Just finished the Diver Down episode. Just great stuff always felt like that album while panned had such good playing on it. Even with all the covers it sounds like VH. Ed always made it his own and I have nothing but respect for that. That double neck on Secrets fascinated me. The live guitar I think had a Danelectro neck and I always felt like that “U” shaped head stock was about to snap. And having seen Ed live at a tribute to Les Paul at the Brooklyn academy of music with Jan Hammer, Tony Levin & Jerry Marotta in 1988, I’m reminded of what you and Mark talked about Ed could only sound like VH with Alex. It was a great tribute but It felt different. When he played with Alex, Mike and eventually Wolf, it felt dangerous. Thank you again for giving us this gift and perspective on all these recordings. I would love if this was a permanent program on Premier Guitar, Volume XM or a Netflix series. Who do we have to talk to about that?
Another gem! I wish these would never end...I for the life of me don't understand why Billy C. did not like this record.... it's full of golden nuggets which you uncovered Dweezil. What's funny to me about this record is Jan Van Halen is on it and my dad's name is Jan. It was always a kindred spirit kind of thing I had with Ed...even though I never met him.. I was going to bring it up to him when I was going to meet him one day :) I mean c'mon...I play guitar, you play guitar, our dads names are Jan... best friends forever! Lol.
Just loving this series - every episode (or pair of episodes) offers a new perspective, even the double up on Fair Warning was worth it to me as a) it's SUCH a good record, and b) it gave me a totally different take on Billy Corgan which I really enjoyed. It's a real treat to listen to people nerd out over music that I love in a way that my wife is totally not into . It has caused me to go back and re-listen and fall in love with the VH catalogue all over again. Great project, really glad it exists.
Glad you're enjoying it Mark! Wives don't always appreciate the guitar nerd stuff but this series has plenty of nerdy stuff for you to enjoy!
Same here for me, Mark ( haha )! I've tried to get my wife into some of my favorite music but it's a no go. So, this is a great place to hang out and geek out over guitar stuff!
This show is absolutely amazing.... D does a great job. The Corgan show was the only one that kinda sucked to me. 1. We already talked about Fair Warning 2 episodes with Nuno which was awesome by the way so even though it was BC's favorite album and he was on the Guitar world 96 cover with Ed when he interviewed him and it was his favorite album I don't see why we wasted another episode talking about FW, the same songs and this time didn't even play many parts or anything we just spent time talking about BC. Kinda the worst one in my opinion but hey lets bounce back. Im excited to move on to Diver Down and eventually into the Hagar era specifically Balance. Anyways keep up the good work D. Also aren't these supposed to be a weekly Thursday thing? Why no show yesterday. Seems now its not weekly anymore its like one a month.... common man put em out!!! :)
we love it D thank you so much man... keep em coming this was a great idea. Rob Johnson :)
I'd take as many episodes on Fair Warning as Dweezil can muster. This isn't an either or situation -- it's a load up your plate with another piece of pie situation because we have plenty. There were a few profoundly interesting moments in the BC episode that were quite illuminating. Conversations are dialogic -- in this case more is better - the more inputs the better. The idea of experiencing EVH through the collective networks of his peers and fans as they speak to their experiences with him and his music, with Dweezil facilitating or curating those discussions, is an unparalleled opportunity. Something ver4y liminal and quite wonderful is being built here. Strap in - it's happening organically and you are on the ground floor brother.
I don't mind multiple takes on "Fair Warning' (or any of the albums myself) but I just felt the other episodes everyone was just SO enthusiastic talking about Ed and what he did which I didn't feel it in the Corgan episode... Felt like Dweezil was really trying hard to get him to go into more detail on why something spoke to him and he just wasn't biting... Can't wait for Diver Down...
Yes, I am aware that the episodes have slowed down a bit and I apologize for their tardiness. Truthfully, to make them as good as good as I possibly can, they actually take more time to make than I had planned. A lot of stuff goes into them, more than just recording conversations with people. I have been working 10-12 hour days for weeks on these things and it's just me doing it. I'm just about finished with the Diver Down episode. It will be uploaded tonight. Thanks for your patience and understanding.
