3/7/2012 (Power Trio-Power Quartet)

So, Van Halen is back...again and, the guitar community is all abuzz as it tends to get every time Eddie Van Halen emerges from the shadows and proves that he can still play.

It appears as well that it is time once again to revisit the old E.V.H/Eric Clapton discussion as evidenced by the fact that I've found myself involved in the conversation with many guitar buds lately.

As we know, Eddie invoked the Eric Clapton influence early on in many interviews. A lot of Ed's disciples don't hear, see or wish to acknowledge the connection.

And the talk often centers around the idea of evolution; both in gear and musicianship. Without getting in to the validity of either of those notions, I would like to point out one simple aspect that seems to be overlooked. That is; the power trio compared to the power quartet (a power quartet being a front man+guitar, bass, drums format for this discussion).

I will point out that when Ed was cutting his guitar teeth, he was smack dab in the era when power trios, namely Cream and the Jimi Hendrix Experience, ruled the guitar roost. That was the stuff floating around the atmosphere and stuff of licks to be copped.

A couple of years later, you had bands like Led Zeppelin coming to the fore and the three piece with a front man unit became all the rage. But, I submit that Eddie, at that point, was already stylistically on his way and when recalls early influences he reaches back before the power quartet (which has always been the Van Halen format) became the norm.

The thing is this; you play differently in a power trio than in a power quartet. If one player, who is responsible for holding down part of the groove, is singing lead at the same time, he/she plays different and therefore the other players play different.

If you have three players backing a vocalist, they have a different level of groove concentration going on.

When it comes time, to solo section or non-vocal sections, in either case (trio-quartet) the overall vibe is going to differ as well because how you attack a section is influenced by what you were doing directly before it.

So, I will say that Eddie Van Halen took something away from Clapton's playing in a power trio, and you can argue tone-phrasing-licks here, and applied it to the quartet format which, allows for different grooves and overall attitude in playing.

And...you may say I'm off my rocker and if so, so it be.

Take a look at the live videos here and notice how the grooves hold during vocal sections and how musical transitions flow in the live settings with the prime suspects.

 Page was so cool with a Tele, wasn't he?

3/6/2012 (Joe Bonamassa gets around)

Joe Bonamassa and well...everybody.

Nobody gets around like Joe Bonamassa.

If he isn't your favorite guitar slinger he probably has played with whoever is.

A quick YouTube search unearths such gems as Joe, as a wee lad, working out with Danny Gatton's bunch...

Stuff you'd expect like, Joe stompin' with bluesers like Walter Trout...

To stuff that may surprise like Joe sitting in with classical rocker Jethro Tull...

And, Bonamassa doesn't confine his collaborations to just those still on this mortal coil either. Check out these clips where he's hooking up with deceased guitar hero's iconic axes...

And really, this is just scratching the surface. There are a bunch more clips of Bonamassa jamming with well...everybody.

Speaks well of the guy I say, works and plays well with others, ya' know?

3/4/2012 (louder isn't always better)

Let me tell you how I got on to the trail of Eric Johnson, Joe Satriani and Steve Vai this morning; I follow Eric on Twitter (click here to follow Eric) and this morning, E.J. tweeted a link to a Chicago Tribune article by Kevin Williams from January 5th. In it, the writer invoked some info and opinion on the 1996 G3 tour that featured the guitar virtuosi (heh heh...that's plural for virtuoso, I learned that before I left college to go play some Stones tunes)...

There is an immense, veritable pig pile of reasons to love guitar wizard Eric Johnson. Tinnitus is but one.

It was 1996, and the G3 concert tour, featuring Johnson, Steve Vai and Joe Satriani was all the rage...

...The upside is that because of that volume-related hearing problem, Johnson couldn't play loud. Which meant that nobody could. The result was one of the best-sounding shows you'd ever want to hear at the Aragon, which turned out to be a wonderful-sounding room, since a sound engineer wasn't trying to bludgeon it into submission with volume. So there's Johnson to thank for that voyage of discovery, even if the show turned out to be too much of a good thing. Mind you, that won't be a problem this time through, as it's just Johnson, without any other string-bending demons.

This guy clearly favors Johnson and also brings up an interesting subject with the whole tinnitus thing (an I love the phrase "pig pile" too btw), louder isn't always better.

Interesting clip here from those G3 days and notice that E.J. is wearing the headphones...also notice how each guy puts forth some stylistic matter over the basic blues format.

3/3/2012 (Semi-Hollow)

Larry Carlton and Lee Ritenour.

A couple of things about this clip really caught my attention...first off; Carlton has this great knowledge and feel of what I call inside/outside playing (the ability to move between relative harmony and altered notes). Check out this intro! There's some stuff he does right after the :30 mark that is way quick and way out. Also, it's nice to hear Larry on the 335 again.

Rit kills me! His solo starts and, if you had your eyes closed, you'd swear it was Carlton playing the gear he had on the Royal Scam record. Great crunchy, bitey yet smooth...

3/2/2012 (KINGS of the Delta Blues)

“If you want to learn how to make songs yourself, you take your guitar and your go to where the road crosses that way, where a crossroads is. Get there be sure to get there just a little ‘ fore 12 that night so you know you’ll be there. You have your guitar and be playing a piece there by yourself…A big black man will walk up there and take your guitar and he’ll tune it. And then he’ll play a piece and hand it back to you. That’s the way I learned to play anything I want.”

Who said that?

Why, Mr. Johnson said that. Yes, yes...but...it was Tommy Johnson not Robert who told this particular tale of going down to the crossroads.

Lots of common ground between these two down to the whimsical Hollywood interpretations and it would be tough to pick one against the other.

One thing is for sure though, if you asked for water and she gave you gasoline, the blues would fall down like hail.

3/1/2012

Tone.

The Blues.

Which came first, the TONE or the BLUES?

How about Billy Gibbons...

...or...

...Ritchie Blackmore?

Yep, these two tunes are revered "blues-based" rock tonal benchmarks, milestones if you will; landmarks along the the long and lonesome blues based tonal highway,

Here we have a pair of versions well down the line from the original cuts. Do you suppose they are re-worked or, do they evolve?

Ahh...there's much to discuss here but, one thing that's technically off the table is the Fender vs. Gibson thread. Look close at the axe in the Reverend's hands, it's a Tokai which is stuff of legend in it's own right. Wiki sayeth...

 The Tokai "Les Paul Reborn" model started in 1978 and by 1980 Tokai had changed the name from "Les Paul Reborn" first to "Reborn Old" and then to the "Love Rock Model". This was in response to threats from the American companies to go to court to protect their copyrights. Thus these models are generically known as "Lawsuit Guitars"

2/29/2012

Let the battle begin!

Vintage Eddie Van Halen complete with cigarette, scissors kicks and pick flips...

...against...

The young and open shirted Yngwie J. Mamlsteen and his equally open bag of tricks.

Vote with your comments.