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Eddie Van Halen
Updated: 11/30/07 Ol' Eddie is touring with David Lee Roth, Alex Van Halen and son Wolfgang Van Halen...
Feburary 3rd, 2007VAN HALEN Officially Announces Summer Tour With David Lee Roth
February 02, 2007 05:39 PM Eastern Time VAN HALEN Is Back: VAN HALEN Officially Announces Summer Tour With David Lee Roth LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In what is no doubt one of the most anticipated moments in rock and roll, VAN HALEN officially announces their 2007 North American tour. The tour will mark the first time since 1984 that original VAN HALEN front man David Lee Roth will perform with Eddie and Alex Van Halen along with new bassist Wolfgang Van Halen for 40 shows this summer. VAN HALEN fans can look forward to legendary high intensity performances, featuring a set list of the most iconic hits ever produced by America's premiere rock band. Eddie Van Halen states, "I am very excited to get back to the core of what made VAN HALEN." Janie Liszewski and High Profile Media officially and exclusively represent Eddie, Alex and Wolfgang Van Halen. Contacts High Profile Media Janie Liszewski, 818-461-2971 Janie@highprofilemedia.com
Updated: 1/12/07 Thought you'd be interested in knowing that Eddie Van Halen makes an exclusive appearance on the cover of the March issue of Guitar World magazine, showcasing his new EVH Frankenstein Replica guitar. Updated: 1/12/07 Thought you'd be interested in knowing that Eddie Van Halen makes an exclusive appearance on the cover of the March issue of Guitar World magazine, showcasing his new EVH Frankenstein Replica guitar.
Eddie Van Halen plays his version of the theme from Michael Ninn's "Catherine". Filmed in Eddie's 5150 studios...
*** BIO *** Brothers Alex and Edward Van Halen moved to the U.S. from the Netherlands in '67; there, father was a semi-pro woodwind player. Both were schooled on classical piano, but got the rock bug in America. At first, Alex played guitar and Eddie drums, but they hit a stride upon trading instruments. They formed Mammoth and were joined by outgoing singer David Lee Roth and bassist Michael Anthony. Soon, they changed their name to Van Halen because, as Roth claimed, "it sounded heavy like a German tank."
By '76 they were a popular Southern California bar band. Kiss's Gene Simmons backed a demo tape and with the help of his recommendation, they were signed to Warners. Their debut took off immediately thanks to a huge sound, Roth's outrageous personality and vocal style and the brothers' considerable virtuosity. It's no exaggeration to cite Eddie as the most imitated guitarist of his generation.
Eddie also became a tabloid fixture upon marrying TV star Valerie Bertinelli in '81. The hits kept coming: Their sixth LP, 1984, hit No. 2 in the Billboard charts with four hit singles, yet it was the last with Roth, who began a solo career.
The band successfully carried on with vocalist Sammy Hagar, releasing five straight multi-platinum records. In '96, Hagar was ousted from the band and feuding became public. Roth reunited for an MTV awards show, but the band booted him quickly claiming irreconcilable differences. The news of Cherone joining as vocalist was announced within days.
Van Halen 101 A look into the style of Edward Van Halen Geared for the Intermediate to Advanced Player.
Eddie Van Halen Young Wizard of Power Rock By Jas Obrecht
From Guitar Player, April 1980 Very few guitarists have had as intense an impact in as short a time as Eddie Van Halen. The sparkplug of the band that bears his family name, he exploded into ears around the world in February 1978 with the release of Van Halen. On this debut album Eddie wrestled devastating feedback, kamikaze vibrato moans, sustained harmonics, white-hot leads, and liquid screams out of a cranked-to-the-max homemade guitar that combined a Fender Strat-style body with the electronics of Gibson Les Paul. Even on this first effort, underneath the raw intensity of Eddie's solos-many of which were spontaneous first takes-lies a strong melodic and rhythmic sensitivity.