Hi! Really enjoying these episodes so far. Blues Saraceno was cray cray!! Paper bag?!? Just wanted to make a small request, and I don't know if it's been done, but a side by side comparison of which earlier demo riffs ended up in which songs on the albums would be cool. Maybe this has already been done? I don't know. Anyway, many thanks for your doing this, Dweezil!!
Really enjoying the podcast series. The Corgan episode is the only one that fell flat for me. A few too many snide remarks (hair metal, Kiss, Hagar-era VH, etc.). And Corgan doesn't like "Hear About It Later"? Wow...
Added note: I am having an issue with my Premier Guitar subscription, so I've followed up with them.
Thank you for all the AWESOME episodes Dweezil. I have a 1984 album "conspiracy" that I hope you can help put to rest in an upcoming episode. Ted Templeman's recently released biography ("A Platinum Producer's Life in Music", Greg Renoff) has a chapter that details the creation of the 1984 album and states that the drum solo intro to "Hot for Teacher" wasn't drums at all, but a difficult and time-consuming manipulation of a recording of the exhaust from Ed's Lamborghini by Don Landee. As a musician who is intimately familiar with the song I nearly fell out of my seat when I read this, and can't imagine how this could true. The book also details how the exhaust was used during the break in "Panama", so I don't think he is confusing the songs. Please consider addressing this. The fans deserve to know, and Alex deserves credit for what he accomplished if the book is inaccurate. Keep up the fantastic work. |m|
I think the part on HfT you are referring to is only the first 4 seconds or so of the track; if I remember (I may be corrected) that it was the Lamborghini on start-up that you can hear at the very beginning (perhaps on a ‘cold start’, if such things occur in LA?!)
Then Alex’s drum part comes in as we all know and love.... and away we go....
Hi Richard. Yes, the 1st few seconds of Hot For Teacher is what I'm referring to. I could be wrong, but I would bet (my autographed VH-1 record :)) that the first few seconds is Alex playing a pattern on an electronic tom pad (with sticks). The same sound is triggered by the electric tom and electric kick drums, so when the double kicks come in after the first few seconds it sounds like an engine running. It took me years to figure out how Alex pulled this off, but it's only a theory (especially now that Templeman has discredited it). I would love to verify this with somebody who was there.
Hi Dweezil , love all the episodes and like the mighty VH albums , I am re -listening to all the episodes several times. I tend to listen when I'm in the car and have all episodes on a USB memory stick - however for some reason the Billy Corgan one will not play ??? Suggesting "File Error" . Even though others that are WAV files have been fine and played. Any ideas please ?
Dweezil, is it possible for you to have these comments threaded so we can respond to a response? Thanks for your response, BTW. The combination of a thin pick, thin strings, and low action are all very interesting to me. Great insights.
On a somewhat related note, how much music theory do you think Ed actually knew? Could he read staff notation? One of the hallmarks of Ed's soloing is his use of the so-called "symmetrical scales," which aren't strictly aligned to the diatonic modes. He employed a lot of pentatonic minor, lots of chromaticism, and the symmetrical scales. It's just so darned UNIQUE. For this reason I find Ed's soloing to be related to Allan Holdsworth's. Both men forged their own relationship with their instruments and approach to guitar music.
This community you're creating is the perfect place for a guitar geek like me. You and I are the same age, so I especially relate to your stories. That is, all except for Ed playing "Running With the Devil" from over my shoulders. :) Thanks, Tim
I'll see if we can improve commenting thread for responses. Glad you're enjoying the series and community.
I think your assessment of Ed's playing style is spot on. I don't know how well he could read music. I imagine that he could read but that he didn't really focus on it enough to rely on it as a useful tool.
He wasn't afraid to stray from a diatonic form. Those idiosyncrasies are precisely what made his playing unique melodically. His rhythm is what made it all stick in our heads!
I'm not a theory expert but I know much more now than I did when I started playing. In the early days, I listened to the things Ed played and I thought, "I didn't know you could do that, or that's a new combination of things that I'll need to try." He opened a lot of doors to composing, arranging, and of course, playing.
Hi Dweezil, thanks for doing this series. Last night I had a vivid dream in which I got a chance to hang out with Ed at his home. In the dream he let me play both the tiny Les Paul and the original red Frankenstein. Two questions: (1) Have you played that little Les Paul? (2) Was the string action on Ed's Frankenstein guitars low, medium, or high? What gauge strings? (Not that it matters, but in my dream Ed played .11s and had wicked high action.)
