Відео

@@gtrrobster Thanks very much indeed! I’m really passionate about helping others who genuinely want to learn…I went through so much frustration as a young person in the 80s because of the faulty transcriptions that were out there and anything I can do to help alleviate those frustrations for someone else is worth the effort! If you haven’t seen it already, be sure to look for my complete “Eruption” transcription and an article with many of my words on the piece in the February 2021 issue of Guitar World which you can find on eBay, Reverb or as a back-issue direct from Guitar World. I provided the download link for the pdf of my “Eruption” transcription in the Description of these videos, but it is nice to read the accompanying article too!

Hah! I’m glad to know we haven’t bored you yet!🤘🏻

⁠@@AllenGarberGuitarFun 😂 Very much the opposite. The segment regarding use of the phase 90, the Alan Holdsworth influence, vibrato, the whole thing is super interesting .

Thank you…this video is really a companion to my detailed study of Edward’s specific tuning offsets. As far as I’ve been able to tell, he arrived at the many tuning offsets by ear in conjunction with the Peterson strobe tuners that he used for his entire career. As far as I’ve been able to tell, he didn’t use different offsets based on string thickness because he used the same gauges for nearly his entire life. Also, I’ve never seen any interview in which he claimed to have “burned through frets every month” at any time, but if you have a specific quote, I’d really be interested in seeing it. To learn more about the specific tuning offsets that Edward used, please read through my forum thread on the subject here: www.vhlinks.com/vbforums/threads/62695-Van-Halen-tunings-with-Peterson-strobe-tuner-reference

As you know, all that stuff is the hat trick! I try to make these demo videos to help people learn the mechanics of how Eddie played the parts in terms of left hand fingerings and right hand picking directions, but you are 100% correct…getting the timing and the soul once you have the notes is the hard part and it is something I need to work much harder on! Thanks very much for your honest assessment, I appreciate it very much and I take it to heart!

Thank you for the encouragement Tom! As much of a Van Halen fan as I am, my original music tends to be more folky…I co-write with an amazing female singer that I’ve worked with for decades and we’ve done our duo act off and on since 1997 and we occasionally do some full band shows of covers with a few originals. Now that I’m 52 with a 9 year old and a 6 year old and an amazing wife, I tend to work on transcribing Van Halen’s catalog and some other transcribing work. I also give more guitar lessons than ever, especially over Zoom. But I’m really grateful for your interest in my original music…it’s nothing spectacular, but my singer has a great voice and she’s incredibly charismatic. She’s somewhat of a local legend here in Houston. She and blues firecracker Carolyn Wonderland started out together and I think of my music as a means to showcase her incredible voice and presence. I really should put some examples on my UA-cam channel…I neglect it because my own study of Edward has been so intense for so many decades and my own home life sort’ve takes over everything. But I receive your comment with the sincerest gratitude and I do take it as encouragement to put some of my originals out there! Thank you again so much for your comment…our mutual pal JD Simo has been a dear friend for years and he has also offered me encouragement as well. I’m not anywhere near the cocksman that you guys are and I’m floored that you checked out my little clip and completely gobsmacked at your considerate comment!

@@AllenGarberGuitarFun I saw the thing on the UTBN UA-cam channel where you were VERY harshly criticizing that guy in that Van Halen tribute band… Where was THIS sweet kind polite guy who just responded to my comment at THAT moment Allen? It’s ok to think negative things to yourself about what other people are doing, but to publicly attack them so viciously is a pretty bad choice. There’s all kinds of music I severely dislike too, but you simply just CANNOT go around attacking people like you did…it just doesn’t work man. The EVH catalog is not YOUR music Allen…yes you may have dedicated your whole life to studying it…but you had absolutely nothing to do with the creation of it. Even if Eddie himself, who DID create it, bashed someone as strongly as you did for doing a bad EVH tribute band it would still be very awkward and tasteless… but for someone who is just a FAN like yourself, to bash the guy that harshly is just totally unacceptable. I don’t even know the guy, but you might want to seriously consider a heartfelt apology to him my friend.

@501chorusecho You are quite correct. I try to bear in mind that anyone that is on a stage or making money in any kind of way in the music business is performing a miracle and I should treat those that have done so as miracle workers. I honestly believe that. I have devoted a lot of my life to transcribing Edward’s playing and I do get particularly riled when I see some players attempt to play his music in a tribute band without a solid basic understanding of his playing. This is why I’ve tried to help anyone in understanding how Eddie played what he played on a technical level. This is the part that gets missed so often by players and transcribers. There is the MAJOR component of pocket and soul that is well beyond the mechanics that I transcribe and teach, but I concentrate on helping people get the notes and articulations correct as a first step to getting deep into the timing and the soul. That guy and others are clearly lost on the mechanics and I was shocked that so many were commenting on how he sounded “exactly like Edward” or words to that effect and I overreacted to that. You are right…I didn’t need to go so hard. What the UTBN people may have left out (I wasn’t aware they were commenting on me) is that I’ve given free private lessons to several tribute band players over the last ten years. I really want to help people in any way that I can who want to better comprehend Edward’s playing. I’m really sincere in this.

@@AllenGarberGuitarFun well....good talks man...see ya down the road allen. in the future, just try to keep in mind that we all (including Eddie Van Halen, just ask him) are just a bunch of musical children when we compare ourselves to the Beatles. if any of us need to be remind ourselves how to be humble at any point, just think about the fact that those 4 low income boys from liverpool that happened to write the most culturally, multi-generationally inclusive, important music the world has ever seen or will ever see, weren't even 30 years old when the band broke up.