The immediate success of Van Halen catapulted the band on a 10-month world tour, during which Eddie stunned audiences with his seemingly off-hand ability to instantaneously convey to his fingers what he heard in his head. He toted a suitcase full of guitar parts with him, building and fixing instruments in his spare time, in November 1978 Eddie was first presented in the pages of GP, discussing his early life and classical piano studies in Holland, His family's immigration to the U.S. in 1967, the founding of Van Halen with his brother Alex, bassist Michael Anthony, and singer Dave Lee Roth, the band's discovery and first album, and his equipment. By the end of 1978, companies had cloned his trademark guitar, players had began borrowing his licks, and Eddie had walked away with GP's Best New Talent poll award. For Van Halen II, released early in 1979, Eddie slapped together another Strat-style guitar and took up where the first LP left off. Besides pulling off several imaginative, fat-toned solos with dizzying skills of stunt pilot on a grand finale spin, he furthered his exploration of new and usual guitar sounds. In the opening of "Women In Love," for instance, he achieves a chime-like effect by fingering notes with his left hand while simultaneously tapping each note's harmonic counterpart on the fingerboard above-a technique he also uses in "Spanish Fly," a fast flamenco-style nylon-string piece. Van Halen set off another world tour in March 1979, spending eight months playing the U.S., France, Belgium, Holland, England, Japan, and Canada. Van Halen II went gold in two weeks after 500,000 copies were sold; seven weeks later the record was declared platinum when sales climbed over1,000,000 units. (Since the release of Van Halen, the group's name has never been off the charts.) In December 1979 -- just one year after he won Best New Talent -- Eddie edged out veteran guitarist Jimmy Page, Carlos Santana, and Steve Howe to win Best Rock Guitarist in GP's Tenth Annual Readership Poll. He also topped readership polls in Japan. Accolades were not limited to record buyers and poll balloteers in U.S. and abroad, though; players, too, began acclaiming his guitar wizardry. In the August '79 GP, Ted Nugent proclaimed him "a Fantastic guitarist." Three months later Cheap Trick's Rick Nielsen discussed Van Halen's deft use of the vibrato bar. Then, in the first cover story of the '80s, Pat Travers declared Van Halen the state-of-the-art rock guitarist, adding, "I don't think there's anybody better for saying more, getting a better sound, or just taking advantage of the straight Stratocaster-style sound." Van Halen came of the road in December 1979 and almost immediately went into the studio to record the third LP, Women and Children First, in only eight days. Once again, Eddie proved that his playing is not limited to rock styles. On "Could This Be Magic" he performed an impromptu Hawaiian-sounding acoustic slide part, and also played the steel-string on "Take Your Whiskey Home." And with the enthusiasm of a mad scientist ready to pull the switch, he continued his quest for weird sounds, using his guitar to duplicate a prop plane revving up, shaking his bass E string against the pickup to heighten the intensity of a passage, and banging away on an electric piano hooked up to his pedalboard and Marshall stacks. The electric solos continue in the fiery tradition of the first two albums. The interview below was conducted while Woman and Children First was in its final mixing stage. During the seven-hour conversation, Eddie unhesitatingly discussed his guitars, techniques, and views on the art, revealing some information for the first time. He celebrated his birthday a week later on January 26. And now, at age 23, he's the youngest cover story artist in GP's history.
When you started playing guitar, how much time did you spend with it? All day, every day, I used to cut school to come home and play. I was so into it. Were you self-taught? Definitely for guitar, I never had a lesson in my life, except when a friend of mine a long time ago showed me how to do barre chords. I just learned from there. How did you teach yourself leads? [Duplicates Eric Clapton's solo in "Crossroads" from Cream's Wheels of Fire LP]. I know that song note-for-note, and also "I'm So Glad" [Fresh Cream] and the live version of "Sitting on Top of the World" [Cream, Goodbye]. I used to know all that stuff.
Did your brother Alex jam along on drums while you were learning? Actually, I started playing drums first. I bought the Surfaris' "Wipe out." I loved that song, and said, "I'm going to go out and buy myself a $125 St. George drum set." So I got a paper route to pay for it. I'm out throwing the paper -- five in the morning, in the rain, with a bicycle with a flat tire -- and my brother is practicing on the drums. He got better so I said, "You take my drums." Is this when you got your first guitar? Yeah. It was a $70 Teisco Del Ray electric with four pickups. I used to think, man, the more pickups, the better. And look at what I've got now! One pickup and one knob.