I never played the mini Les Paul but I did play the classic Frankie and some of Ed's other guitars that he was testing in his studio. Early Ernie Ball guitars and his Tele 12 string. The action on his guitars was comfortably low and he used light strings. I think 9-42. Definitely 9, 11, 16 for the top 3 strings.
Eddie used a .015 gauged G string for most of his career up until D’Addario (who manufacture Fender strings including the EVH branded strings) stopped including them in their light gauge string sets and moved to the .016 some time within the last 6 or 7 years.
Believe it or not, the .015 gauged G string makes a big difference versus the .016. I have to buy single ball end .015 gauged strings separately and I have to buy the Jimi Hendrix Voodoo Chile bullet end sets to get a bullet end .015 gauged G string that was equivalent to the bullet strings that Eddie used in the Fender tremolo equipped guitars in the early days.
Thanks for sharing this. I had no idea there was this amount of good info about the trem set up. I haven't been much of trem player for quite some time, (been playing mostly SGs for the last 15 years. I have recently been very curious to discover the secrets EVH used for keeping his guitar in tune so well in the early days. This was very helpful. Thanks!
Thank you sir, I’m glad you can get something out of it. Ed’s use of the Fender tremolo tends to get overlooked in light of the success of the Floyd Rose system and I feel it’s crucial, which is of course why I’ve worked so hard on researching it!
When I transcribe a piece, I try to use an instrument that is as close as possible to the original instrument used on the recording. I believe it helped me tremendously in my recent “Eruption” transcription...notation of specific fingerings and pitches and the entire piece is just more accurate in general when you use an instrument that is as similar as possible to the original instrument when possible.
Final little thing: ever since Eddie's passing, alot of guys have been discussing online the making of the Frankenstrat - I know this is a podcast mostly centered on Eddie's playing, techniques, sound, etc, but: do you think you could possibly do something about the history of Frankie and Eddie's construction of guitars? I'd honestly love to hear discussion on that, and how it impacted his playing, as well as it being such an influential aspect for so many fans (the design, the reasons behind the many changes, where parts were sourced from, etc) - it's a big topic of speculation and while we have been able to piece together so much from old magazine articles and interviews, there's lots of gaps it seems.
If any of these things have already been discussed on episodes that have been uploaded, please disregard, as I haven't heard all 8 current episodes in full yet.
Thanks for reaching out. Glad you're enjoying the episodes. I too am fascinated with his guitar design. I hadn't planned on doing super in-depth discussions about the guitars or gear simply because the details of the nuts and bolts of that stuff hasn't been my main focus. I paid attention to the practical things in his guitar design and the gear choices but not the minute details like fretwire, volume pots, pico farads and transformer windings etc. Some people take deep dives into that territory and that might be better left to them. I may have a few conversations with some people who have played Ed's guitars or amps and get some stories about that experience. We shall see what opportunities present themselves.
Absolutely, the minutiae can be ridiculous - I'm happy to hear whatever comes up in conversation (if it happens), because so far the tangential discussions that naturally bring the interview subjects back to EVH are super interesting. Thanks again man.
Also, for some reason I'd love to hear Warren Conditi's take on some Van Halen material. He was the singer and rhythm/lead guitarist on a few of Whiplash's mid-90's albums. Maybe not as well-known as some of the other guys, but, I bet he'd have some great insight on Diver Down. I know he was a huge nerd for Cathedral and Intruder.
Hey Dweezil, is there a way the download files that are available above could be made available in a more consistent file numbering/naming/file format scheme, or at least multiple download options be made available for the different file formats?
I can't really download the very large WAV and FLAC files, and that seems to be the only options available for some of the episodes, while the others download as MP3.
Aside from that, I've really enjoyed the stuff I've heard so far and I look forward to hearing the episode on decoding the Brown Sound!
We are trying to work that out. Some people really want hi res files and some people want easily downloadable mp3s. Internally we are trying to figure out how to be able to make both easily accessible. Code for the site is required for that. Anyway, I would like to be able accommodate everyone. I hope to have a solution soon. Best, DZ
Thank you for the reply DZ - if you need any assistance with that, I ran a podcast network with 6 or 7 different shows for about 6 years and personally managed the distribution, naming, file management and organization of all the files on the server in order to provide our listeners with the best experience when they either listened to stream or downloaded files.