You are absolutely correct, I am way off on the riff itself, particularly in the open string chugs. I only hit it two times instead of the actual three times here. My original intent was to demonstrate the “in-between” notes that occur elsewhere in the intro rather than just the main riff segment. Jacob is excellent and you are right, he can absolutely play this entire piece much better than I did here. I can play this a lot better. I made this one take clip after not playing at all for almost three months while my wife was in the shower and my 1 year old daughter was playing in a downstairs area. I will say that as far as the specific “in-between”/pickup notes that I intended to demonstrate, I did execute those perfectly. I do intend to do a more thought out and more rehearsed demonstration and lesson on this entire recording once I finish transcribing it. I have been working on correcting the faulty Van Halen transcriptions done in the past and I am trying to go album by album…though I have been sidetracked by working on other recordings in the catalog, I have so far completed “Eruption” (my transcription of that appeared in the February 2021 issue of Guitar World), “Runnin’ With the Devil” and “On Fire”. I’ll be working on “You Really Got Me” next. As I mentioned, I did get sidetracked by working on other transcriptions which included “Jump” (my research on that recording was mentioned by my friend writer Chris Gill in the May 2024 issue of Guitar World) and “Hot For Teacher” which is currently in it’s final phase of engraving as of this writing. It takes me months and sometimes years to complete my detailed transcriptions and the engraving is an expensive process that I pay for out of my own pocket. But I’m passionate about getting the pieces transcribed correctly so that others don’t go through the frustration that I and many others experienced by learning from faulty and poorly researched transcriptions over the last 40 or so years. I’m a big fan of Jacob. He was a guest on Dweezil Zappa’s Van Halen oriented podcast called ‘Runnin’ With the Dweezil’. I was also the featured guest on that podcast just prior to Jacob which you might enjoy listening to here: ua-cam.com/video/DScnML3sZzk/v-deo.htmlsi=WdiTYclf3IerVJSv

I do indeed believe that he picked the transition notes at the 19th fret of each successive string on the record, though I know that when he played it live he almost certainly accidentally or on purpose ended up using a hammer-on from nowhere at the 19th fret during his haphazard attempts at playing this lick. When he played it live he was never able to execute it correctly as he did it in the studio…based on interview evidence about this specific lick, I believe he was sitting down on a stool when he cut the solo for the album. It is possible that he did use a hammer-on from nowhere at those points during the execution of the lick on the album (I’ll have to go back and have another listen) but I think it will help you to execute the lick more cleanly and consistently if you pick it. I do think it is VERY important to use the exact left hand fingering that Edward used in every case…this is why I include the exact left hand fingerings and picking directions in my transcriptions. It might be a bit uncomfortable at first, but it is well worth it to do it correctly. I wouldn’t say it is a preference thing…when you are attempting to learn Eddie note-for-note, you’ll only serve that task properly if you follow the left hand fingerings and articulations along with the right hand picking directions exactly! Here’s my plugged in version of the solo using my vintage Phase 90…ua-cam.com/video/M1Vl5it1TZk/v-deo.htmlsi=kD0wAVKAc8Vp57xc

@@AllenGarberGuitarFun Thank you for your detailed response, man. Interesting stuff for sure - I never heard about Ed sitting down when he played the solo on the album, but it would make sense since he never was able to play it as cleanly live (as you've said). I agree with your points about using the correct left hand fingerings and picking directions - it is uncomfortable at first using the middle, but I'm starting to get the hand of it now, I think! Excellent job on this, as always.

​​​@@AllenGarberGuitarFunAllen, please let me know if my comments are becoming incessant, but another thought I've had recently whilst listening to the slowed down isolated guitar track is perhaps Ed was picking five out of the seven notes in this sequence, as opposed to six. In particular, I think he may have been hammering on to the 16th fret high e string (instead of picking it) pulling off to the 12th fret, and then picking the 19th fret b string. This picking pattern would then be repeated on the subsequent strings. I seem to remember reading a thread on the VHLinks forum a while back, where your friend wjamflan transcribed it this way, but I could be misremembering. This is the way I hear it being articulated - I don't hear the 16th fret being picked at the point in the sequence I've just described. Does this make sense? I hope so...

@@jordanrussell-howard9491 No worries at all…in fact, I’m glad that you asked about this because I checked the link for the TAB that I included in the ‘Description’ section of my “plugged-in” clip of the “Ice Cream Man” solo and I realized that it was an outdated version. I have put a link to the correct TAB with the fingerings and picking directions that I have been using for a very long time…for over 10 years in fact! I changed it shortly after I made this video! imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/3051/gZlX9g.jpg Also, for some strange reason (maybe a copyright algorithm got me) it appears that this old video of me playing directly on top of the isolated guitar track has had the audio muted completely! I didn’t even get any notice that this was done!

​@@AllenGarberGuitarFun Ah, I gotcha man. Thanks for linking the updated tab - I'll definitely be having a good look at it! Strange about the audio being muted - I seem to be hearing it fine on my end? It's annoying how UA-cam doesn't let uploaders know about this stuff, I agree...

Thank you! I can play this a lot more accurately now and I’ve recently completed a complete and accurate transcription of the entire song. If this sounds good, it is down to the great amp that my friend Mark modded for me!

Yes to all of that. As I mentioned in the podcast, a major lightbulb moment when I stopped using .011 gauged GHS Boomer Medium strings and purple heavy Tortex picks and started using the strings and picks that Edward used. It was such a huge difference…HUGE.

No, Edward was just using tuning offsets in the same way that many guitarists have for decades. This video is actually meant to be a companion to my extensive forum thread which contains the research I have done regarding EVH’s use of tuning offsets. In it, I have cataloged some of the many offsets that Eddie used throughout his career. You can read that thread here: www.vhlinks.com/vbforums/threads/62695-Van-Halen-tunings-with-Peterson-strobe-tuner-reference

@@AllenGarberGuitarFun - But what is accomplished, sound-wise, by the offsets? It's changing the sound of certain intervals, but to what end? Give me the Cliff's Notes version, if you would be so kind. 🙂

@@a2ndopynyn​​⁠If you look in the ‘Description’ section of this video, you will find a link to a video by James Taylor that explains it simply and succinctly. Essentially, tuning offsets can also be called “compromise tuning”. Tuning offsets can be done for specific song parts which are played at certain parts of the neck (as in “Runnin’ With the Devil” for instance) OR a tuning offset can yield more pleasing intervals across the entirety of the open strings and all fretted notes. All this without Tru Tempered zig-zag frets or Buzz Feiten systems. Tuning offsets can be used on many instruments include pianos, harps, steel drums, etc. all sorts of instruments. This is not a new concept…in fact it has been done for many decades if not since musical instruments began. But for some reason this knowledge has escaped many if not most guitarists. I’m not sure why that is the case…I figured this out when I was around 14 years old in 1986 without anyone telling me about it…it just became obvious to me as I learned from and listened to records and as I learned about guitar set-up and intonation, that tuning all the strings of a guitar to direct pitches at +/- 0.0 cents is a recipe for disaster. If you want to understand HOW Edward tuned, I again recommend reading my forum thread on the subject. The exact WHY is as I’ve explained and as James Taylor explained. Also there are videos from Peterson tuners that explain the entire concept and reasoning for “Sweetened tunings”, “tuning offsets” and “compromise tunings”…all of which are terms that can be used interchangeably.