How did you develop your speed? Well, I'll tell you, They used to lock me in a little room and go, "Play fast!" [laughs]. I was actually trained to be a classical pianist. I had this Russian teacher who couldn't speak a word of English, and he would just sit there with a ruler and ready to slap my face if I made a mistake. This started in Holland, and both my brother and I took lessons. Then when we got to the U.S. my dad found another good teacher. Basically, that's where I got my ears developed, learned my theory, and got my fingers moving. Then when the Dave Clark Five and those bands came out, I wanted to go [plays the riff from "You Really Got Me"]. I didn't want to go clink, clink, clink. I still play piano, and I also play violin. Did your piano study influence your guitar playing? Things like this are classical [plays the continuous left-hand tremolo technique from "Spanish Fly"]. I know that had some things psychologically come out, but I don't actually sit down at a piano and try to apply it to guitar. Were your parents supportive of your move to the guitar and rock and roll? My father yes, but my mother no. My mom wanted us in the U.S. and out of Holland -- she was afraid we'd get into music like my father. She still doesn't think it will last, but she's proud. My dad was one of the baddest clarinet players of his time. He was so hot -- unbelievable. And he had tone. My dad is the person who would cut school and smoke cigarettes, and my mom would be the cheerleader. Complete opposites-the conservative and the screw-up. If you sat there and talked to my dad, he'd make your roll over and laugh. He's just like me and Al -- 16 years old. His whole life has been music; that's all he knows. Do they ever go to your concerts? Yeah, my dad cries when he sees us play because he loves it. You know he's so happy. It really is like his dream come true: The family music tradition is continuing, and it's also his name. Like when I was in school, everybody said "Forget my parents -- they're assholes." Not me -- I was always the weirdo. I'd say, "Hey, I love my parents. I'll do anything for them. They've always busted their ass for me." On my dad's birthday last year we retired him and bought him a boat. I want to make my people happy.
What made you decide to build your own guitars? A Les Paul to me was just the cliched guitar, the rock and roll guitar. I liked the sound, but it didn't fit my body. I'd have to wear it too high to be able to stretch as I do, and it looks funky. So I wanted to get that type of sound, but with tremolo. And Bigsbys have got to be the worst. So I bought a '58 Strat years ago when we played high school dances, and Dave and Al just turned and started throwing sticks at me! They said, "Don't use that guitar -- it sounds to thin!" You know, single-coil pickups. They had a real buzzy, thin sound unless I used a fuzz box, and that's even worse. So I sold that and then two years later I bought a router and dumped a Gibson PAF pickup into a '61 Strat. It got very close. All of a sudden the band said, "That's okay, It doesn't sound like a Strat anymore." Then I heard that a company called Charvel made exact duplicates of Fender guitars, but out of nicer wood. Is this where you got the wood for your first homemade guitar? Yeah, this very first one was the black-and-white striped one on the first album. I went to Charvel and had them rout a body out for just one pickup and one volume knob. I had to cut my own pickguard to cover everything up because it was originally a three-pickup Strat body. I used the vibrato tailpiece from a '58 Strat for that guitar. I also had Charvel make me a really wide neck. I hate skinny necks. I like it bare wood because I hate to slip and slide when I start stretching strings. Now at the same time, I built what I call my shark guitar, which is actually one of the first Ibanez Destroyers [shaped like Gibson Explorer] made out of Korina wood. I made the mistake of taking a chainsaw to it and putting a bunch of weird stuff on it.
