For the definitive lesson on Eruption, Pete Thorn is your man. Check out his 5-part series where he goes note by note, fret by fret, string by string, and finger by finger. It's a classic!
Not knocking Pete's version, but considering Eddie's Eruption was basically a hodgepodge warmup exercise that was added last minute to the album, and is essentially improvised there is no "definitive lesson." Especially considering I've heard Eddie play this section dozens of times and NEVER the same as the original. We all can only imagine how WE would play it if we had Eddie's swagger and soulful musicianship. Not talking down about anyone's take, just my humble opinion taken from 30 years of studying EVH and he alone being the only reason I picked up the guitar at age 6 with the intention of learning this bomb track of a solo. PS with this and all songs I set to learn I look at several different versions of TAB to piece together my version, with the intention of playing like I would and not. necessarily "exactly like the original." Because I don't want to be them, but devolve me with my heroes as simple inspiration. Just opinions, so take with a grain of salt lol
@@Saldivinorum Although I used Pete's version for my source, I have to agree with you. I think you make a great point. I think it's just the challenge of trying to mimic one of the greatests of all time. I know when I got it down, I sure felt good. But in the end, you're spot on.
@@Saldivinorum Yeah, learning Eddie's material is all about the groove and feel (even Eddie will play the same riff 11 slightly different ways on the recording). Playing what Eddie was going for and adding your own little spin is a lot closer to reality than trying to ape Eddie's studio take perfectly.
When EVH passed away, I was inspired to go and learn "Eruption" from an old tab book I had lying around. I think it was the same publisher as your book, and I was about ready to throw the damn thing out the window. Thank you for the much-needed sanity checks! I absolutely love your "bad tabs" videos!
Tried learning this from that same tab book years ago. Never felt comfortable and was just forcing the learned finger positions which made it awkward and never quite sounded right. It leaves you thinking that you are the problem with learning it when you're starting out and don't know any better. Videos like this keep people learning!!
You are 100% right. I tried to learn this from that very same book as well and never could get it right. I'm back re-learning it now the right way, the way he just showed. There's another guy on here Carl at guitar lessons 360 that teaches it this way. It's Way way better!!
That guitar is super sweet looking, I've never seen this model before. I love the contrast of the black with the white and silver strips which changes with the light.
Cleaning my garage last week, I found a box of all my old Guitar World, and the like magazines from the '90s, and while I was excited because tabs, I also immediately had your videos come to mind because those magazines are the main reason I sadly understand the pain of the bad tabs.
I have distinct memories of getting to this part, trying it, having no earthly idea what any of the tabs were even attempting to do, and quitting. This makes a lot more sense!
This has fixed a lot of years of frustration for me! I stopped trying to figure out the tabs during my first 2 years. I instead watched the solo part on the Live without a Net video Religiously until I figured it out. Drove my parents berserk! Once my dislocated wrist heals I will be re-watching this to get it down. Thanks!
I've always just learned the tapping part and mostly done a more improvised version of the first half and after a while I've come to like playing it that way.
The one from the book was transcribed by Wolf Marshall and the magazine one was by Andy Aledort, both legends of the tab world. I had both of these growing up. I'm sure it was harder to decipher what was happening with only half-speed available in the 80's where it would be heard an octave lower. I still struggled with these parts and always wondered if Eddie really played them that way. There were also no readily available videos of Eddie playing this back then. Nowadays technology and youtube make things so much easier. Right after Eddie passed away Guitar World printed what I think is the most detailed and accurate tab of Eruption ever.
Ya these young whippersnappers have no idea what it was like back then and how easy they have it now. We could not just slow it down with out changing the pitch and we could not just go online and watch 100 examples on how it might be played, so I hear them all complaining, they got it so easy. weenies!
@ShamanColaLive Facts! We didnt even have CDs when i started..it was constant rewinding of a tape, or in some horrible circumstances, lifting and replacing a needle on a phonograph.
As a teenager in the 80s, TAB was terrific for learning. However, as you point out there were a lot of bad TABs out there. Eruption was one for which I had several TAB sources and they all frustrated the heck out of me. It didn't take too long before I knew they were all wrong.
Online tabs are kind of the same...too many bad ones out there to really trust them. Thankfully today there's a wealth of high quality tutorials/lessons out there on RUclips.