@@AllenGarberGuitarFun - Thank you for an interesting and informative reply. However, I'm now even more convinced that what they're trying to achieve is basically 'mean-tone' tuning. If you would, with your knowledge of tuning offsets, do a little digging into mean-tone, and see if perhaps you do not also see a correlation there? As an example of what I mean, do you know of any jazz guitarists who use offsets? I suspect there are none. Whereas rock songs usually stay in one key, jazz modulates constantly. So whatever key the guitar is 'offset' to sweeten would sound fine, but keys more than a couple of steps away on the Circle would sound much worse than a +/- 0.0 cents even-temper tune. In fact, the whole point of even-temper is to facilitate modulation to all keys without having to retune. Thanks!

@@a2ndopynyn I’m totally aware of mean-tone tuning, but the artists that I mentioned who use tuning offsets did not, especially not EVH who had no appreciable knowledge of music theory. This is where many get confused because mean tone tuning is designed to give more pleasing third intervals on a piano…of course it can be applied to guitar and other instruments. But the tuning offsets of Page, Allman, Van Halen, Iommi, Leslie West, etc. were arrived at through their own experimentation using their ears and eventually their ears in conjunction with strobe tuners. None of them had any knowledge of the specific increments used in piano mean tuning. There is a correlation between mean tone tuning and tuning offsets in general…mean tone tuning is simply ONE example of offset tuning. I’m not a jazz guitar player or student of jazz, so I couldn’t say whether some use tuning offsets. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were though. The list of rock and blues guitar players that use them is long though…Eric Johnson uses them, Will Ray, John Jorgensen and Jerry Donahue of The Hellecasters, the list is endless-and these people play across the entire guitar as much as jazz players…in fact these are jazz influenced guitar players. Again, it is obvious that mean tone tuning on a piano is just one EXAMPLE of tuning offsets in general. I think you might be thinking about tuning offsets in a theoretical manner rather than actually TRYING them. You assume that +/-0.0 cent tuning “would sound much worse” in different keys across the fingerboard. That is just not the case in practice because it is dependent on the particular offset that is chosen. I strongly suggest that you read through my Van Halen tuning offset forum thread that I posted a link to earlier because it answers all the questions you have asked. Also, as I may have mentioned, I’m a Peterson tuners artist and Peterson has videos which explain what “Sweetened” tunings are(“Sweetened” is another word for “tuning offsets”). There are many videos on their company UA-cam channel which might help you to understand what I’m talking about…again, I have linked them in my forum thread on Van Halen’s use of tuning offsets, but I can post some links here for you if you just can’t bring yourself to read through my forum thread: ua-cam.com/video/yPvMwKbQFfA/v-deo.htmlsi=zQs2QhrAEAjMleu3 Again…the point of even tempered tuning MAY have been to facilitate modulation in all keys without having to retune in relation to guitar, but that is just not the reality of the physics of guitars or indeed pianos. You must conceptualize that a piano and a guitar are not very different. Stretch tuning and mean tone tuning are used on pianos in the same way that tuning offsets in general are used on MANY instruments including guitars. Your contention that even tempered tuning sounds better across the entirety of the open strings and whole fingerboard of the guitar is just not correct.

Thanks very much indeed! I’m glad it was useful to you…be sure to look in the ‘Description’ section of this video for my complete transcription of the “Beat It” solo and the “Girl Gone Bad” solo…they are the only accurate versions out there!

It is great! I changed a few things on it…a 50s wiring assembly with bumblebee caps from RS Guitarworks, new Tonepros Kluson tuners, a Tonepros bridge and my own custom Seymour Duncan pickup in the bridge. It is righteous!

Thank you! I do believe this is true…though there is a completely other level to practicing with a roaring amplifier and cabinet going. For me, it has always worked well to do both…but practicing on an unplugged guitar or very clean sound comes first. After that is perfected, then I work on playing with a loud amp….both crucial, but I think it really helps to work clean first!

Very cool! Yes, I remember you as well! The CVH forum was the very first forum I ever joined, followed by the MetroAmp forum and later the VHLinks forum which I’m still on today! Thanks for checking out my lesson clip! Be sure to look in the ‘Description’ section of this clip for a pdf of my transcription of “Eruption”. I posted it on VHLinks and then shortly after Eddie died, my transcription was published in the February 2021 issue of Guitar World. That magazine also includes a comprehensive article on the piece that also has many of my words in it. Be sure to get a copy on eBay or Reverb if you don’t have a copy yet. You can also buy a digital copy from Guitar World. pocketmags.com/us/guitar-world-magazine/february-2021

I have indeed. There is no comparison. The early Dunlop reissues are better than than the EVH, but none are THE sound of the vintage ones. That’s actually part of why I made this video. Someone could do a shoot-out video, but I don’t see the point…the vintage ones are obviously the only ones that get THE sound!

@@AllenGarberGuitarFun thank you! Sounds like I should get the real deal haha! I just got a hand-wired ‘74 CSP026 Phase 90 script reissue with true bypass mod and it sounds awesome! Pure VH debut album imo

@@sunsgettingreallow8318 That's a great one...virtually indistinguishable from my vintage "Bud Box" MXR Phase 90 that I used in this clip! It is a pity they can't properly reissue the Reticon chip equipped MXR Flanger!

