The very fast lick near the beginning of the “Panama” solo is an example that I played which is an extension of the Clapton “Sitting On Top of the World” ending solo lick patterns:
And another example of this Clapton inspired playing in the “When It’s Love” solo…(I played the last fast phrase at the end):
And that fast lick from “When It’s Love” begins with a similar string skipping pentatonic box lick that Dweezil mentioned and that I demonstrated in the beginning of the first solo in “Bottoms Up!”. The whole solo is another bluesy homage to Clapton and Billy Gibbons:
Here is a link to the live version of “Sitting On Top of the World” from Cream’s ‘Goodbye’ LP that was discussed as being so critical to Ed’s playing. The unaccompanied solo flourish at the end begins at around 4:34 here:
And this is my transcription of it. Ed would basically play these notes in different keys with either the verbatim left and right hand articulations as Clapton played it or with the addition of silent hammer-ons throughout nearly his entire lead guitar playing catalog:
Lick #1 and Lick #2 were identified by my friend Bill Flanagan who taught them to me and it was like opening a veritable Pandora’s Box of understanding Ed’s lead playing…it was a major “light bulb” moment for me!
Here are my handwritten TABs for the opening lick from the “Ice Cream Man” solo and the ending descending lick from that solo which were discussed in Ep. 23.
In all my transcriptions, I make sure to include the left hand fingers to use (I=Index, M=Middle, R=Ring, P=Pinky) and the pick hand picking directions (Up or Down) and of course the left hand articulations that Ed used which were discussed in this episode. Pay close attention to these because they are all critical to the overall sound and playability…as we said, these are all things that identified Ed without him ever plugging in his guitar! You’ll also see TAB for the descending pattern at the end of the solo that I also demonstrated.
To be clear on this opening pattern…I once thought that the single “transition” note at the 19th fret that is sounded on the string below the string where most of the notes occur as the pattern descends was a “silent hammer-on”. I now believe that it was indeed a picked note.
Here’s a link to my forum thread in which I go over what I’ve learned about how to set up a Fender vibrato system. Dweezil mentioned this in this episode and this thread also includes links to the Fender vibrato set-up/mod videos of Italian luthier Galeazzo Frudua that we spoke about:
I realized that there were two excellent questions that Dweezil asked me about Ed’s Fender vibrato use and his tuning stability…he asked “Have you done that (all the Fender vibrato mods and setup tips that I included from Italian luthier Galeazzo Frudua and myself) to many guitars and does it always work?” and in the moment I totally forgot to answer those questions…and excellent questions they are and they deserve an answer!
So I have done that entire series of mods to two guitars that I own…my ‘78 black and white Musikraft body/Locke Custom Guitars neck Frankenstein and my 1968 Fender Strat that I mentioned was my first guitar. On the vintage Strat, I removed the entire stock bridge and then assembled and modded all new parts to create a totally new bridge with new modded parts…though I did use vintage Pat. Pend. stamped Strat saddles which are slightly rusted naturally just like those on my original Strat bridge so that they match the age of that guitar on a visual level.
The big question is “Does it always work?” and the answer to that question is a resounding YES! These two guitars stay COMPLETELY in tune, even after hours of playing Van Halen’s music and other general rock and blues playing styles with string bending and vibrato bar dive-bombing. And when I say “completely in tune”, I mean completely…I check the tuning periodically throughout the day with my Peterson strobe tuners, with sometimes 8 or more hours of playing time and the pitch of the strings remains perfectly in tune from where I originally tuned them…the strobe display on each open string remains “caged” or stock still with no movement up or down. Perfectly in tune.
This is for home use. I have had excellent results in a live setting as well, though I would imagine that being under outdoor variable humidity conditions and/or the boiling hot stage lights of a giant 70s and 80s Showco lighting rig (which is as hot as Dallas, Texas where those lights were born), there might be more challenges to that stability which Ed may have experienced. One thing that I have noted is that Ed seemed to stay in tune better with standard Fender non-locking vibrato equipped guitars at the end of 1978 going into the first half of 1979 than he did from 1977 through the most of the 1978 first world tour. I know he changed vibrato systems on the Frankenstein at that point to a 70s Fender vibrato which was different from the 1961 Fender Strat vibrato that was originally on his ‘61 sunburst Strat from which the neckplate and vibrato system was culled for the early iterations of the Frankenstein. I don’t know why that is…perhaps he discovered and applied some different mods? His playing style didn’t change at all, so I couldn’t say exactly why.