I used a freeware tool called "mp3tag", which really helped keep consistency across multiple platforms with the filenames/metadata for the files which we served - I understand the difficulties with setting those parameters manually when exporting the files from editing software and keeping them consistent when you're not doing them all at once (unless you're looking at a cheat sheet), and managing those files for multiple platforms. mp3tag allowed for mass changes to multiple files (say, for, selecting all within a file folder and setting the parameters like "album title", "artist", "genre", etc), so that when users would download for use on their personal playback devices, then all episodes of a particular podcast would be in the correct order and album once loaded onto iPod or other device.
If I can be of any assistance, feel free to put your webmaster in contact with me and I'm more than happy to help this podcast be the best that it can be :)
Good catch, hadn't listened closely enough to that one. Still interesting it took him 8 albums to go back to it. Am I right that the first recorded instance on an album of him soloing on the neck pickup would be I'll Wait? He seems to use it a lot from F**K on.
Was wandering if Warren Dimartini was a up coming guest? Loved his playing. He had that blues boogie thing happening on many of their song and especially on Way Cool Junior. Obviously he was another great guitarist inspired by Edward and I think I've heard he's a friend of yours. Also another guest I was wondering about is Rick Beato. Not sure if your familiar... but he's a sound engineer and amazing musician in his own right who has a YouTube channel. He does a lot of break downs of song in a series called What Makes A Song Great. It's very similar to what your doing and think he would be a super knowledgeable and fun guest. Thanks for taking the time to read this and again thank you so much for all the EVH and VH content. -Jeff
Warren was initially scheduled to do the "Women And Children First" episode but bowed out, unfortunately.
Wow! Ep 8 was fantastic Dweezil. While Billy may not be a "guitar hero" he sure has had some success in writing songs and it was very cool to hear his take on being a Van Halen fan. What were the clips of audio that you played when talking about Allan Holdsworth being an inspiration to Ed at the 1:34:20 mark?
Thank you! Glad you’re enjoying the series. The audio clips are from the show at the Roxy when EVH sat in with Allan Holdsworth. Coincidentally, EVH came to our house for the first time the very next night with the purple Kramer he played at that gig.
Finally listened to both Nuno's and Billy's takes on my favorite album Fair Warning. Was so psyched to hear you break down When Push Comes To Shove's solo with Nuno and to learn it's your favorite, too. Corgan was not as glowing about each track as Nuno, but I think he was right when he talked about FW being the apotheosis on early Van Halen.
These podcasts are so good. It's awesome to hear how great musicians love EVH as much as we all do. I am learning so much about the nuances of Ed's playing from you guys, and your explanations help me understand what I have heard and felt from his music for my whole life as it is kind of deconstructed and reassembled again. These are an absolute treat, take as long as you need to release them, don't let this wear you down. They are worth the wait.
Thanks so much Kevin! I’m glad you’re learning new things! That was my goal, shine a light on some cool and fun details for everyone. I’m trying to keep things on a good schedule but it’s pretty tough to be honest! There’s a lot of research and effort that goes into these podcasts! Best, DZ
#8 Episode. Corgans take was interesting and not what I expected. I liked his comment that Mean Street is pure Van Halen. I'm a fan of all the bands work but when I need to show the casual radio listener TRUE VH. I play them Mean Street, Hear About It Later and off 1984 Girl Gone Bad. I like how it builds. I believe I read somewhere Eddy had wrote that song prior maybe around the same time as Fair Warning? The intros to those songs are phenomenal then kick into the rhythm playing. How can you not get jazzed and pumped up when its cranked to 11? Stays with you for awhile. Thanks again!
Mr. Zappa,
Just finished the Diver Down episode. Just great stuff always felt like that album while panned had such good playing on it. Even with all the covers it sounds like VH. Ed always made it his own and I have nothing but respect for that. That double neck on Secrets fascinated me. The live guitar I think had a Danelectro neck and I always felt like that “U” shaped head stock was about to snap. And having seen Ed live at a tribute to Les Paul at the Brooklyn academy of music with Jan Hammer, Tony Levin & Jerry Marotta in 1988, I’m reminded of what you and Mark talked about Ed could only sound like VH with Alex. It was a great tribute but It felt different. When he played with Alex, Mike and eventually Wolf, it felt dangerous. Thank you again for giving us this gift and perspective on all these recordings.
