of the Diver Down, era he rarely saw Ed without a guitar in his hands unless they were out doing something. I doubt Wolfgang inherited that work ethic his father had because he never had to. I don't wanna sit here and bash Wolf for his weight, but that is indicative of all this and the notion musical nepotism and name recognition. Not that there are many big more recent rock acts, but you don't see the Imagine Dragons guy, Franz Ferdinand, YUNGBLUD (whose recent song I heard today on a major Tornoto rock station), or Foster the People being overweight. The Foster guys seem like workout bunnies actually. They're all in a difficult if not dying rock-ish market with the grandpappy being someone like Dave Grohl, who also looks like he takes care of himself along with the rest of the Foos. Wolfgang can try to market it as a sort of Dan Popper type "big man" blues singer/player thing, but that isn't his genre nor last names' heritage.

He doesn't look the part nor have quite the chops earned by working hard to be taken seriously. Shit, I have a bootleg of The Cult singer Ian Astbury being booed by a large UK crowd chanting "you fat bastard!" over an over...

[Seshmeister]

Shit, I have a bootleg of The Cult singer Ian Astbury being booed by a large UK crowd chanting "you fat bastard!" over an over...

Astbury has a habit of annoying crowds though, I've been in a UK audience that turned on him too. :)

Also in 1983 Ozzy was chanted at with 'You fat bastard' at the end of a show here in 1983 Brad Gillis era but I think that was more about only playing an hour as a headliner rather than him being a bit chubby at the time. :D

I guess the psychology is maybe if you show up looking like shit you better bring your A game. :)

[ZahZoo]

Clearly Wolfgang has musical gifts and talents that clock in above your average person... But you look at his compositions and lyrical content/messaging within his material and he's:

1. A product of his time... late 90's/early 2000's hard rock influences within a fairly small scope box musically...

2. Artistically... his sheltered, wealthy, socially limited life experiences being a son of parents of fame, both with major substance abuse and relationship issues limit his lyrical expression/story telling to his teen angst coupled with childhood alcoholic/drug codependency syndrome and contrasted with his major joys in life mastering level 269 playing Sonic the Hedgehog III and dry humping his stuffed Barney.

It is unfair and unqualified to compare him to his Pop and Uncle Dave musically... they grew up with 50's, 60's, 70's, Pop, all flavors of Rock, R&B, Blues, Jazz and even classical musical influences... socially they were a product of the streets and beaches of Southern California party life in the 70's growing up... Completely different universes that shaped their artistic expressions. Plus they learned their trade the hard way living it in person rather than in seclusion through the internet.

PS... knock off the fat guy crap... none of you are fucking super models... well, with the exception of Von as a former poster boy for prophylactics back in his prime.

[Nickdfresh]

I am certainly no super model, but I ain't getting up onstage expecting fans to respect my legacy which he had little to do with...

[Rikk]

Musical talent, it seems, is passed down genetically. NOT always...but very often.

BUT...
THAT'S JUST A SMALL PART OF WHAT MAKES SOMEONE A BRILLIANT MUSICIAN.

1) Ed played for scraps for years. He had hunger and drive. He had a drive to be great partly because he had NOTHING.

2) Ed's push for greatness was helped BIG-TIME by the drive of Dave & Alex. Dave, especially, was a hard-worker and pushed for the band's chemistry and the music to be better.

3) Ed lived with his guitar. He played it constantly and was obsessed with what it could already do and what he could innovate with it.

4) Ed was born with a talent to write songs...NOT lyrics and vocal melodies, necessarily...but writing melodic music, arranging, harmonies... I've been in a band for many years with many different musicians...and I can say that MOST musicians cannot write good songs and never will. It's a rare talent. It takes years to develop. It's hard to reach the point of writing innovative songs with your own style that also have a mass appeal. Wolfgang's songs prove that he has not been honing a top-level songwriting craft. He plays lot of instruments and figures he's an artist and records whatever is good to him.

5) The reason VH albums 1 through 6 sound so brilliant is because they were made with push and pull between two very talented individuals. The best came to the top. Wolfgang doesn't just have "yes men" (like Van Halen eventually did after Dave left)...he has ONLY HIMSELF...no one to argue with...thus, ANYTHING he thinks about is good in his eyes.

6) Ed and Dave's music was a melting pot of so many different styles they absorbed during great years of music history (not just 50s, 60s & 70s rock but also big band/swing, old-school blues, Al Jolson, doo-wop, classical, etc.). THAT is the biggest factor in writing good music.
My grandfather used to always tell me: "If you want to write a book, you need to read a thousand books."
Music is the same. If you want to become a good songwriter, you need to absorb TONS of different styles of music and make your own sound.

Wolfgang spent many of his formative years as a member of fucking Alter Bridge. It doesn't remotely surprise me that his solo music is blander than hell.

The logic some sheep use amazes me:
"He's Eddie's son...so he's going to either sound just like Eddie or be a genius too!"

History is full of relatives of accomplished people who are not geniuses:
. Billy Carter (I DO wish I had a can of Billy Beer I could keep somewhere in the mancave, just because the idea is so ridiculous)
. Charlie Murphy (he was funny...but I don't remember him in 48 HOURS)
. any of the "other" Baldwin brothers
. Jimmy Vaughan

FOR CHRIST'S SAKE, if Van Halen could make bad music while Eddie was still in the band, why should anyone assume that Wolfgang can't make bad music when he isn't in the band?

[twonabomber]

PS... knock off the fat guy crap... none of you are fucking super models... well, with the exception of Von as a former poster boy for prophylactics back in his prime.

I lost 35 pounds and have kept it off. I can call fat people fat :D

[ZahZoo]

I lost 35 pounds and have kept it off. I can call fat people fat :D

I've also lost 23 pounds over the last 4 months and still chipping away at it... still another 7-10 pounds to hit my goal. I guess I haven't reached my entitled to critique zone yet... stay tuned! Ha!