I completely understand what you’ve said. I’m trying my best to use language that is more easily understood by people with no background in music theory and especially those who struggle with the difference between equal temperament and the spaces in between which are addressed by tuning offsets. My efforts may be clumsy and perhaps you know of a better way to explain this to these people (which in my experience is the vast majority of guitarists) then I’m anxious to hear any suggestions that you might have. I’m trying to get people to understand that there are named notes that are +/- 0.0 cents and then there are those same notes which are by degrees quantifiably variable from that target pitch. How would you describe it so that the average guitar player with zero background in music theory and who has a fairly closed mind to what I’m discussing can comprehend these concepts? Tuning offsets have been a fact of life for me since I started learning from recordings at around age 10. These concepts became quickly obvious to me and I just assumed that every player understood this as standard operating procedure. But alas and alack…the opposite turned out to be true in the intervening 40 years. I’m still shocked at how many people don’t understand this. Yes, it is obvious that “Runnin’ With the Devil” is “harmonic simplicity” defined…but it is far from simple. Take a look at my transcription…there is A LOT there that is unusual within that harmonically simple framework: drive.google.com/file/d/11NpmLe-FYlo7s2BnvJdHW-blYfq6_-nT/view?usp=drivesdk

@@AllenGarberGuitarFun Thanks for your explanation and I do understand you have thought out these tuning offsets and know how to use them!

I see what you are talking about in that clip, and I do think that might be what he did in that clip and possibly on that tour. It is slightly easier way to execute the lick that way and I think that might be why he did it that way then. Ed did say that “Girl Gone Bad” was THE most difficult song for him to play on the reunion tours and sometimes they would drop it from the set if he wasn’t feeling up to it. But I still think the pattern that I demonstrate is correct to what he did on the original recordings and live shows on the ‘1984’ tour for “GGB” and when he would execute the lick live and in other places like the “Beat It” solo. This might be an agree to disagree moment, but I’m pretty certain that there is no change in the picking pattern from the open string “Eruption”/“I’m the One”/“Somebody Get Me a Doctor” iterations of the lick and those in “Girl Gone Bad” and “Beat It”. This upscaled ‘Live Without a Net’ solo footage shows him when he was at an arguable peak of his technique and at the two-minute and twenty eight second mark and I think you will see that he executes the lick in the “Beat It” position as I demonstrate it. The camera doesn’t catch the very beginning of the lick straight on because it changes angles at just that moment, but I think you can see on the successive repeats that he is executing it in the way that I demonstrate it here.

@@AllenGarberGuitarFun Hallo, mate. Thanks for your detailed response - I love discussing this stuff. Yeah, this may very well be an "agree to disagree" moment, because I'm pretty convinced he always played it the way I've described. I have watched that segment of the LWAN solo you mentioned many times, slowed down, and the picking movements I've described (up on the high e, followed by a down on the b, and then a "hammer on from nowhere" on the g) seem clear as day to me. The way I see it, his picking hand is moving way too much for it to be just a single upstroke. I'll try find more convincing/clear footage of him playing this lick to see if it changes your mind. Whilst I agree the 'Girl Gone Bad' and 'Beat It' stretch licks are analogous to the open string lick found in 'Eruption', 'I'm the One' and 'Somebody Get Me a Doctor', I do think that he changed the way he picked it, perhaps to accommodate for being higher up on the neck (as you said, it is slightly easier to play it the way I've described). Either way, I appreciate all the work you've done on decoding Ed's playing - It's been a lifesaver! Edit: I suspect you may be familiar with this footage, where Ed plays 'Beat It' live with Michael Jackson. I appreciate the quality of the footage is pretty poor, but at the eleven second mark, Ed plays the stretch lick and, to my eyes, you can clearly see his picking hand performing an up-down motion. I can even hear the down stroke on the b string when I slow the video down... m.ua-cam.com/video/ShV2Hu8veoE/v-deo.html&pp=ygUhYmVhdCBpdCBsaXZlIHdpdGggZWRkaWUgdmFuIGhhbGVu

@@jordanrussell-howard9491​​⁠Thank you! Another thing you might consider is that he does a Downstroke string hop over the 1st string to get back to do the Upstroke of the open high E…I think that string hop Downstroke might make it appear as if he is Down picking the B string. I will keep listening and looking at the footage and I’ll take what you say into consideration!

@@AllenGarberGuitarFun Hey, man, dunno if this helps any more, but I stumbled upon this footage today. If you go to 2:51, you can see Ed playing the GGB stretch lick, and fortunately for us, it's got a nice and clear, up-close shot of his picking hand. Once again, I can see this up-down motion of the picking hand - I don't think it gets any clearer than this! ua-cam.com/video/w_e6_NufdQI/v-deo.html

@@jordanrussell-howard9491I’ve seen that footage before and I think that clearly shows that there is only the one picked note on the high E. What you are perceiving visually as a Downstroke on the B is just not what is happening. It appears that way because you see the Upstroke and then the escape of the pick above the B and then the “hopping” over the high E which looks like a Downstroke as he gets back in position to repeat the Upstroke on the high E. Once you understand that this is what you are seeing, then listen closely to that note on the B string that you think you are seeing being picked with a Downstroke. You should hear that there is no pick attack…it is just a clean “hammer-on from nowhere” as I demonstrate it here. You can hear this in the isolated guitar solo track from “Beat It” especially clearly. You are obviously free to play it as you see fit, but the evidence points to Edward actually playing this lick in the same way as I have it in all the examples, regardless of whether it is done with the open high E as in “Somebody Get Me a Doctor”, “Eruption”, “I’m the One”, “5150” etc. or with all fretted notes with the left hand stretch as on “Girl Gone Bad”, “Bottoms Up!” and “Beat It” as well as that live 1982 clip that you posted. The key is to follow the tip that I have posted about how to mute properly in order to get that “hammer-on from nowhere” to sound almost like a picked note. This is something that even Sammy remarked on…that Eddie’s hammer-ons are so crisp and strong that they sound like other people’s picked notes. It is probably the key point of why I made these tutorials because it is absolutely imperative to understand this in order to execute the lick the way Eddie actually executed it. ua-cam.com/video/lIL27p_MAfA/v-deo.htmlsi=jJpjBwNAL5CvcKXE