I would love if this was a permanent program on Premier Guitar, Volume XM or a Netflix series. Who do we have to talk to about that?
Rob
Another gem! I wish these would never end...I for the life of me don't understand why Billy C. did not like this record.... it's full of golden nuggets which you uncovered Dweezil. What's funny to me about this record is Jan Van Halen is on it and my dad's name is Jan. It was always a kindred spirit kind of thing I had with Ed...even though I never met him.. I was going to bring it up to him when I was going to meet him one day :) I mean c'mon...I play guitar, you play guitar, our dads names are Jan... best friends forever! Lol.
Just loving this series - every episode (or pair of episodes) offers a new perspective, even the double up on Fair Warning was worth it to me as a) it's SUCH a good record, and b) it gave me a totally different take on Billy Corgan which I really enjoyed. It's a real treat to listen to people nerd out over music that I love in a way that my wife is totally not into
. It has caused me to go back and re-listen and fall in love with the VH catalogue all over again. Great project, really glad it exists.
Glad you're enjoying it Mark! Wives don't always appreciate the guitar nerd stuff but this series has plenty of nerdy stuff for you to enjoy!
Same here for me, Mark ( haha )! I've tried to get my wife into some of my favorite music but it's a no go. So, this is a great place to hang out and geek out over guitar stuff!
This show is absolutely amazing.... D does a great job. The Corgan show was the only one that kinda sucked to me. 1. We already talked about Fair Warning 2 episodes with Nuno which was awesome by the way so even though it was BC's favorite album and he was on the Guitar world 96 cover with Ed when he interviewed him and it was his favorite album I don't see why we wasted another episode talking about FW, the same songs and this time didn't even play many parts or anything we just spent time talking about BC. Kinda the worst one in my opinion but hey lets bounce back. Im excited to move on to Diver Down and eventually into the Hagar era specifically Balance. Anyways keep up the good work D. Also aren't these supposed to be a weekly Thursday thing? Why no show yesterday. Seems now its not weekly anymore its like one a month.... common man put em out!!! :)
we love it D thank you so much man... keep em coming this was a great idea. Rob Johnson :)
I'd take as many episodes on Fair Warning as Dweezil can muster. This isn't an either or situation -- it's a load up your plate with another piece of pie situation because we have plenty. There were a few profoundly interesting moments in the BC episode that were quite illuminating. Conversations are dialogic -- in this case more is better - the more inputs the better. The idea of experiencing EVH through the collective networks of his peers and fans as they speak to their experiences with him and his music, with Dweezil facilitating or curating those discussions, is an unparalleled opportunity. Something ver4y liminal and quite wonderful is being built here. Strap in - it's happening organically and you are on the ground floor brother.
I don't mind multiple takes on "Fair Warning' (or any of the albums myself) but I just felt the other episodes everyone was just SO enthusiastic talking about Ed and what he did which I didn't feel it in the Corgan episode... Felt like Dweezil was really trying hard to get him to go into more detail on why something spoke to him and he just wasn't biting... Can't wait for Diver Down...
Hi Rob,
Yes, I am aware that the episodes have slowed down a bit and I apologize for their tardiness. Truthfully, to make them as good as good as I possibly can, they actually take more time to make than I had planned. A lot of stuff goes into them, more than just recording conversations with people. I have been working 10-12 hour days for weeks on these things and it's just me doing it. I'm just about finished with the Diver Down episode. It will be uploaded tonight. Thanks for your patience and understanding.
Hi! Really enjoying these episodes so far. Blues Saraceno was cray cray!! Paper bag?!? Just wanted to make a small request, and I don't know if it's been done, but a side by side comparison of which earlier demo riffs ended up in which songs on the albums would be cool. Maybe this has already been done? I don't know. Anyway, many thanks for your doing this, Dweezil!!
Hi Scott,
Glad you're enjoying the series! Yes, the paper bag story is a good one!
Really enjoying the podcast series. The Corgan episode is the only one that fell flat for me. A few too many snide remarks (hair metal, Kiss, Hagar-era VH, etc.). And Corgan doesn't like "Hear About It Later"? Wow...
Added note: I am having an issue with my Premier Guitar subscription, so I've followed up with them.