But I can firmly prove that I have achieved long lasting and demonstrably perfect tuning stability on my ‘78 style Frankenstein replica and my ‘68 Fender Strat when playing Van Halen music that was recorded or performed with a non-locking Fender or Fender style vibrato system.
You can hear at least some of my success with Fender vibrato tuning stability in Ep. 23 when I play the opening segment of “Eruption” and the “Ice Cream Man” solo on my ‘78 styled Frankenstein replica. I also used that guitar for my demo of the brief string skipping blues licks at the beginning of the first solo from “Bottoms Up!” though there are no “dive-bombs” with the vibrato bar in that solo, I still stay relatively well in tune even with the left hand bends in that solo. This “bend with the left hand/go slightly flat and dive with the bar to get back in tune” method that Ed used along with all the “Frudua” mods and other tips that I mentioned in my VHLinks Fender vibrato thread really works perfectly for Van Halen music that was recorded and performed with a Fender vibrato system!
When you get a chance, take a look at page 11 of my dissertation. I have some information I discovered about Edward's piano teacher. He may have had a bigger impact on Edward's understanding of music than we (guitarists) may have thought. All of my sources are cited for clarity and further research.
Yes…great point Roxy! I read your citation of Greg Renoff’s research on Alex and Edward’s piano teacher Stanley Kalvitis and it is clear that the piano and knowledge of it certainly impacted Ed greatly. Greg and I have spoken of this before and though most piano theory didn’t stay with Ed, there are many key concepts that did stay and work their way into Van Halen music!
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The very fast lick near the beginning of the “Panama” solo is an example that I played which is an extension of the Clapton “Sitting On Top of the World” ending solo lick patterns:
And another example of this Clapton inspired playing in the “When It’s Love” solo…(I played the last fast phrase at the end):
And that fast lick from “When It’s Love” begins with a similar string skipping pentatonic box lick that Dweezil mentioned and that I demonstrated in the beginning of the first solo in “Bottoms Up!”. The whole solo is another bluesy homage to Clapton and Billy Gibbons:
Here is a link to the live version of “Sitting On Top of the World” from Cream’s ‘Goodbye’ LP that was discussed as being so critical to Ed’s playing. The unaccompanied solo flourish at the end begins at around 4:34 here:
https://youtu.be/rSlyX4eDq9s?si=0GrzM0nQTXG4AZZE
And this is my transcription of it. Ed would basically play these notes in different keys with either the verbatim left and right hand articulations as Clapton played it or with the addition of silent hammer-ons throughout nearly his entire lead guitar playing catalog:
Lick #1 and Lick #2 were identified by my friend Bill Flanagan who taught them to me and it was like opening a veritable Pandora’s Box of understanding Ed’s lead playing…it was a major “light bulb” moment for me!
Here are my handwritten TABs for the opening lick from the “Ice Cream Man” solo and the ending descending lick from that solo which were discussed in Ep. 23.
In all my transcriptions, I make sure to include the left hand fingers to use (I=Index, M=Middle, R=Ring, P=Pinky) and the pick hand picking directions (Up or Down) and of course the left hand articulations that Ed used which were discussed in this episode. Pay close attention to these because they are all critical to the overall sound and playability…as we said, these are all things that identified Ed without him ever plugging in his guitar! You’ll also see TAB for the descending pattern at the end of the solo that I also demonstrated.
To be clear on this opening pattern…I once thought that the single “transition” note at the 19th fret that is sounded on the string below the string where most of the notes occur as the pattern descends was a “silent hammer-on”. I now believe that it was indeed a picked note.