I know I’m late to the party… but I referred to the book for YEARS. I have always struggled with this part, and you have just cured my woes and I can fly through this part now. *Celebratory dance*
So many players have used tab books, and i think it has its place in learning to expand your knowledge base. Yet, i think it needs to be tempered with learning by ear as well. Listening to a song over and over puts it into your mind. Then the joy of finding that one note- the one that puts you on the path. The best feeling.
I figured this out just a few weeks after it came out, and what you're showing is spot on. Difference was all I had was a cassette tape and a radio, then transferred it over to a reel to reel where I could slow parts down. Ended up being fairly easy because it just happens to flow, rather than being an actual "riff". Ironically I learned the tapping part by chance, when I saw a guy at my local music store who hit a lick that had a single right hand tap on one spot. Eruption was the big thing nobody knew how to do, and when I saw the guy use the other hand, I suddenly had an epiphany. I was sort of the first person in the area to play the whole thing through. Fun days..
I had a subscription to GFTPM back in the day for all its tabs every month. I "learned" a lot of BAD ways to play a lot of my favorite songs, and I struggled harder to learn to play them correctly as a result. This was one of the ones that gave me fits and now I know why.
The beginning of Eruption has been the bane of my existence for years…I’ve never been able to play it correct much less up to speed…great work…and thanks for the tabs….rock on my brother 😎
3:18 -- I start the tap on the 2nd string, but I DO start it with one C# at fret 14. I'm not saying it's right, but it does make perfect sense because you're playing a C# an octave below it, on a different string as you close out the trill. Hitting the high C# on the 2nd string gives you a split second to move from the 3rd to 2nd string with your left hand and fret the C# at the 2nd fret. I'm surprised this was tabbed out anywhere. I thought I invented it ;-)
That solo that was the main reason I picked up a guitar . However, learning it still haunts me to this day after this 80s/90s tab books. I have attempted to learn it from Pete Thorns amazing video on it .
My favourite thing about these videos is realising how many solos I've learnt wrong from tab, which has made me go back and work out what my favourite guitarists were actually playing. 🤘
GFTPM was the best magazine of the era! After sneaking them into the groceries several times I finally convinced my mom to get me a subscription. Still have them all.
Yeah, that transcription Alan Garber and his team did, that came out in guitar world, February 2021 was a real game changer. Looks like you might be using that transcription, as he went as far as to list every upstroke and downstroke. And at the beginning of the tapping part, the guitar world transcription does show an ‘unintended’ note on the high E, 9th fret. Right where that one transcription you had showed at the 18th fret on the G string. And Allen left a few possibly inadvertent things Eddie did in the original recording. For example, a classic one where Eddie descends during the the tapping part, in one three notes section, instead of ascending. All very subtle, and Alan said there were too many to get bogged down in and list all. That was very interesting. I never noticed any of those, but I tried to work in a few of them with some people, steaks, into it. And then when you do the tuning offset that Alan describes in other articles, mad, that really gets it accurate. And for playing it up to speed, I think it’s much faster than people remember or realize. And once you get it down, try and play along with the recording, still getting just about all the notes, trying to capture a little bit of Eddie’s phrasing. That will keep you busy for the next few decades.
God, that's such a classic Eddie lick now that I know what he's doing! I own a different book with the exact same bad tab. I doubt I'll ever get this to a respectable speed, but your way is definitely way easier and more fun to play.
Close. Actually, it was a regular part of VH's live set. Eddie was playing it in the studio as a warm up, Ted Templeman heard it and the rest is history.
I had that magazine. I remember that I knew Black Star was wrong even back then. I could see in concert clips that the way Malmsteen did the main part on one string was much easier than the way they were saying to do it. I don't think I ever did follow it for Eruption.
Congrats on 753k Subscribers! 👏🏻 Awesome! I thought there might be a Van Halen TAB related something coming up from that picture the other day, I could see it looked like a book haha
I still have that issue of guitar for the practicing musician still! Was the first one I bought when my dad bought me my first pawn shop guitar in late 1987!
I’ve played guitar on and off for 21 years and really never got good. Although I never put in as much effort as it deserved lol. But 100% the old tab books, and a lot of online tabs too, we’re so far off it’s no wonder I got discouraged when I was younger. In the last couple years I come to RUclips to see how to play a song and usually have a lot better results because you’re able to see that the instructors version actually sounds like the song, then break it down riff by riff
I picked up the guitar in 85, I'm all too well familiar with these horrible tabs lol. But inaccurate tabs, no internet, & no youtube, really helped with the ear training. Something magical happens when figuring out EVH stuff, it all seems like a big mess at first, then out of nowhere, you find that groove. The solo to 'Hear about it Later' is a prime example of that magic.