Hi Timothy,
I hear ya, there will always be a few surprises out there. Hopefully Premier has sorted out your issue by now. Best, DZ
Thank you for all the AWESOME episodes Dweezil. I have a 1984 album "conspiracy" that I hope you can help put to rest in an upcoming episode. Ted Templeman's recently released biography ("A Platinum Producer's Life in Music", Greg Renoff) has a chapter that details the creation of the 1984 album and states that the drum solo intro to "Hot for Teacher" wasn't drums at all, but a difficult and time-consuming manipulation of a recording of the exhaust from Ed's Lamborghini by Don Landee. As a musician who is intimately familiar with the song I nearly fell out of my seat when I read this, and can't imagine how this could true. The book also details how the exhaust was used during the break in "Panama", so I don't think he is confusing the songs. Please consider addressing this. The fans deserve to know, and Alex deserves credit for what he accomplished if the book is inaccurate. Keep up the fantastic work. |m|
Hi Steven
I think the part on HfT you are referring to is only the first 4 seconds or so of the track; if I remember (I may be corrected) that it was the Lamborghini on start-up that you can hear at the very beginning (perhaps on a ‘cold start’, if such things occur in LA?!)
Then Alex’s drum part comes in as we all know and love.... and away we go....
Hope this helps
Hi Richard. Yes, the 1st few seconds of Hot For Teacher is what I'm referring to. I could be wrong, but I would bet (my autographed VH-1 record :)) that the first few seconds is Alex playing a pattern on an electronic tom pad (with sticks). The same sound is triggered by the electric tom and electric kick drums, so when the double kicks come in after the first few seconds it sounds like an engine running. It took me years to figure out how Alex pulled this off, but it's only a theory (especially now that Templeman has discredited it). I would love to verify this with somebody who was there.
Hi Dweezil , love all the episodes and like the mighty VH albums , I am re -listening to all the episodes several times. I tend to listen when I'm in the car and have all episodes on a USB memory stick - however for some reason the Billy Corgan one will not play ??? Suggesting "File Error" . Even though others that are WAV files have been fine and played. Any ideas please ?
Hi Dweezil, GREAT idea with this podcast. One quick question, do you think you’ll issue the Axe FX presets after Cygnus is released?
Dweezil, is it possible for you to have these comments threaded so we can respond to a response? Thanks for your response, BTW. The combination of a thin pick, thin strings, and low action are all very interesting to me. Great insights.
On a somewhat related note, how much music theory do you think Ed actually knew? Could he read staff notation? One of the hallmarks of Ed's soloing is his use of the so-called "symmetrical scales," which aren't strictly aligned to the diatonic modes. He employed a lot of pentatonic minor, lots of chromaticism, and the symmetrical scales. It's just so darned UNIQUE. For this reason I find Ed's soloing to be related to Allan Holdsworth's. Both men forged their own relationship with their instruments and approach to guitar music.
This community you're creating is the perfect place for a guitar geek like me. You and I are the same age, so I especially relate to your stories. That is, all except for Ed playing "Running With the Devil" from over my shoulders. :) Thanks, Tim
Hi Tim,
I'll see if we can improve commenting thread for responses. Glad you're enjoying the series and community.
I think your assessment of Ed's playing style is spot on. I don't know how well he could read music. I imagine that he could read but that he didn't really focus on it enough to rely on it as a useful tool.
He wasn't afraid to stray from a diatonic form. Those idiosyncrasies are precisely what made his playing unique melodically. His rhythm is what made it all stick in our heads!
I'm not a theory expert but I know much more now than I did when I started playing. In the early days, I listened to the things Ed played and I thought, "I didn't know you could do that, or that's a new combination of things that I'll need to try." He opened a lot of doors to composing, arranging, and of course, playing.
Could you get Michael, Alex, or Dave to do an episode?
Hi Stephen,
I would be great if we could. Who knows, maybe it will happen.
Hi Dweezil, thanks for doing this series. Last night I had a vivid dream in which I got a chance to hang out with Ed at his home. In the dream he let me play both the tiny Les Paul and the original red Frankenstein. Two questions: (1) Have you played that little Les Paul? (2) Was the string action on Ed's Frankenstein guitars low, medium, or high? What gauge strings? (Not that it matters, but in my dream Ed played .11s and had wicked high action.)