Did it lose some tone? It lost the tonality I want. Now, kids can't tell -- they can buy a DiMarzio pickup and stick it in anything and go, "Yeah, it's rock and roll!" But it was that distinct little tone that I look for that was cut out of the guitar. Then I went to Charvel and bought the parts for a Destroyer with a vibrato. I got tired of playing it, and so I had a friend of mine carve a dragon biting a snake out of the Destroyer's body. How long did it take you to build the black-and-white Strat? Not really too long, but it took me a while to build up to doing that. I used to have an old Gibson ES-335 that was my main experimental guitar. That was the one I refretted and painted and totally screwed up! I mean, I did everything you can imagine to that guitar to ruin it. But I learned from it. It's too bad, because that guitar would have been worth some bucks today. But I learned what I know of building guitars, so I guess it's worth it. Have your since modified the black-and-white Strat? Yeah, a company started copying it, and I said, "man, I better change it." So I really went to town painting it all freaked out, and I put three pickups back in, but they don't all work -- only the rear one works. I just did it to be different, so every kid who bought one like that model would go, "Oh, man he's got something different again." I always like to turn the corner on people when they start latching on to what I'm doing. Here I am just a punk kid trying to get a sound out of a guitar that I couldn't buy off the rack, so I build one myself and now everybody else wants one. Did you make another guitar for your second album? I made the yellow-and-black Strat. It has an ash body by Charvel. It was my idea to have it rear-loaded so I wouldn't have to have a pickguard, and Charvel routed it for me. The pickup that's on the photo is not really what I use -- I had just finished slapping it together and painting it when they shot the album cover, and just stuck some garbage pickup in it to look like a complete guitar. Then I took the pickup out of my first guitar and stuck it in there, but it didn't sound too good. I don't really go for DiMarzio pickups, because they're real distorted. I like a clean sound with sustain -- I hate the fuzz box, real raspy sound. So I put a PAF magnet in a DiMarzio pickup and rewound it by hand, which took a long lime. I actually ruined about three pickups, and by the fourth time it worked. I didn't count the windings -- I just did it by sight. Was that the guitar you took on the second tour? I used that one plus the original one from the first album for the first half of the tour, and then I ran into Floyd Rose, and he showed me his special bridge and nut for keeping a Strat in tune. I said, "What the hell -- I'll give it a try." I'm up for anything. So I had Boogie Bodies make me a mahogany body that's fit to my size, and I put the Rose device on it. The body is a Strat-style, but it's 2 1/2" thick, which is thicker than a Les Paul. The Rose tailpiece gets a thin sound, and I thought a chunky piece of wood could make up for the thickness. It works a little bit. That guitar has a Gibson PAF and just one volume knob -- it's real simple. What is your overall opinion of Floyd's vibrato device? I like it and I don't. For one, on my guitar it sounds real brittle-bright, and I have to do some heavy equalization to get my tone. That's why I don't like to use it in the studio. We just go in there and play live, and I depend on making my guitar sound good out of the amp instead of fixing it in the mix. Number two, if you pop a string, you can't even one-note your way through because the whole guitar goes out of tune. Sometimes I'll hit a chord and tune really quickly. With this device you can't -- you have to unclamp it. On top of that, sometimes when I jump off the drum riser the neck shifts just a hair, and then I can't tune it. But it has advantages: When you're using the bar, it will not go out of tune.