I'm just discovering 15 years later how wrong this was while starting to learn the right way yesterday. You're the man for getting to this and that AJFA book that had me stumped on blackened for 20 years.
yeah I learned this song from an online tab initially with very similar errors, and eventually it got so bad I had to learn the song half by ear and sight, combining my knowledge with how Eddie was playing it live, alongside another lesson video or two
It's EXACTLY the fingering I figured out myself a week ago after having compared lots of tabs and the original record. I focused on a symetrical pattern moving up with as many as open strings as possible.
I remember a transcription that the great Steve Vai did for Guitar Player magazine of Eruption and it had the tapping part on different strings as well. Steve said he transcribed it by ear without using his guitar in the process.
Great video. This is probably the most stubborn part to learn, and the part I see played wrong most often. As a teenager I worked on my own transcription from an old reel-to-reel machine, used bad tabs that I couldn’t get up to speed, and then digital slow-downs preserving pitch and even made a midi file. My mistake as a teen was that I took the tab books as the gospel, rather than trust my own instincts. Sounds like a lot of others did too, early in their playing careers.
I recently had to part ways with my old collection of about 40 issues of yellowed and hagged Guitar for the Practicing Musician magazines. Seeing yours was great. I do think for me anyway that this is the toughest part of Eruption, and the way I play it never really feels right. I'm going to give yours a shot. Thanks for posting!
The 1983 published Metal Method booklet called Lesson Seven is what I learned it from and still play most of the sections and teach it that way.. one big exception is the tapping section has been noted much more accurately by Paul Davids and some publications but none has all the parts right. BTW I first learned Randy Rhoads from Metal Method Lesson Eight in 1983. Doug Marks was the author. Came with cassettes
I still have my Metal Method Metal Primer lesson with the cassette. Think I got it in 86. It helped a lot when I started taking guitar lessons. Doug Mark's has a channel on RUclips too.
Good grief. I had mercifully forgotten about Eruption. It was the first thing you would hear after walking into any guitar store, back in the day, and then have to shout over while some kid was going off on it.
i did learn it out of that same book years ago. took some time to get it clean but i still play it that way . like second nature because ive played it a thousand times over 30 yrs
Awesome, Mike! Thanks for making this video. Even if your corrected version is not 100% what he plays or how he plays it on the record, it sounds absolutely amazing and makes much more sense than anything I have found on paper or on RUclips so far. Sorry, but I had to do screenshots right after watching it. Keep it up, bro.
it is essentially the same lick from the beginning of “i’m the one” just moved around. there are a ton of examples of eddie pulling off to open strings and also hammering onto notes without picking them. i just dont think the original tab makers could hear the difference between a picked note and a hammered on note
The first half of Eruption after he dive bombs the Low E n Comes back up with the open A. Then the swing part comes in. That's the section of the solo that's a bit more complicated to capture. Seen alot of videos on it. Pete Thorn captures n explains it best. Check it out. Give it a shot Mike n see what you come up with. The 5150 looks great. I'm waiting on the Deluxe limited Ash body to come out there's a waiting list. Continue to ROCK ON DUDE 🤘⚡️🤘🎸
That is both the strength and weakness of tab - it gives you the fingering for how to play a note but it *has* to give a fingering for every note and that fingering may not be correct, whereas at least with tadpole notation it can give you notes and leave you to figure out how to play it later.
The part that I still can’t lock in right is the weird legato phrasing /finger stretches after the blues-high bends, before the trem picking… I think you and I grew up around the same time, I’ve battled with all of this old tab stuff haha 😆
A lot of times learning from tab books you realize, no one would ever play it like that and realize there's easier positions. Even open positions vs up neck purely for tone differences. When I was first learning I thought, "man how did this guitarist do that!?" like contortion for the fingers/hands. Taught me to take tabs with grain of salt.
This was a nice lesson and really shows the futility of a lot of the tabs that were available. I remember seeing one that Steve Vai did of Eruption a very long time ago and I seem to recall it being pretty spot on. I learned that section you did today from it and it's the same as what you came up with. The section of Eruption that I notice the most is the part right after the Ab, Gb, Db chord blasts through the tremolo picking section. For me that part of the instrumental always embodied his style the most. I've spent decades trying to get it to sound the way he did and there is some really odd stuff going on in there. I'd like to see what you came up with for that part. I've even gone so far as to try to tremolo pick the way he did, with the wrist bent and elevated over the strings. Believe it or not, doing it that way makes a difference in the way it sounds. Anyway, great job on this lesson. Thank you for posting it.