I play the entire solo here and I have the handwritten TAB that I created back in 1997 when I recorded this. ua-cam.com/video/W443_DdglYk/v-deo.htmlsi=Wyfd0YkIUeFT3qbx

@@AllenGarberGuitarFun TYSM 👑👑

Well some of the people you have encountered may have misconstrued Eddie’s original quote about tuning and Michael. That quote referred to Eddie tuning to his offsets by ear and then telling Mike to tune to him. Which is what he did. I’ve actually spoken to Michael Anthony’s bass technician Kevin Dugan who has been with him from 1978 until this very day and he said to me: “I will tell you that Michael basically was always just a half step down. Edward was more into unusual tunings but it rarely changed our tuning. Maybe once in a great while.” (This is a direct quote from him in my Facebook Messenger conversation with him in November of 2022, though we have chatted on the phone as well as over Zoom before). Essentially when Edward used a tuning offset that was close to 1/2 step down, then Michael would tune 1/2 step down to direct pitches with no offset. When Edward would use an offset that was close to 1/4 step down (which was the case most of the time) then Mike would tune to exactly 1/4 step down with no offset on each of his 4 strings. The reason why this works is that bass frequencies are WAY more forgiving in terms of clashing intervals because chords are rarely played, most notes are almost never higher than the 7th fret and because those low frequencies are very hard to hear as being out of tune when you are that close to the actual pitch of the guitar or other instruments. So I’ve never seen or heard of any evidence of Edward tuning Mike’s bass for him. I’ve never actually heard anyone even make that claim before, so wherever you heard that from was clearly making something up.

I’m glad you enjoyed it! This video is really meant to be a companion to my detailed thread that covers Edward’s use of tuning offsets which you can read here: www.vhlinks.com/vbforums/threads/62695-Van-Halen-tunings-with-Peterson-strobe-tuner-reference

@@AllenGarberGuitarFun Very good! Great knowledge and information.

Hi Richard! Thanks for your question…the answer is absolutely not! Edward never used the MXR Phase 90 or the vintage MXR Flanger in an “always-on” capacity. Check out my complete run down of exactly where Edward turned on and off the Phase 90 and MXR Flanger on the first album track-by-track here: www.vhlinks.com/vbforums/threads/67097-Where-Ed-used-the-MXR-Phase-90-and-MXR-Flanger-on-the-first-album

Thank you so much Allen for taking time to answer my question. You are perfectly clear. I appreciate it very much.🙏

🤣🤣

It works on my modified Univox EC-80 A of course, but that is a very unreliable unit. My vintage Deluxe Memory Man obviously does it here. You can do it with a standard Boss DM-2, DD-3, etc. My friend Mark that helped me figure out the mod for the Univox EC-80 A had good luck with this pedal: ua-cam.com/video/OMYCt5KVbT0/v-deo.htmlsi=aoqJSzhaWdrCUmfg

@@AllenGarberGuitarFun hmm I have relatively easy access to reasonably priced used Carbon Copy and modern Memory Man pedals, but not so much the other ones 🤔 Funny you referred to that cool repeat offender video, I stumbled across it yesterday while trying to track down a pedal for this very specific job 😄

@@jamielodbergThat video was done by my friend Mark…it’s actually a simple trick, but there are some that do it and others that don’t. The Dunlop Echoplex will not do it for instance. I don’t have much experience with modern/post 1979 gear, but those ones I mentioned will do it. You should be able to find a used Boss DD-3 or similar Boss pedal that will be cheap and reliable.

He famously said that in an interview, but I’ve proven that wasn’t the case for nearly all studio recordings or and that it wasn’t the case for any live shows. This video is meant as a companion to my extensive forum thread on the subject of Edward’s use of tuning offsets which you can read here: www.vhlinks.com/vbforums/threads/62695-Van-Halen-tunings-with-Peterson-strobe-tuner-reference This should answer any questions that you might have about Edward’s tuning process.

The meaning here is that Templemon would have turned the pitch down to help Roth hit notes, but when raising the pitch back to default it can sometimes be noticeable in the voice, thus raising the pitch back closer to default zero but leaving it a little slower.

No that is not possible. If you watch this video and read through my companion forum thread on the subject of Edward’s use of tuning offsets, you will understand that the tunings have DIFFERENT STRINGS tuned to DIFFERENT DEGREES of difference from standard pitches FROM EACH OTHER. Tape speed manipulation would change the pitch of all the strings uniformly and again…tuning offsets are deliberate tunings that involve different strings being “out of standard pitch tuning with each other”. I’ve also confirmed with Templeman and Landee that there was no instance of deliberate tape speed manipulation on any Van Halen record between 1977-1988. To learn more about Edward’s use of tuning offsets, be sure to read through the entirety of my forum thread on the subject. It should help you to fully understand what tuning offsets are, how they work and how Edward used them: www.vhlinks.com/vbforums/threads/62695-Van-Halen-tunings-with-Peterson-strobe-tuner-reference

@@AllenGarberGuitarFun You're probably correct. But may i offer a small bit of advice ? Anytime you begin a reply with "No that is not possible".. You are doing yourself a disservice.

@@AllenGarberGuitarFun Some of thee most important lesson I've learned in this business is accepting random, potential alternatives. It unlocks a vast amount of information. Even if I end up being correct, it comes at the cost of doing some research (to validate my point) which has led me to other possible scenarios. We no longer look through the keyhole. We look through the open door. Cheers.

@@100chuckjonesI agree with that…but I have irrefutable evidence. I would never say “That’s not possible” if I didn’t truly know that it isn’t possible. I think you haven’t actually had the chance to watch this video or read through my forum post that I linked. If you understood how tuning offsets work, you would easily see that tape speed manipulation is absolutely, positively not responsible for Edward’s deliberate use of different but often repeated tuning offsets. Please read through what I have sent you and if you have any questions after that I’ll be happy to answer them.