What are the most difficult aspects of building your own guitar? Making the neck fit the body. Another problem is that the strings on a Stratocaster are spaced differently that a Gibson's; if you use a humbucking pickup, the strings don't line up with the pickup holes. So I've tried slanting the pickup so the high E string will be picked up by a front pole and the low E will be picked up by a rear pole. For the sound I like, it is also important to get the space between the bridge and pickup right. I do it almost like Les Paul. If I put it too far towards the neck I get the Grand Funk and Johnny Winter tone, and if I put it too close to the bridge I get a real trebley Strat sound. So I move it up towards the neck a little bit from the Strat sound to get a beefier tone. Do you carry any special tools or extra parts with your when you're on the road? I bring along a least five extra necks, three different bodies, ten different pickups, some machine heads, and a couple of different tremolo pieces in case one breaks -- you know, just spare parts mainly. See, like if we're six months through the tour and the frets are starting to go bad on one neck, I'll slap another neck on instead of refretting it, because I don't have time to refret while I'm traveling. In tools I carry screwdrivers, chisels, drills, chainsaws -- very simple stuff [laughs]. Have you any special methods of refretting necks? Yeah, I hate the way people refret necks. I do it real simple: I sand them down with some 400 wet-or-dry sandpaper and then use some steel wool. I hate flat frets because the more space you have for the string to rest on, the more room you have for the intonation to be off. I like big frets height-wise, but I make them come to a peak. From a side view, one of my frets would look like the tip of a pick. It doesn't come to a complete point, but it would be rounded as opposed to flat. Another thing is that you have to put them in from the side rather than from above, and a lot of people take them straight out and rip the wood. I toured the factory and saw how they did it and said, "No wonder I ruined so many fenders by pulling them straight out!" Do you do anything special to your pickups? I usually use old Gibson PAFs, and I always pot them. I submerge the whole thing in paraffin wax, and this cuts out the high obnoxious feedback. It's kind of a tricky thing because if you leave it in there too long. The pickup melts. I take a coffee can and melt down some wax -- the same kind that you use for surfboards -- and put the pickup in it. See, one of the reasons a pickup feeds back is that the coil windings vibrate, and when the wax soaks in there, it keeps them from vibrating as much. It will still feed back, but it's controllable. After I dip the pickup in paraffin, I put copper tape around it. You have to be really careful if you do this to a pickup like a DiMarzio. You can throw an old PAF in there and let is soak it up; it doesn't melt. But with DiMarzio, if you blink, all of a sudden your pickup's ruined. Do you own any stock factory-made guitars? Yeah, I have a new Gibson ES-335, and two '58 Les Paul Jrs -- a single-cutaway and a double-cutaway. I've got a whole load of Japanese Strat copies. I also just two vintage Les Pauls -- a'59 flame top and a '58 gold top. These are pretty much in immaculate condition. I bought them as an investment; I don't play them. My main stage guitars are the ones I build myself for under $200. I have an acoustic, too -- the one I used on "Spanish Fly." It's an Ovation nylon-string, not the real expensive model. I've never owned a steel-string. Are there any guitars that you'd like to build in the future? I'll have the next one built, and it will probably be difficult and cost a lot of money. What I'd really like now is like a three-quarter sized 335. I was playing a 335 for a while before we got signed, and it sounded fine. But the other guys would go, "Come on you look like Roy Orbison," Really, here's this little skinny punk kid playing a Ted Nugent axe, you know. They said, "You're rock and roll; you ain't Roy Orbison. Either get some dark glasses or get rid of the guitar." So I dumped that and started playing the Les Paul again. So what I would like is a 335 to fit my body, and maybe not quite as hollow as some 335s. I'd like a solid beam all the way to the back of the wood in there. The one I have now locks a little bit of tone -- it's too acoustically toned, too hollow. Would you put a vibrato bar in the 335? Yeah, I love 335s. I can haul ass on those things. When I pick up a stock 335, you probably wouldn't even recognize my playing, It's more jazzy, more fluid and fast -- kind of like Allan Holdsworth. One of the reasons I started using a vibrato was that my playing got so fast it was just too much. So now I break it up a little bit, It's like a race car racing down the road and then crashing every now and then. What are your views on using a vibrato bar? It's more of a feeling as opposed to an effect. I don't really use it for freak-out effects; I use it to enhance a little more feeling. I really don't have any special chops with it. I just grab it when I feel like it. It calls for a totally different technique. I have special tricks for keeping it in tune, but it still goes out. You have to play with it. Like if you bring the bar down, the G and B strings always go sharp when you let it back, so before you hit a barre chord you have to stretch those strings back with a real quick little jerk. The vibrato is actually like another instrument. You can't just grab it and jerk the thing and expect it to stay in tune. How do you keep tuned while using a standard vibrato? It's a combination of a lot of things. For one, some manufacturers don't keep in mind that the distance from the bridge to the machine heads has got to be straight line so the string windings won't get caught anywhere. A lot of people drill the machine holes off center, and the strings get caught up. I have extra-wide notches in the nut, and string trees for only the high E and B strings. I also set the vibrato bar so I can only bring it down; you can't pull back on it. See, I rest the palm of my hand on the bridge, so If I use a standard vibrato, I sound like a warped record. Sometimes I'll bring the bar down before I hit a note and then let it up. What's the advantage of playing with your hand on the bridge? I like getting a muffled effect with the side of my hand. It gets more tone, it's a definite texture you can use in combination with straight picking. How do you hold your pick? Between my thumb and middle finger. Sometimes when I play fast I'll put the tip of my index finger on the corner of the pick.