I think what happens is the musicians that’s transcribed the music, did it in sheet music. The software (today) will just pick a location of the note that will almost never make sense as far as efficiency goes.
Yours makes much more sense, and for the record...I'm not that good at reading tab because like fifteen billion teachers on RUclips say..."The tab gets it WRONG!".
Wow, awesome. I struggled with that magazine version forever and finally learned the final way you showed it about a year ago. I always knew the tab was off but I always thought tab was gospel. One of my biggest regrets is using tab as a crutch. I never developed a good ear. I've been collecting guitar mags since 1985 until I stopped buying them in 2012 and have many issues with yellowing pages, LOL. Thanks for the video!
Doug Marks of metal method, had what I thought to be a very good eruption lesson tape with tabs, sounded dead on to me. I bought it in 1985 for around $15., thanks Doug!
I still have that issue ( and about 5 years worth of GFPM). I "learned it" that way and maybe got it sounding right-ish twice out of hundreds of tries...
I have to agree, as I had those early tabs as well.. I eventually learned it the "correct" way from Pete Thorn's vids, but it still is the hardest part in my mind to play properly at speed. Meanwhile, I saw ed playing it live on Jimmy Kimmel and he made it look like it was easier than the rest.
Im so glad you do these. Ive definitely fell victim to so bad tabs over the years for sure. I started playing in 1984 and i couldn't believe how hard some old tabs were. especially for a beginner...lol. I have and "authorized " van halen tab book that has both the first and second album transcribed in it. Im gonna compare with your two and see if anything is different. I know there is some wrong stuff in it, because a couple parts on "women in love" i can't even play slow🤣. thanks for showing us better ways bro 🤟🤟🍻
The "UPDATED" Van Halen tab book is very close to the new way you learned how to play it. Just wanted to let people know in case they want to own the book. Make sure you get the "updated" version.
😂 Bought that magazine as a new guitarist as a teen (and still have it). Helped me some with Rock N Roll… but Eruption was just a big fat no. Probably pushed me away from tabs then too. I was impatient and had more fun picking things out by ear.
For the definitive lesson on Eruption, Pete Thorn is your man. Check out his 5-part series where he goes note by note, fret by fret, string by string, and finger by finger. It's a classic!
100% agree
@@marmo75 100% to your 100%!
Not knocking Pete's version, but considering Eddie's Eruption was basically a hodgepodge warmup exercise that was added last minute to the album, and is essentially improvised there is no "definitive lesson." Especially considering I've heard Eddie play this section dozens of times and NEVER the same as the original. We all can only imagine how WE would play it if we had Eddie's swagger and soulful musicianship. Not talking down about anyone's take, just my humble opinion taken from 30 years of studying EVH and he alone being the only reason I picked up the guitar at age 6 with the intention of learning this bomb track of a solo.
PS with this and all songs I set to learn I look at several different versions of TAB to piece together my version, with the intention of playing like I would and not. necessarily "exactly like the original." Because I don't want to be them, but devolve me with my heroes as simple inspiration. Just opinions, so take with a grain of salt lol
@@Saldivinorum Although I used Pete's version for my source, I have to agree with you. I think you make a great point. I think it's just the challenge of trying to mimic one of the greatests of all time. I know when I got it down, I sure felt good. But in the end, you're spot on.
@@Saldivinorum Yeah, learning Eddie's material is all about the groove and feel (even Eddie will play the same riff 11 slightly different ways on the recording). Playing what Eddie was going for and adding your own little spin is a lot closer to reality than trying to ape Eddie's studio take perfectly.
I wrestled with that wretched lie in that book! I hated it!
When EVH passed away, I was inspired to go and learn "Eruption" from an old tab book I had lying around. I think it was the same publisher as your book, and I was about ready to throw the damn thing out the window. Thank you for the much-needed sanity checks! I absolutely love your "bad tabs" videos!
So many busted tabs for Eruption. Would love to see a full breakdown of the entire song by you! Your videos are all ways bang on!
Tried learning this from that same tab book years ago. Never felt comfortable and was just forcing the learned finger positions which made it awkward and never quite sounded right. It leaves you thinking that you are the problem with learning it when you're starting out and don't know any better. Videos like this keep people learning!!