Quite a few I imagine! But I’m glad to know you’ve gotten one of the Strobo HD series strobe tuners and you’ve been able to access the Van Halen presets on the Peterson website! If you haven’t seen it already, this video is meant to be a companion to my forum thread on the subject of Eddie’s use of tuning offsets throughout his career…you can read it here: www.vhlinks.com/vbforums/threads/62695-Van-Halen-tunings-with-Peterson-strobe-tuner-reference

@@AllenGarberGuitarFun Seen the thread. Picked up a Stomp Mini and downloaded a few of the Allen Garber tunings. Peterson owes you a cut!

@@DanLeeRothThat’s great! I’m a Peterson artist…I didn’t intend to help them sell more tuners, but apparently I have. They reached out to me several years ago (around 2014) and they started sending me free tuners…worked out nice for me! Here is a list of most of the three character preset names that will make it easier to find the Van Halen offsets on the Peterson ‘User Trading Post’ section of the website: OFR - “On Fire” raw mic track UNC - “Unchained” from ‘Fair Warning’ JMP - “Jump” from ‘1984’ WHE - Vintage strat guitar solo in “When It’s love” from ‘0U812’ DDL - “Drop Dead Legs” from ‘1984’ LGT - the main small scale electric guitar track from “Little Guitars” on ‘Diver Down’ ITO - “I’m the One” from the first album SPA - “Spanish Fly” from ‘Van Halen II’ MES - “Mean Street” from ‘Fair Warning’ STL - “So This Is Love?” from ‘Fair Warning’ HFT - “Hot For Teacher” from ‘1984’ BTU - “Bottoms Up!” from ‘Van Halen II’ ICM - “Ice Cream Man” from the first album ONF - “On Fire” from the first album (different than the raw mic track tuning) JHG - Offset for the overdubbed doubled and harmony guitars on Jamie's Cryin' from the first Van Halen LP LGI - Tuning for the Ovation classical on “Little Guitars (intro)” from ‘Diver Down’ WLI - Tuning for the guitar used on the INTRO section of "Women In Love" from the 'Van Halen II' LP WIL - The main electric guitar on "Women In Love" from the 'Van Halen II' LP (different than the intro) DHG - Melodic Harmonic Tapping overdub guitar on "Dance the Night Away" from the 'Van Halen II' LP. (different from the Shark Destroyer main guitar. DMG - “Dance the Night Away” main guitar 77L - Ed’s main live tuning offset from 1977 through 1984 ATL - “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love” from the first album OUT - “Outta Love Again” from ‘Van Halen II’ SGD - “Somebody Get Me a Doctor” from ‘Van Halen II’ AFU - “A.F.U. (Naturally Wired)” from ‘0U812’ GNF - “Good Enough” from ‘5150’ PCT - Guitars on “Push Comes To Shove” from ‘Fair Warning’ ERU - “Eruption” from the first album GGB - “Girl Gone Bad” from ‘1984’ PMA - “Panama” from ‘1984’ HAL - “Hear About It Later” from ‘Fair Warning’ TYW - Electric and acoustic guitars on “Take Your Whiskey Home” from ‘Women and Children First’ YRG - “You Really Got Me” from the first album RWD - “Runnin’ With the Devil” from the first album JAM - Main guitar (Shark Destroyer) on “Jamie’s Cryin’” from the first album

@@AllenGarberGuitarFun Awesome! More respect to Peterson for taking care of you. And thank you for the key! Saved it locally to my desktop but this really needs to be pinned somewhere. I guessed about 2/3rds of it (which was actually kind of fun). Any idea what the "EVH" tuning is that came preloaded on my tuner? And thank you again for all the hard work. Playing along to the recordings honestly has never been this fun before.

@@DanLeeRothYes, I actually go over the EVH preset in that thread…I know it is a very long and detailed thread so I’m not surprised you missed it. The story is that Edward, Matt Bruck and Ed’s then tech Tom Weber gave my friend writer Chris Gill the specific offsets that they used on Ed’s guitars for the Roth reunion tours. Chris published this information in the February 2016 issue of Guitar World. As soon as this was published, I spoke with Peterson’s Vice-President Pat Bovenizer and alerted him to this…I gave him the offsets and he used it to create the “EVH” preset which is the following offset: LIVE 2015 TUNING: Eb -9 cents Bb -9 cents Gb -3 cents Db -1 cent Ab +/-0 cents Eb +/-0 cents D-Tuna Db -4 cents

This video is meant as a companion to my forum thread that is a comprehensive study of the many tuning offsets that Edward used throughout his career. You can read that thread here: www.vhlinks.com/vbforums/threads/62695-Van-Halen-tunings-with-Peterson-strobe-tuner-reference This should answer any questions you might have about what tuning offsets are and how Edward used them. Despite what Eddie says, there are many songs in the Roth catalog that feature guitars and basses that are tuned to standard and even ABOVE standard pitch and many songs in the Hagar era which are tuned below standard on the albums, and on many live tours beginning in 1986. My forum thread should answer any questions you might have but through reading it you will understand that Edward’s use of tuning offsets had nothing to do with any of the things you mentioned.

“Just intonation” vs. “Equal Temperament” has nothing to do with what I’m talking about here and those concepts aren’t really to do with what Eddie actually did when he tuned using the various offsets that he used. Slightly flattening the B string is not what Eddie did. Many make that mistake because the offsets that he actually used have various offsets from string to string in varying degrees. This video is meant to be a companion to my lengthy forum thread on the subject of Eddie’s use of tuning offsets. You can read through that thread here: www.vhlinks.com/vbforums/threads/62695-Van-Halen-tunings-with-Peterson-strobe-tuner-reference This should answer any questions that you might have about Eddie’s use of tuning offsets.

Okay, thanks 👍@@AllenGarberGuitarFun

🤣🤣🤣There’s no such thing as “too much minutiae”🤣🤣🤣

See here. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._J._Cale

@@source4magicI love it! I know J.J. actually did like Edward’s playing. He actually did some tapping runs when I saw him play here in Houston in 1988!