Do you ever use your other fingers to pick? No. I can't fingerpick for anything. I've never had the time. Did you use a pick for "Spanish Fly"? Yeah, except for the part near the end that sounds like Montoya or something. Do you ever use the side of your pick to get high-pitched harmonics? Sometimes, I do it in "I'm The One" [Van Halen]. I also get harmonics by hitting a note with my left-hand finger while I tap my right index finger on the fingerboard exactly one octave up. When it's an exact octave, you bring out the harmonic plus the lower note. Do you tap right on top of the fret wire or behind it? On the fret, I guess. Like "Spanish Fly" I start out by tapping harmonics and then do hammer-ons and pull-offs with my left hand while I tap above with my right-hand index fingertip. Now this is my latest: I hammer-on and pull-off with my left hand and reach behind my left hand with my right and use my right index finger. In other words, my right-hand finger changes the lowest note. See, the way I play is in my fingers. I could play a Strat or a Les Paul, and it's going to sound like me. People say, "Oh, how do you get that sound?" They could play my guitar and it wouldn't sound the same. I have a style of playing where no matter what amp or guitar I use, it sounds like me. How far can you reach on the finger board? On the high E string I can reach from the 5th fret to the 12th. From the 12th fret I can hit any note on the fingerboard above. That's how I get weird noises.
**** Van Halen News ****
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"Dance The Night Away" by Van Halen
Eddie's Rig by VH88 Guitars101's Christopher Middleton aka SuckaInA3Piece Interviews Eddie's Guitar Tech NOV. '04 Guitar Geeks'Van Halen RIG VIEW Eddie Van Halen's Rig and Tone Techniques Alright ... let me tackle EVERYTHING in Eddie's arsenal of his 50,000 WATTS of POWER ... What has EVH accompished with this set up ??? To play every "era" possible in Van Halen.
Let's start with the basics here ... He's got two "5150" Peavey heads ... one 4 what u hear live ... the other ... just 4 Alex ... when VH plays live ... Alex only wants 2 hear Eddie's guitar ... just a "bond" that the brothers have ... so that 2nd head that leads 2 the 2, 2x12 speakers ... only Alex can hear.
It's something that Alex did when VH started out ... he didnt need 2 hear DLR, Sammy, Gary ... not even Mikey ... just wants 2 hear Eddie.
OK ... u see the Sony wireless unit ... self explanitorty, right? A wireless guitar.
Now let me get 2 the "C.A.E" ... Eddie's main effects module.
Which shows 18 different "effects" ... cuz they are custom MIDI effects ... cant really tell what he has on that footboard ... but knowing Eddie's playing ... clean, distortion, flanger, echo, reverb ... and a combo of all the same.