You are 100% right. I tried to learn this from that very same book as well and never could get it right. I'm back re-learning it now the right way, the way he just showed. There's another guy on here Carl at guitar lessons 360 that teaches it this way. It's Way way better!!
EVH makes me wanna improve and also hang up my guitar at the same time.
Same, he made me wants to quit but after parcticing his solos everyday it is doable.
That guitar is super sweet looking, I've never seen this model before. I love the contrast of the black with the white and silver strips which changes with the light.
Cleaning my garage last week, I found a box of all my old Guitar World, and the like magazines from the '90s, and while I was excited because tabs, I also immediately had your videos come to mind because those magazines are the main reason I sadly understand the pain of the bad tabs.
I have distinct memories of getting to this part, trying it, having no earthly idea what any of the tabs were even attempting to do, and quitting. This makes a lot more sense!
This has fixed a lot of years of frustration for me! I stopped trying to figure out the tabs during my first 2 years. I instead watched the solo part on the Live without a Net video Religiously until I figured it out.
Drove my parents berserk!
Once my dislocated wrist heals I will be re-watching this to get it down. Thanks!
I've always just learned the tapping part and mostly done a more improvised version of the first half and after a while I've come to like playing it that way.
Take inspiration from something and make it your own, great example of making music
That way you play those parts, will help me play this with more fluency, thank you!
The one from the book was transcribed by Wolf Marshall and the magazine one was by Andy Aledort, both legends of the tab world. I had both of these growing up. I'm sure it was harder to decipher what was happening with only half-speed available in the 80's where it would be heard an octave lower. I still struggled with these parts and always wondered if Eddie really played them that way. There were also no readily available videos of Eddie playing this back then. Nowadays technology and youtube make things so much easier. Right after Eddie passed away Guitar World printed what I think is the most detailed and accurate tab of Eruption ever.
Ya these young whippersnappers have no idea what it was like back then and how easy they have it now. We could not just slow it down with out changing the pitch and we could not just go online and watch 100 examples on how it might be played, so I hear them all complaining, they got it so easy. weenies!
Used to stack quarters on the tone arm to slow down records
@ShamanColaLive Facts! We didnt even have CDs when i started..it was constant rewinding of a tape, or in some horrible circumstances, lifting and replacing a needle on a phonograph.
@@skipneumann1and have to retune the guitar to that pitch
As a teenager in the 80s, TAB was terrific for learning. However, as you point out there were a lot of bad TABs out there. Eruption was one for which I had several TAB sources and they all frustrated the heck out of me. It didn't take too long before I knew they were all wrong.
Online tabs are kind of the same...too many bad ones out there to really trust them. Thankfully today there's a wealth of high quality tutorials/lessons out there on RUclips.
I know I’m late to the party… but I referred to the book for YEARS. I have always struggled with this part, and you have just cured my woes and I can fly through this part now. *Celebratory dance*
So many players have used tab books, and i think it has its place in learning to expand your knowledge base. Yet, i think it needs to be tempered with learning by ear as well. Listening to a song over and over puts it into your mind. Then the joy of finding that one note- the one that puts you on the path. The best feeling.
I figured this out just a few weeks after it came out, and what you're showing is spot on. Difference was all I had was a cassette tape and a radio, then transferred it over to a reel to reel where I could slow parts down. Ended up being fairly easy because it just happens to flow, rather than being an actual "riff". Ironically I learned the tapping part by chance, when I saw a guy at my local music store who hit a lick that had a single right hand tap on one spot. Eruption was the big thing nobody knew how to do, and when I saw the guy use the other hand, I suddenly had an epiphany. I was sort of the first person in the area to play the whole thing through. Fun days..
I believe this is one of the hardest EVH riffs to nail consistently, the pull off to open strings is hard as nails to do cleanly, at speed, in context
I had a subscription to GFTPM back in the day for all its tabs every month. I "learned" a lot of BAD ways to play a lot of my favorite songs, and I struggled harder to learn to play them correctly as a result. This was one of the ones that gave me fits and now I know why.
Nice playing and beautiful guitar!
The beginning of Eruption has been the bane of my existence for years…I’ve never been able to play it correct much less up to speed…great work…and thanks for the tabs….rock on my brother 😎
3:18 -- I start the tap on the 2nd string, but I DO start it with one C# at fret 14. I'm not saying it's right, but it does make perfect sense because you're playing a C# an octave below it, on a different string as you close out the trill. Hitting the high C# on the 2nd string gives you a split second to move from the 3rd to 2nd string with your left hand and fret the C# at the 2nd fret. I'm surprised this was tabbed out anywhere. I thought I invented it ;-)
That solo that was the main reason I picked up a guitar . However, learning it still haunts me to this day after this 80s/90s tab books. I have attempted to learn it from Pete Thorns amazing video on it .