Hi Tim,
I never played the mini Les Paul but I did play the classic Frankie and some of Ed's other guitars that he was testing in his studio. Early Ernie Ball guitars and his Tele 12 string. The action on his guitars was comfortably low and he used light strings. I think 9-42. Definitely 9, 11, 16 for the top 3 strings.
Eddie used a .015 gauged G string for most of his career up until D’Addario (who manufacture Fender strings including the EVH branded strings) stopped including them in their light gauge string sets and moved to the .016 some time within the last 6 or 7 years.
Believe it or not, the .015 gauged G string makes a big difference versus the .016. I have to buy single ball end .015 gauged strings separately and I have to buy the Jimi Hendrix Voodoo Chile bullet end sets to get a bullet end .015 gauged G string that was equivalent to the bullet strings that Eddie used in the Fender tremolo equipped guitars in the early days.
For more information on Eddie’s strings and how he kept the Fender tremolo in tune along with some other tips from me, please check out my forum post on the subject: https://www.vhlinks.com/vbforums/threads/66343-Van-Halen-Fender-Vibrato-System-Use-amp-My-Tips-For-Keeping-It-In-Tune
Thanks for sharing this. I had no idea there was this amount of good info about the trem set up. I haven't been much of trem player for quite some time, (been playing mostly SGs for the last 15 years. I have recently been very curious to discover the secrets EVH used for keeping his guitar in tune so well in the early days. This was very helpful. Thanks!
Thank you sir, I’m glad you can get something out of it. Ed’s use of the Fender tremolo tends to get overlooked in light of the success of the Floyd Rose system and I feel it’s crucial, which is of course why I’ve worked so hard on researching it!
When I transcribe a piece, I try to use an instrument that is as close as possible to the original instrument used on the recording. I believe it helped me tremendously in my recent “Eruption” transcription...notation of specific fingerings and pitches and the entire piece is just more accurate in general when you use an instrument that is as similar as possible to the original instrument when possible.
Final little thing: ever since Eddie's passing, alot of guys have been discussing online the making of the Frankenstrat - I know this is a podcast mostly centered on Eddie's playing, techniques, sound, etc, but: do you think you could possibly do something about the history of Frankie and Eddie's construction of guitars? I'd honestly love to hear discussion on that, and how it impacted his playing, as well as it being such an influential aspect for so many fans (the design, the reasons behind the many changes, where parts were sourced from, etc) - it's a big topic of speculation and while we have been able to piece together so much from old magazine articles and interviews, there's lots of gaps it seems.
If any of these things have already been discussed on episodes that have been uploaded, please disregard, as I haven't heard all 8 current episodes in full yet.
Hi Adrian,
Thanks for reaching out. Glad you're enjoying the episodes. I too am fascinated with his guitar design. I hadn't planned on doing super in-depth discussions about the guitars or gear simply because the details of the nuts and bolts of that stuff hasn't been my main focus. I paid attention to the practical things in his guitar design and the gear choices but not the minute details like fretwire, volume pots, pico farads and transformer windings etc. Some people take deep dives into that territory and that might be better left to them. I may have a few conversations with some people who have played Ed's guitars or amps and get some stories about that experience. We shall see what opportunities present themselves.
Absolutely, the minutiae can be ridiculous - I'm happy to hear whatever comes up in conversation (if it happens), because so far the tangential discussions that naturally bring the interview subjects back to EVH are super interesting. Thanks again man.
Also, for some reason I'd love to hear Warren Conditi's take on some Van Halen material. He was the singer and rhythm/lead guitarist on a few of Whiplash's mid-90's albums. Maybe not as well-known as some of the other guys, but, I bet he'd have some great insight on Diver Down. I know he was a huge nerd for Cathedral and Intruder.
Hey Dweezil, is there a way the download files that are available above could be made available in a more consistent file numbering/naming/file format scheme, or at least multiple download options be made available for the different file formats?
I can't really download the very large WAV and FLAC files, and that seems to be the only options available for some of the episodes, while the others download as MP3.
Aside from that, I've really enjoyed the stuff I've heard so far and I look forward to hearing the episode on decoding the Brown Sound!