The Simulator, Harmonizer, 2 different delays (one 4 rythmn, one for leads), and reverbs units are linked 2 individual digital components. MIDI ... stands for "Musicial Instrument Digital Interface" The technology was origianlly introduced 2 keyboard/synthesizer players about 20 years ago ... 2 allow keyboardists 2 interface with more than on instruments ... and produce a clean sound, digitally. About 10 years ago ... guitarists that use multi-effects, and rackmounts started using MIDI componants more efficiantly on producing different sounds. MIDI allows Eddie (from that top box) 2 combind different effects, digially. The similator unit, allows Eddie 2 use 2 different signals in2 two different cabinets (in this diagram Eddie uses 4 cabinets ... they are seperated by 2) ... It "simulates" a "stero effect" live on stage. A Harmonizer, another guitar effect that "Harmonizes" 2 different signals from one note ... almost makes him sound like 2 guitarists. Reverb is short 4 "reverberation" ... it takes a signal and basically makes it "vibrate" in a way ... also used 4 lead & back up singers ... best way 2 describe it ... if u where 2 talk oe sing in 2 a mic that had reverb on ... makes u sound like your in a big hall. All these effects can be adjusted ... Eddie uses alittle more reverb at outdoor arenas, as most big indoor arenas will give a "natural" reverb. OK ... u mentioned the sound system. The sound system just amplifies what's being played on stage. Yes a PA System will have "stereo" and other effects ... but those are only used for acoustic instruments (drums) ... and voice. (Different class) ... but 4 Alex's drums ... yeah they'll put a tad of reverb on the acoustic drums ... and on Sammy's voice, with some echo. But 4 an electric unit ... guitar or bass ... basically ... put a mic in front of the speakers of the cabinets ... and that reproduces the sound that Eddie wants ... same with Mikey's bass. The Peavey EVH 5150 Head is set as "unmodified" ... that means that amp is set 2 it's original sound ... then a line of just a "dry" signal goes in2 the rackmounts & MIDI componants. In other words if u took an amp, and just plugged it up with just a guitar ... no effects ... u get a "dry" sound ... which is in mono ... add the effects ... plus a 2nd stack of Peavey's ... now u got Eddie's guitar sound in "stereo". The Harmonizer, 2 create 2 guitars ... not 2 guitars playing the same thing at the same time ... he would use this 4 solos ... where a single note produces 2 different signals. It's like when 2 or more singers "Harmonize" in vocals ... it gives more depth 2 Eddie's solos. Oh ... I thnk I 4got one other thing ... Alex having the 2 extra monitors just 4 him ... yes thats a common thing ... some drummers just want 2 hear the lead guitarist when they play live. In Alex's case ... sinse they have been playing 2gether sinse they were kids ... they have a "musical" bond, besides the "brother" bond. Now u may ask ... what about the keyboard tunes ??? "Jump", "Right Now", "Dreams" ... that start with keys. Here's where the MIDI system comes in. It's an interface componant ... and all Eddie has 2 do is flick the switch ... and Alan's keys are now in Alex's monitors only ... when there's no keys ... Eddie just shuts that off. This will also allow Alex 2 hear the keys ... and whatever guitar parts Eddie plays in those songs. We got the guitar, we got the effects (from the rackmount) and the MIDI system ... Any questions on Eddie's 2 delay componants? Delay is simply like an "echo" ... which can be adjusted from long to short ... the reason why is he has 2 different delay componants is 4 the rythmn parts (which he'll use a slight delay) and one 4 his lead parts (where he uses a longer delay) One more thing about Eddie's MIDI controls ... MM it does have 21 foot controls ... only 18 are used 4 effects ... the other 3 are used for interfacing. It controls the rackmount effects (as discussed) ... but Eddie has built in effects 2 ... which are (and I'm sure there will be questions) .... Flanger Chours Sustainer Distortion Overdrive Eddie then can program the MIDI controls and mix and match all of these effects by a step of the foot. So this all gets fed in2 the 2 "Rockman Noisegates". OK ... once again ... why 2 ??? 4 the 2 heads he uses. Now ... What's a "Noise Gate" right? It gets rid of the "Noise" that all the effects (even the digital ones) make ... also with all these wires thats connected from here 2 there 2 over by dere ... your gonna have wires laying next 2 each other ... when u have that ... with guitar cords ... they get close 2 each other ... they "talk" ... or make a "static" noise. The "Noise Gate" eliminates all of this ... so a pure clean signial goes 2 the Speakers. A little note on the "Rockman" ... Rockman was created by Boston guitarist Tom Sholtz in 1981 ... when he started the recording 4 the "Third Stage" album ... at 1st, this little invention was the size of a peanut-butter and jelly sandwhic (as described by Sholtz himself). He has sinse created a full line of Amps, Effects, Heads, ect.
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01/12/07 8/5/07 11/30/07 |