That definitely sounds correct and in line with his fingering technique on the album. Feels like the intro to "I'm The One"...
My favourite thing about these videos is realising how many solos I've learnt wrong from tab, which has made me go back and work out what my favourite guitarists were actually playing. 🤘
GFTPM was the best magazine of the era! After sneaking them into the groceries several times I finally convinced my mom to get me a subscription. Still have them all.
Finally. I've always had reservations about the last couple of tab transcriptions with this passage. Look forward to trying this out
Yeah, that transcription Alan Garber and his team did, that came out in guitar world, February 2021 was a real game changer. Looks like you might be using that transcription, as he went as far as to list every upstroke and downstroke.
And at the beginning of the tapping part, the guitar world transcription does show an ‘unintended’ note on the high E, 9th fret. Right where that one transcription you had showed at the 18th fret on the G string.
And Allen left a few possibly inadvertent things Eddie did in the original recording. For example, a classic one where Eddie descends during the the tapping part, in one three notes section, instead of ascending. All very subtle, and Alan said there were too many to get bogged down in and list all.
That was very interesting. I never noticed any of those, but I tried to work in a few of them with some people, steaks, into it. And then when you do the tuning offset that Alan describes in other articles, mad, that really gets it accurate. And for playing it up to speed, I think it’s much faster than people remember or realize. And once you get it down, try and play along with the recording, still getting just about all the notes, trying to capture a little bit of Eddie’s phrasing. That will keep you busy for the next few decades.
Exactly everything you've said - since 1978!!! Thanks!
God, that's such a classic Eddie lick now that I know what he's doing! I own a different book with the exact same bad tab. I doubt I'll ever get this to a respectable speed, but your way is definitely way easier and more fun to play.
Fun fact (maybe true idk) Eruption was just a way to warm up for Eddie and others thought it sounded cool enough to record and put on the album.
yep. it was actually the final track to be recorded on the album, meaning there’s a chance it could havs never been put on the album!
Same as sweet child o mine for slash. Never underestimate your playing 😄
Close. Actually, it was a regular part of VH's live set. Eddie was playing it in the studio as a warm up, Ted Templeman heard it and the rest is history.
Same with the Sweet Child Of Mine riff.
I've heard that Dust in the Wind also started as a finger picking exercise
That section always drove me nuts. Your version sounds correct and is playable. Thanks!
I had that magazine. I remember that I knew Black Star was wrong even back then. I could see in concert clips that the way Malmsteen did the main part on one string was much easier than the way they were saying to do it. I don't think I ever did follow it for Eruption.
Congrats on 753k Subscribers! 👏🏻
Awesome! I thought there might be a Van Halen TAB related something coming up from that picture the other day, I could see it looked like a book haha
Mike's Complete Breakdown of Eruption .. would be quite sweet.
As a still recovering GFTPM fan, thank you.
I still have that issue of guitar for the practicing musician still! Was the first one I bought when my dad bought me my first pawn shop guitar in late 1987!
I’ve played guitar on and off for 21 years and really never got good. Although I never put in as much effort as it deserved lol. But 100% the old tab books, and a lot of online tabs too, we’re so far off it’s no wonder I got discouraged when I was younger. In the last couple years I come to RUclips to see how to play a song and usually have a lot better results because you’re able to see that the instructors version actually sounds like the song, then break it down riff by riff
I picked up the guitar in 85, I'm all too well familiar with these horrible tabs lol. But inaccurate tabs, no internet, & no youtube, really helped with the ear training. Something magical happens when figuring out EVH stuff, it all seems like a big mess at first, then out of nowhere, you find that groove. The solo to 'Hear about it Later' is a prime example of that magic.
I'm just discovering 15 years later how wrong this was while starting to learn the right way yesterday. You're the man for getting to this and that AJFA book that had me stumped on blackened for 20 years.
Have never seen that EVH model before. Awesome looking guitar.
yeah I learned this song from an online tab initially with very similar errors, and eventually it got so bad I had to learn the song half by ear and sight, combining my knowledge with how Eddie was playing it live, alongside another lesson video or two
EXCELLENT...Beautiful guitar!
