James Valentine on Van Halen's 'OU812' Sound | Runnin' With the Dweezil Podcast
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- Опубликовано: 23 авг 2024
- Dweezil and the Maroon 5 Guitarist dig into the nuances of EVH's sound on OU812, from his rhythm guitar parts to the changes in his rig.
Hear the full episode here: bitly.com/Dweez...
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Presented by Walrus Audio
Hear the full episode here: bitly.com/DweezilVHPod
Dweezil knows how to have a proper discussion vs an interview!💓💓💓
I don't mind the guitar sound on this album, under the harmonizer it still actually sounds pretty raw. Can't be doing with the dreary keyboard ballads, but the rockers on this album are great! 🤘🏼
Pretty sure you’re thinking of Dazed and Confused by Led Zep where the vocal doubles the guitar for the first few bars of the solo. Similar to in AFU.
Dweezil says it would have been a cool instrumental. Well it was. He had this riff for The Wild Life soundtrack. Search youtube All Fired Up and you'll hear it...
Something I've never heard discussed about Eddie is how he was basically a studio only musician, a very calculated non improvisational player. Though he could do the VH thing live for any audience that's all he could do competently. It's likely for fear of coming across as bashing him or being harshly critical that no one seems to want to say it. For example, look at his live playing outside of VH at charity gigs or backyard parties, he absolutely sucked at coming up with anything out of his wheelhouse on the spur of the moment; Steve Lukather outplayed him on every level at the Jason Becker tribute, ffs. When he was doing HIS thing in HIS element and on HIS time - he couldn't be beat and it was all very explorative, he just couldn't step out of the frameworks he had developed for VH enough to play a simple Hendrix song without throwing in a tacky amount of his signature licks that he'd become dependent upon even though they totally didn't fit the moment or the song being played, his own style and licks became crutches to him that he believed would shield him from having to throw down when improvising live. Note also that his live VH solo was always the same things over and over and over for decades on end. I find that very strange about him but at the same time I cherish it because it very clearly showcases the fact that there are different kinds of guitar players - not just different styles or tastes but different approaches that come from the REASONING WHY one person even plays being different from another player.
I know some really great players that HATE playing live and there are some great live players who totally freeze up and start playing with ZERO feeling in a studio environment. Judged by the same ''standards'' that every other guitarist (who DIDN'T provide on record an Eruption) is judged by Eddie would have been found lacking in a lot of ways. It's my belief that for him to do what he did on record, to develop all of those licks and write all of those melodies and songs for VH, it just took too much out of him and there was simply no time for him to build upon being a well rounded guitarist. In OU812 I think we see the first time he got anywhere near improvising off the cuff IN STUDIO on a couple of tracks and from there on he went back into his shell. The guy was super analytical, likely overly analytical to the point of being paranoid and anal about his playing, and that makes sense because the entirety of the VH thing was hung around HIS neck and no one else's. To make VH work, to keep it from falling on its face, album after album he had to sacrifice what most other guitarists take for granted - the sovereignty over their own perspective. When he stepped out for Michael Jackson, listen closely to that isolated Beat it track, he was nervous and frustrated - that track is at least 4 possibly 5 separate takes that were bounced down to 1 track, the reverb tails give it away. His playing on that sounds like he was about to have a nervous breakdown from the stress. Had he been able to do that relaxed at his own studio or late at night with only Don Landee in the next room it would have been a totally different vibe.
Strange take. You took the time to explain your opinion. But it all seemed to start with a false premise.
I would say Ed is definitely more of an improvisational guitarist. We now know that a lot of his early solos were partly, if not completely, improvised. Which is also why he never played them the same way again. Especially one of the greatest and most groundbreaking songs of all time, Eruption.
He sounded incredible, and very unique on David Letterman, or any other places where he would show up to just jam. Maybe what you are hearing is simply, his style.
I guess a studio musician could improvise right off the cuff more easily than even the greatest guitar players. But that’s the difference. A lot of great studio musicians, are not innovative enough, or maybe didn’t care enough to write music that would touch the world as Eddie did, Randy, Stevie, etc.
So you would hear Eddie’s signature licks and whatever backyard jam sessions or benefits he would play at. But that would go the same for the legends I just mentioned. They all have such unique styles. Whereas a session guitarist would not have his or her own groundbreaking style, but could still pretty much play everything-within reason, and not quite the same phrasing as the original.
@@heyjarrod Ed went on and on at length in many interviews throughout his career about how he had Eruption worked out note for note and how he had made a ''mistake'' and a ''flub'' in it, he openly admitted repeatedly that it was not improvised, there are even recordings of him doing it nearly precisely the same over a year before the recording of VH1. Not even one of his early solos were improvised, he had all of that worked out long before, listen to the tapes from 1974, he had been working on all of those ideas for many many years. Just because you want it to be a certain way - that doesn't make it so. I've not heard even one live improvised performance of his when he was not only out of key by making horrible off melody choices, simply because he didn't know what he was doing, he didn't know music theory or scales or modes, he had no means of interacting with other musicians on the fly other than his ear. All of his writings he worked out over many laboring hours of trial and error, the way he did it was extremely labor intensive. When he was in his environment he played better than anyone because he was prepared to do so, when he was out of his environment he played like a 4th year student who had had way too much to drink. I'm not dissing the guy, I have the utmost respect for him, but the simple truth is that what he did took a lot more effort on his part because he thought out every single note because he did NOT have the ability to not have to.
TLDR
Anything with Sammy wasn't as good as Roth
These type of comments plague every single Van Halen video on RUclips. Such a shame - I think all VH stuff has it’s merits, and I include the Gary Cherone fronted VHIII in that.
Apples and oranges, all fruit tastes good.
@JJ G And was a pretty great guitarist in his own right.
Not to mention a super nice guy.
@JJ G Drives me fn nutts every musician needs their ugly version of a strat,les paul fn prs!
Like their own Wine or Bourbon!??
Hey guys you've made hand over fist in money and it's obvious we love your fn music...how bout you just jam?✌💛🤘
Anything with your mom wasn't as good as your aunt