Here’s a link to my forum thread in which I go over what I’ve learned about how to set up a Fender vibrato system. Dweezil mentioned this in this episode and this thread also includes links to the Fender vibrato set-up/mod videos of Italian luthier Galeazzo Frudua that we spoke about:
https://www.vhlinks.com/vbforums/threads/66343-Van-Halen-Fender-Vibrato-System-Use-amp-My-Tips-For-Keeping-It-In-Tune
I realized that there were two excellent questions that Dweezil asked me about Ed’s Fender vibrato use and his tuning stability…he asked “Have you done that (all the Fender vibrato mods and setup tips that I included from Italian luthier Galeazzo Frudua and myself) to many guitars and does it always work?” and in the moment I totally forgot to answer those questions…and excellent questions they are and they deserve an answer!
So I have done that entire series of mods to two guitars that I own…my ‘78 black and white Musikraft body/Locke Custom Guitars neck Frankenstein and my 1968 Fender Strat that I mentioned was my first guitar. On the vintage Strat, I removed the entire stock bridge and then assembled and modded all new parts to create a totally new bridge with new modded parts…though I did use vintage Pat. Pend. stamped Strat saddles which are slightly rusted naturally just like those on my original Strat bridge so that they match the age of that guitar on a visual level.
The big question is “Does it always work?” and the answer to that question is a resounding YES! These two guitars stay COMPLETELY in tune, even after hours of playing Van Halen’s music and other general rock and blues playing styles with string bending and vibrato bar dive-bombing. And when I say “completely in tune”, I mean completely…I check the tuning periodically throughout the day with my Peterson strobe tuners, with sometimes 8 or more hours of playing time and the pitch of the strings remains perfectly in tune from where I originally tuned them…the strobe display on each open string remains “caged” or stock still with no movement up or down. Perfectly in tune.
This is for home use. I have had excellent results in a live setting as well, though I would imagine that being under outdoor variable humidity conditions and/or the boiling hot stage lights of a giant 70s and 80s Showco lighting rig (which is as hot as Dallas, Texas where those lights were born), there might be more challenges to that stability which Ed may have experienced. One thing that I have noted is that Ed seemed to stay in tune better with standard Fender non-locking vibrato equipped guitars at the end of 1978 going into the first half of 1979 than he did from 1977 through the most of the 1978 first world tour. I know he changed vibrato systems on the Frankenstein at that point to a 70s Fender vibrato which was different from the 1961 Fender Strat vibrato that was originally on his ‘61 sunburst Strat from which the neckplate and vibrato system was culled for the early iterations of the Frankenstein. I don’t know why that is…perhaps he discovered and applied some different mods? His playing style didn’t change at all, so I couldn’t say exactly why.
But I can firmly prove that I have achieved long lasting and demonstrably perfect tuning stability on my ‘78 style Frankenstein replica and my ‘68 Fender Strat when playing Van Halen music that was recorded or performed with a non-locking Fender or Fender style vibrato system.
You can hear at least some of my success with Fender vibrato tuning stability in Ep. 23 when I play the opening segment of “Eruption” and the “Ice Cream Man” solo on my ‘78 styled Frankenstein replica. I also used that guitar for my demo of the brief string skipping blues licks at the beginning of the first solo from “Bottoms Up!” though there are no “dive-bombs” with the vibrato bar in that solo, I still stay relatively well in tune even with the left hand bends in that solo. This “bend with the left hand/go slightly flat and dive with the bar to get back in tune” method that Ed used along with all the “Frudua” mods and other tips that I mentioned in my VHLinks Fender vibrato thread really works perfectly for Van Halen music that was recorded and performed with a Fender vibrato system!
Allen,
When you get a chance, take a look at page 11 of my dissertation. I have some information I discovered about Edward's piano teacher. He may have had a bigger impact on Edward's understanding of music than we (guitarists) may have thought. All of my sources are cited for clarity and further research.
Yes…great point Roxy! I read your citation of Greg Renoff’s research on Alex and Edward’s piano teacher Stanley Kalvitis and it is clear that the piano and knowledge of it certainly impacted Ed greatly. Greg and I have spoken of this before and though most piano theory didn’t stay with Ed, there are many key concepts that did stay and work their way into Van Halen music!