It's EXACTLY the fingering I figured out myself a week ago after having compared lots of tabs and the original record. I focused on a symetrical pattern moving up with as many as open strings as possible.
I remember a transcription that the great Steve Vai did for Guitar Player magazine of Eruption and it had the tapping part on different strings as well. Steve said he transcribed it by ear without using his guitar in the process.
Great video. This is probably the most stubborn part to learn, and the part I see played wrong most often. As a teenager I worked on my own transcription from an old reel-to-reel machine, used bad tabs that I couldn’t get up to speed, and then digital slow-downs preserving pitch and even made a midi file. My mistake as a teen was that I took the tab books as the gospel, rather than trust my own instincts. Sounds like a lot of others did too, early in their playing careers.
I recently had to part ways with my old collection of about 40 issues of yellowed and hagged Guitar for the Practicing Musician magazines. Seeing yours was great. I do think for me anyway that this is the toughest part of Eruption, and the way I play it never really feels right. I'm going to give yours a shot. Thanks for posting!
The 1983 published Metal Method booklet called Lesson Seven is what I learned it from and still play most of the sections and teach it that way.. one big exception is the tapping section has been noted much more accurately by Paul Davids and some publications but none has all the parts right. BTW I first learned Randy Rhoads from Metal Method Lesson Eight in 1983. Doug Marks was the author. Came with cassettes
I still have my Metal Method Metal Primer lesson with the cassette. Think I got it in 86. It helped a lot when I started taking guitar lessons. Doug Mark's has a channel on RUclips too.
thanks awesome vid..that part has confounded me for YEARS!
Good grief. I had mercifully forgotten about Eruption. It was the first thing you would hear after walking into any guitar store, back in the day, and then have to shout over while some kid was going off on it.
Nice video and I love the evh guitar, we brought it back out for it's forefather evh😁❤️love ur content mike, can't wait for the next one
i did learn it out of that same book years ago. took some time to get it clean but i still play it that way . like second nature because ive played it a thousand times over 30 yrs
Awesome, Mike! Thanks for making this video. Even if your corrected version is not 100% what he plays or how he plays it on the record, it sounds absolutely amazing and makes much more sense than anything I have found on paper or on RUclips so far. Sorry, but I had to do screenshots right after watching it. Keep it up, bro.
it is essentially the same lick from the beginning of “i’m the one” just moved around. there are a ton of examples of eddie pulling off to open strings and also hammering onto notes without picking them. i just dont think the original tab makers could hear the difference between a picked note and a hammered on note
The first half of Eruption after he dive bombs the Low E n Comes back up with the open A. Then the swing part comes in. That's the section of the solo that's a bit more complicated to capture. Seen alot of videos on it. Pete Thorn captures n explains it best. Check it out. Give it a shot Mike n see what you come up with. The 5150 looks great. I'm waiting on the Deluxe limited Ash body to come out there's a waiting list. Continue to ROCK ON DUDE 🤘⚡️🤘🎸
I think this is the real way to do it. Bravo Guitarman 🙏🙏👏👏🤘🤘
All my books were jacked up too. Thanks for this!
That is both the strength and weakness of tab - it gives you the fingering for how to play a note but it *has* to give a fingering for every note and that fingering may not be correct, whereas at least with tadpole notation it can give you notes and leave you to figure out how to play it later.
Thanks dude for the great lessons on how to play it the right way !
The part that I still can’t lock in right is the weird legato phrasing /finger stretches after the blues-high bends, before the trem picking…
I think you and I grew up around the same time, I’ve battled with all of this old tab stuff haha 😆
Love these series. And the pageholders of course
Ed always had way of doing things in a way that just made sense and left you wondering ‘why didn’t I think of that’.
A lot of times learning from tab books you realize, no one would ever play it like that and realize there's easier positions. Even open positions vs up neck purely for tone differences. When I was first learning I thought, "man how did this guitarist do that!?" like contortion for the fingers/hands. Taught me to take tabs with grain of salt.
This was a nice lesson and really shows the futility of a lot of the tabs that were available. I remember seeing one that Steve Vai did of Eruption a very long time ago and I seem to recall it being pretty spot on. I learned that section you did today from it and it's the same as what you came up with. The section of Eruption that I notice the most is the part right after the Ab, Gb, Db chord blasts through the tremolo picking section. For me that part of the instrumental always embodied his style the most. I've spent decades trying to get it to sound the way he did and there is some really odd stuff going on in there. I'd like to see what you came up with for that part. I've even gone so far as to try to tremolo pick the way he did, with the wrist bent and elevated over the strings. Believe it or not, doing it that way makes a difference in the way it sounds. Anyway, great job on this lesson. Thank you for posting it.