Thanks very much! No, I did not use an overdrive pedal. I don’t use overdrive pedals generally speaking. The distortion and tone basically comes from the combination of the pickup, amp and speaker. I used my 50w Marshall modified by Mark “Rockstah” Abrahamian with his version of the “Mod 5” circuit with 90s reissue 25w 6402 come Celestion Greenback speakers. I used a Dunlop Echoplex pre-amp as well for a very slight boost. You can see my signal chain here: imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/333/6Mzf0g.jpg The Eventide H9 is for reverb only and the wet output goes to my 1965 blackface Fender Super Reverb amp. The H9 signal comes from the amp via a Bray L/O 1 Line-Out box to bring split the amp signal to line level for the H9 which then goes out to the Super Reverb. I mix in just a touch of the spring reverb from the Super Reverb along with the wet reverb from the H9. The main dry signal just goes from the guitar to the signal chain as you see it in the picture in front of the Rockstah Marshall. I then blend the level of the volume of the wet reverb amp (the Super Reverb) to taste as I hear it in the room to balance it with the dry sound of the Marshall. I recorded this with just the built in mic in my iPhone with no post-production. Here are the settings on my H9 for reverb: imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/5354/7m48Fu.png

@@AllenGarberGuitarFunthank you so much!

@@0smusYou are very welcome…I’m happy to help in any way!

Thanks very much! Joe understands the swing of the brothers and I have mapped it out exactly! Peterson’s StroboPlus HDC tuner and their website allows the creation of these tempo maps which can then be played back through the metronome feature of the tuner. I can practice the exact tempo changes of the album with just the metronome click and actually practice THE SWING from Alex and Edward this way. No ordinary metronome can do this. Anyone else that studies this tune with a metronome basically picks one tempo and plays the whole song directly on the beat…and is thus incapable of l learning the swing. Or others will simply try to play along with the album and they get lost with the tempo changes. Another option that I did before I made the tempo map was to play along with the isolated drum track, but that was very difficult because the tune begins with the guitar by itself…it was impossible to know when to start and the tempo was faster when Eddie was playing by himself before Alex enters and pulls the tempo back. The tempo map and metronome in the Peterson StroboPlus HDC is an incredibly powerful learning tool! Now the mysterious swing of Alex and Edward is quantifiable and knowable and so is the swing of any live rhythm section on any recording. Metronomes were normally the enemy of swing and human feel…the Peterson makes that a thing of the past!

That bit about twisting the ball end when tuning (not intonating because that is an entirely different thing) is not really accurate for Fender vibrato use, though I know that Chip Ellis explained that in the setup video for the Fender/EVH ‘78 Eruption Striped Series replica. Edward also explained that in interviews. But I have verified that Eddie did not use ball end strings in his Fender vibrato equipped guitars in the early days from roughly 1976 through roughly mid 1979. I have confirmed with Chip Ellis that Eddie used Fender Super Bullet end strings on the Fender vibrato equipped guitars. The only time he would have used ball end strings in a Fender vibrato tailpiece was when he didn’t have access to Fender bullet end strings. He used normal ball end strings in his stop-tail/tune-o-matic bridge equipped guitar like his Ibanez Destroyer for instance, but not in any of the Fender vibrato equipped guitars. To learn more about Eddie’s use of the Fender vibrato system and my tips for keeping a Fender vibrato system in tune, please read through my forum thread on the subject here: www.vhlinks.com/vbforums/threads/66343-Van-Halen-Fender-Vibrato-System-Use-amp-My-Tips-For-Keeping-It-In-Tune and you can read through my forum thread on the subject of Eddie’s use of tuning offsets here: www.vhlinks.com/vbforums/threads/62695-Van-Halen-tunings-with-Peterson-strobe-tuner-reference This video is intended as a companion to this forum thread.

This is made for the tech bench at home or on the road. Peterson makes several options for different applications. There are industry standard rack units in addition to their well known vintage analog strobe tuners. But most people make use of the Strobo Stomp HD or the Strobo Stomp HD Mini which are designed for pedalboards and smaller on the road workbenches…many of the world’s best technicians for the world’s best players use them. Peterson also makes the very inexpensive but powerful StroboClip HD and HDC models for a clip-on option.

Well it isn’t a curse, it’s a blessing. Now you understand what most players, even great players, fail to understand to this day…and that is that tuning guitars to straight named pitches will not sound as good as using a tuning offset. And now with Peterson Strobo Plus HD series strobe tuners being so accurate, customizable and, most importantly, affordable, you can now tune to the recordings you study and you can create your own offsets or use Peterson factory preset offsets to quickly and easily tune your guitar in such a way that will sound better than any player that tunes to direct named pitches in the traditional way. The fact that you even recognize that tuning offsets need to be utilized-or in other words “tweaked” from direct +/- 0.0 cents chromatic named pitches, means that you recognize what being “in tune” really means!

Never looked at it that way. Thank you :) I'll have to check these tuners out. @@AllenGarberGuitarFun

Yes. You “get it”. I don’t usually use a Floyd…I almost always use a vintage Fender vibrato. Out of the 22 guitars that I have, I’ve only ever had one Floyd equipped guitar. But I know from experience that you are very much correct on those Floyd setup tips. People assume that it is a locking nut so it will stay in tune perfectly. But if you develop a burr in one of the Floyd clamps, you WILL have tuning problems. Also, as with any guitar, the strings MUST be fully stretched and only tuned UP to target pitch in order to hold tuning. This was especially true of the very first batch of non-fine tuner Floyd bridges. In fact, this is why Edward boiled his strings. He specifically did this only for his Floyd Rose equipped guitars in an effort to “pre-stretch” the strings so that they would be fully stretched before the nut was clamped. With the non-fine tuner Floyd systems, you only got ONE chance to be in tune…there was obviously no chance to fine tune once the nut had been clamped. And that only worked if the surface of the clamp that came in contact with the string was perfectly smooth. By 1986, he abandoned boiling his strings since he had been using fine tuner equipped Floyds since 1982…but from 1979 until 1982 he used the non-fine tuner iterations of the Floyd Rose and he did boil the strings during this period. This is also a general point that almost no one, even very experienced players who have been playing for decades don’t understand: You have to get your guitar set up by a professional guitar technician or learn to do it yourself-especially with brand-new guitars straight out of the box. The number of players-experienced players-that I run into that don’t understand this is shocking. I’m pretty passionate about tuning obviously. When I was a kid and learning from records, I was extremely frustrated at not being in tune with the records that I was studying. It took me years to figure out that most of the guitars on the records I was studying were in their own particular tuning offset that differed from standard direct named pitch tuning. And it took me years to understand the process of guitar setup and intonation…most of which I learned from my guitar technician who has been working on my guitars since I was 14 years old in 1986 and I’m 51 now. I picked up some things from books like Erlwine’s and others, but it was my longtime tech that taught me the most and he taught me how to use a Peterson analog strobe tuner. If I can help anyone skip the frustrations that I encountered as a young player, I feel I’ve done some good on this Earth! Thanks for your response and for taking time to watch and fully comprehend my video!