Hi Adrian,
We are trying to work that out. Some people really want hi res files and some people want easily downloadable mp3s. Internally we are trying to figure out how to be able to make both easily accessible. Code for the site is required for that. Anyway, I would like to be able accommodate everyone. I hope to have a solution soon. Best, DZ
Thank you for the reply DZ - if you need any assistance with that, I ran a podcast network with 6 or 7 different shows for about 6 years and personally managed the distribution, naming, file management and organization of all the files on the server in order to provide our listeners with the best experience when they either listened to stream or downloaded files.
I used a freeware tool called "mp3tag", which really helped keep consistency across multiple platforms with the filenames/metadata for the files which we served - I understand the difficulties with setting those parameters manually when exporting the files from editing software and keeping them consistent when you're not doing them all at once (unless you're looking at a cheat sheet), and managing those files for multiple platforms. mp3tag allowed for mass changes to multiple files (say, for, selecting all within a file folder and setting the parameters like "album title", "artist", "genre", etc), so that when users would download for use on their personal playback devices, then all episodes of a particular podcast would be in the correct order and album once loaded onto iPod or other device.
If I can be of any assistance, feel free to put your webmaster in contact with me and I'm more than happy to help this podcast be the best that it can be :)
The audio of Mammoth is interesting cuz Ed is using a wah pedal. The first VH album i can think of that has wah is F**K. Is that correct?
Cabo Wabo from OU812 had a wah
Good catch, hadn't listened closely enough to that one. Still interesting it took him 8 albums to go back to it. Am I right that the first recorded instance on an album of him soloing on the neck pickup would be I'll Wait? He seems to use it a lot from F**K on.
Was wandering if Warren Dimartini was a up coming guest? Loved his playing. He had that blues boogie thing happening on many of their song and especially on Way Cool Junior. Obviously he was another great guitarist inspired by Edward and I think I've heard he's a friend of yours. Also another guest I was wondering about is Rick Beato. Not sure if your familiar... but he's a sound engineer and amazing musician in his own right who has a YouTube channel. He does a lot of break downs of song in a series called What Makes A Song Great. It's very similar to what your doing and think he would be a super knowledgeable and fun guest. Thanks for taking the time to read this and again thank you so much for all the EVH and VH content. -Jeff
Warren was initially scheduled to do the "Women And Children First" episode but bowed out, unfortunately.
Yes to both Warren and Rick!
Wow! Ep 8 was fantastic Dweezil. While Billy may not be a "guitar hero" he sure has had some success in writing songs and it was very cool to hear his take on being a Van Halen fan. What were the clips of audio that you played when talking about Allan Holdsworth being an inspiration to Ed at the 1:34:20 mark?
Cheers
Bill
Hi Bill,
Thank you! Glad you’re enjoying the series. The audio clips are from the show at the Roxy when EVH sat in with Allan Holdsworth. Coincidentally, EVH came to our house for the first time the very next night with the purple Kramer he played at that gig.
Finally listened to both Nuno's and Billy's takes on my favorite album Fair Warning. Was so psyched to hear you break down When Push Comes To Shove's solo with Nuno and to learn it's your favorite, too. Corgan was not as glowing about each track as Nuno, but I think he was right when he talked about FW being the apotheosis on early Van Halen.
These podcasts are so good. It's awesome to hear how great musicians love EVH as much as we all do. I am learning so much about the nuances of Ed's playing from you guys, and your explanations help me understand what I have heard and felt from his music for my whole life as it is kind of deconstructed and reassembled again. These are an absolute treat, take as long as you need to release them, don't let this wear you down. They are worth the wait.
Thanks so much Kevin! I’m glad you’re learning new things! That was my goal, shine a light on some cool and fun details for everyone. I’m trying to keep things on a good schedule but it’s pretty tough to be honest! There’s a lot of research and effort that goes into these podcasts! Best, DZ
#8 Episode. Corgans take was interesting and not what I expected. I liked his comment that Mean Street is pure Van Halen. I'm a fan of all the bands work but when I need to show the casual radio listener TRUE VH. I play them Mean Street, Hear About It Later and off 1984 Girl Gone Bad. I like how it builds. I believe I read somewhere Eddy had wrote that song prior maybe around the same time as Fair Warning? The intros to those songs are phenomenal then kick into the rhythm playing. How can you not get jazzed and pumped up when its cranked to 11? Stays with you for awhile. Thanks again!