I still have that magazine too! Never able to play that (or any other) version of eruption! 😆 Maybe I should dig it out of the archives and try again.
YES! Love the bad tab videos, please do more!
I think what happens is the musicians that’s transcribed the music, did it in sheet music. The software (today) will just pick a location of the note that will almost never make sense as far as efficiency goes.
Yours makes much more sense, and for the record...I'm not that good at reading tab because like fifteen billion teachers on RUclips say..."The tab gets it WRONG!".
I still have that same issue of GftPM! Classic. Nice to know it wasn't just me being awful back in the day >.
Wow, awesome. I struggled with that magazine version forever and finally learned the final way you showed it about a year ago. I always knew the tab was off but I always thought tab was gospel. One of my biggest regrets is using tab as a crutch. I never developed a good ear. I've been collecting guitar mags since 1985 until I stopped buying them in 2012 and have many issues with yellowing pages, LOL. Thanks for the video!
Great video and that 5150 finish looks great, haven't seen one like yours.
Mike you got my hopes up at 6:24 and didn't play the whole song 😭🤣 (also I bet that guitar and Nancy's shoe have had their fair share of fingerings)
Doug Marks of metal method, had what I thought to be a very good eruption lesson tape with tabs, sounded dead on to me. I bought it in 1985 for around $15., thanks Doug!
I still have that issue ( and about 5 years worth of GFPM). I "learned it" that way and maybe got it sounding right-ish twice out of hundreds of tries...
Thanks man- trying to learn this and this was extremely helpful! Wish I was as good as you..😅
I have to agree, as I had those early tabs as well.. I eventually learned it the "correct" way from Pete Thorn's vids, but it still is the hardest part in my mind to play properly at speed. Meanwhile, I saw ed playing it live on Jimmy Kimmel and he made it look like it was easier than the rest.
4:44 😂 Open trill like Stevie Ray Vaughan
It’s crazy how he actually plays this insane stuff
I have an extensive collection of Guitar for the Practicing Musician. That's how I learned guitar in the 80s.
I learned from that magazine version and it has always worked okay for me.....
Im so glad you do these. Ive definitely fell victim to so bad tabs over the years for sure. I started playing in 1984 and i couldn't believe how hard some old tabs were. especially for a beginner...lol. I have and "authorized " van halen tab book that has both the first and second album transcribed in it. Im gonna compare with your two and see if anything is different. I know there is some wrong stuff in it, because a couple parts on "women in love" i can't even play slow🤣. thanks for showing us better ways bro 🤟🤟🍻
Look at you flexing that beautiful, best looking version of a evh guitar there is
What is it called?
I saw a stop motion of a Jawa playing eruption...he played it the right way too 😂🤘
Had that same magazine, yeah it was hugely frustrating. I could never make sense of this section of the solo.
You should do whole bad van halen tab book!!
I had and still have that Guitar Classics edition. Spent a lot of time working on this, so frustrating.
Rest in peace Eddie Van Halen, he was one of the best guitarists. ✌️☺️
"Very awkward fingerings..."
Ah, to be young again...
I am glancing over some of the old tabs now. Some of its definitely wrong.
Yes Mike…that is creepy..🫣
The "UPDATED" Van Halen tab book is very close to the new way you learned how to play it. Just wanted to let people know in case they want to own the book. Make sure you get the "updated" version.
The only truly accurate transcription of “Eruption” appeared in the February 2021 issue of Guitar World. No other version even comes close.
I have a Guitar Pro tab or a couple of them with the correct way to play this and the rest of the song. Thank you Guitar Pro software,and file makers.
I think I had that same magazine issue. Recognize the cover. Seems like a long time ago.
Love the bad tab videos
😂 Bought that magazine as a new guitarist as a teen (and still have it). Helped me some with Rock N Roll… but Eruption was just a big fat no. Probably pushed me away from tabs then too. I was impatient and had more fun picking things out by ear.
What is that guitar you're playing? It looks awesome.
The tab book was what made me abandon learning this song. I've never even tried since
Awesome video! Who painted that guitar? Is that silver tape or paint? Love the finish
That tape you used on your guitar look really good
I still have the same magazine and the pages are yellow also.
My problem is I know when something is wrong but I can't work out how to make it right.