Thanks! Who is Doug Shanahan?!

He is a teacher with his own UA-cam page. He has demonstrations of different Zeppelin songs, and other guitar pieces. He posted Born-Y-Aur about 8-9 years ago and he also does an impeccable rendition of not only the song but the harmonic middle section. He also posted himself performing it so you cn see his fingerings. He even has a section on his page where he demonstrates how to play just that section. Please look him up, you will not be disappointed. I am looking at the sidebar of my UA-cam page now and see him listed with others doing this. You two are the only ones I've seen who have done this!

@@stevebuffington6534Cool! I checked him out…great UA-camr! He doesn’t have that added harmonic motif correct and of course he plays it classical/James Taylor style with fingernails, but I applaud him for the attempt. To the best of my knowledge, Page played “Bron-Yr-Aur” with a plastic or metal thumbpick and bare fingers for the Index, Middle and Ring fingers. This was the same method that he employed for “Going To California”. I see a lot of people playing “Bron-Yr-Aur” with bare fingers only and that’s definitely not right. One giveaway is the chords that are strummed and slid up the neck…that isn’t really possible with pure fingerstyle and we know that Page did not play with classical/James Taylor style fingernail technique at any time in his career. I have the advantage of using the same model Harmony Sovereign H-1260 guitar that Page used on the original recordings of the acoustic tracks on the third and fourth albums. It sounds wonderful and I think I did a fairly good job of capturing its tone on this recording…if I didn’t, I can say it sounds incredible in the room!

Great - happy you saw that. 2 things..Are you sure about the thumbpick on this particular song? Being such a fanatical fan of Page at such a young age I studied everything about him when I followed him from '69 to '71 (before he got sloppy on stage) and I do not remember a thumb pick when he played this live. Also, the harmonic part sounds, to my ear anyway, exactly like the 1970 recording from "Blueberry Hill". I believe that is what he went for. But here I must disengage from the dialogue, as I am not knowledgeable enough to know anything about finger picking techniques, with or without any type of fingerpick. I am just grateful that you and Doug rose to this very difficult challenge. On its face, the main theme is playable, by me, in a rudimentary but acceptable way, to non experts like yourself and Doug, but that harmonic section is just beyond my talents. I love listening to both of you and thank both of you for doing so. So many get even the basics wrong. Or even the "feel".. Well done, Sir!

⁠@@stevebuffington6534Yes, I’m certain about the thumbpick and fingers. There are very few photos of Page playing the song…in fact I only know of one from Madison Square Garden on the 1970 tour which shows Page using the thumbpick. The only other song in the acoustic set was “That’s the Way” which was played with a flat pick of course. I copied the version from ‘Blueberry Hill’, though I played a couple of notes backward in my version. Doug didn’t quite get that harmonic section correct. His version sounds great, but it isn’t quite accurate to the ‘Blueberry Hill’ version that he and I were going for. It’s really a simple part…sounds more complicated than it is!

That’s somewhat true, but Zeppelin and Van Halen are completely different in the specifics of their swing. Bonham and Jones were the rhythm pair of Zeppelin and they were both behind the beat together. Edward and Alex controlled the beat in Van Halen, unlike Zeppelin and almost every other band whose swing was controlled by the bass and drums. In Van Halen, Edward was always rushing the beat and Alex was restraining Edward just as Satriani describes.

Yes…and Alex pulled him back. Even when Ed recorded “Spanish Fly”, Alex was in the control room verbally telling him what the tempo should be. Even when Ed was playing by himself Alex was dictating the tempo.

I’ve also heard Roth going on about tempos after outtakes. “That was too fast” “too slow” etc. I didn’t always agree. I think Dave wanted to assert his “master of the dance” rep.

@martinsmith4123 Yes, but I think Alex got the final say obviously. Roth was certainly keyed in to what Alex and Ed were doing and he was swinging right along with them. Mike seemed to be hanging on for dear life more often than not!

@@AllenGarberGuitarFun must have been difficult for Ed as Alex’s live performance started to become less dependable, sometimes hardly recognisable. Despite Ed’s own indulgences, his playing was always dependable.

@martinsmith4123 I hadn’t noticed any drop-off in Alex at all over the years, but I never listened to anything that happened after 1989, so that could well be true!

Thanks! I’m going to include the complete tempo changes in my complete transcription of the piece since so many have a difficult time with the timing on this particular tune.

@@AllenGarberGuitarFun I see you changed the name of your channel. I found it a year or so ago when you were on Doug Steele's channel. So glad I did!

And as I always say, if a human played it, it is entirely possible to learn how to play it!

That’s true, but it was always with a feeling behind it…Stewart Copeland was the king of that! It’s been really interesting to see how the tempo changes and then DOESN’T change for that whole 38 bar span of the first chorus and first solo…almost perfectly 226 bpm that whole time! It’s really cool how it breathes as different sections are introduced too. Maybe now I can put Phil X’s ‘No One Swings Like the King’ thing to rest. That thinking makes it seem unknowable…but it is very knowable and it can be executed by anyone who is willing to put in the work!

Thanks buddy! I’m always fascinated at how Edward played to the strengths of the fixed bridge guitars like the Destroyer whenever he played them. It’s like he knows he has no wiggle stick, so he figured “I’m going to bend the hell out of these strings!”😂

indeed.@@AllenGarberGuitarFun