Zakk Wylde on Finding His Style and Chicken Pickin' | Reverb Interview
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- Опубліковано 23 сер 2016
- When Zakk Wylde joined Ozzy Osbourne's band in 1987, he was filling the shoes of one of his idols. The Black Label Society frontman stopped by Reverb to discuss how he avoided imitation and forged his own trademark sound through an extensive use of pentatonic scales and chicken pickin' technique. Read more on Reverb: goo.gl/b9XZKn
Gear featured in this video:
MXR ZW44 Berzerker Overdrive Zakk Wylde Signature: goo.gl/81xG9m
Dunlop Zakk Wylde Cry Baby Wah: goo.gl/NxqX8g
MXR Wylde Phase ZW-90: goo.gl/8EPoQ2
Zakk has takin the pentatonic scale to a whole new level! The man keeps progressing! The pentatonic scale regardless of how fast or slow is always listenable to the ear. I've played all the solos from Yngwie, Satriani, Via, and all of the great guitarists from the 80's all of whom are incredible musicians but Zakk stayed true to the Robert Johnson solo structure and has made it brand new! Very hard to do. Had a chance to meet Zakk but wished I could have talked to him a bit more. very busy man! BLS Forever!
The way he explained how he thought he needed to create his own style was brilliant! Is someone capable of some real critical thinking , unfortunately most in this world don't have it! Gigantic fan of his! Much love and respect!
I cant even descibe what I just heard in the beginning. Like 1000 trapped and tortured souls screaming from within his beard.
hahahahahahahahahahahaha
That tone sounds like when you're a kid with your first starter pack electric guitar and 10 watt practice amp running through a 50buck multi-effects pedal and you throw all the whacky shit up to ten because you don't know any better.
Trev Moran - That's what I'm saying! His tone was awesome early on with Ozzy and BLS, but now it's just a fizzy muddy mess of notes all blended together. And before all of the Zakk fanboys flame out, yes I do know what shredding is. He's doing it with crappy guitar tone. Period.
I was literally going to write the exact same thing just now haha
Zakk used to have the most amazing tone. Saw him live in Dallas on the mafia tour and his tone was legendary. Now days, it really sounds off to me in all the recent videos.
*Ahem* active pickups *ahem*
Diax1324
Actives can sound pretty wicked sometimes. Not always, but there are definitely uses for them
ZAKK SUCKS!
I have actives in my explorer and they're good for a compressed tone but prefer passives.
Umm probably because he’s using a practice amp here. I saw him live at OzzyFest performing in Zakk Sabbath and Ozzy and his tone is amazing.
Coolness supreme. I love hearing him play it clea, but that distorted tone is the ice pick in the forehead!
Yeah, he probably lost his high frequency hearing. It's the first to go with age and years of playing loud, so he compensates with his tone control. It's painful. I enjoy his jammy style for what it is.
I saw him last year and his tone was monstrous and not ice picky at all. Also, I have high frequency hearing loss and I get lots of compliments for my ear for guitar tone and high end frequencies that come across as ice picky physically hurt me.
I saw Pride & Glory in 94 and Zakk was a force of nature. Just unbelievable presence and playing and tone - in that, you know, riffy Skynyrd-meets-Sabbath style that he had then.
Zakk's hybrid picking has a lot of bite
He is one smooth picker
Very impressive
His guitar tone on Book of Shadows has to be one of the greatest of all time
I love you Zakk, but WTF is that awful distorted phaser guitar tone?
Zakk is awesome but that distorted tone is Terrible.
ikr
Something sounds wrong...I'm certainly no Zakk Wylde super fan but that doesn't sound like any tone that I've heard from him before. I wonder how it was recorded or if there was some gear he doesn't normally use....it sounds like a Boss distortion pedal with the treble cranked straight into the board or something.
That's the sound of input clipping
yea it sounds so fuzzy
***** I still think it's input clipping from mic to board. I get that same sound when it happens to me. Or maybe it's clipping the mic. As u pointed out, if it was a pedal, Zakk would have heard it in the room and should have corrected it. But he obviously didn't, and he surely isn't tone deaf
Zakk Wylde - plays guitar super fast and extremely well, rarely missing notes.
Also Zakk Wylde - puts so much distortion on the guitar the notes all turn to mud.
Hasn't always sounded like this though. This bull shit, just started showing up in videos pushing all his gear. That's what I don't get.
I see people in the comments ragging on his weird tone, but man I was digging that shit. Sounds so different and so funky and badass at the same time. I ain't no guitar tech but that shit was magic to my ears. I wish I could find a whole one-hour vid of him just jamming that shit!
Dahveed agreed, because normally other people plays with average levels of gain, but this kind of guitarist, like zakk, marty friedman, petrucci, paul gilbert, when they in interview, their tone is super awesome, like this one
His solo on No More Tears is always epic to listen to..
His knowlage of musical theory is amazing, pleasantly surprised
i love that he incorporates the Johnny Highland style into his metal playing. That's definitely a great mix.
The Frank Marino mention was awesome ! He doesn't get enough credit, I love his stuff!
I have always loved ZAKK he is like Bruce Lee he knows everything but he chooses to get to the point.
seen him in Houston two weeks ago best concert EVER in my life
Me too I was there!!! Never miss a show!! He's incredible,
3:31 what zakk reffers to as "basic pentatonic licks"
I love how he slays every time he plays no matter the gear or tone. Weak how lots of folks seem to focus on insignificant things like the sound on a youtube video instead of digesting the actual material.
4:16 Frank Marino mentionned = knowledgeable man. Discovering more on Wylde and mind blown everytime.
I always think back to them videos of him, the young hotshot new kid in 88-89, those spotlight solos. At that point, I don't care who the fuck you were, Zakk was blowing minds!! Loved it. Sometimes I still wish for him playing through the 2555 Jubilee with Boss pedals, Yamaha SPX90 Chorus, like Mr Tinkertrain. But I'll take what comes along.
This dude is Blessed beyond measure! Would love to jam with this dude! All I need is half a measure and I know its him! Noone sounds like this dude. Pick squeal king! Chicken picken extraordinare! Imagine leaving high school and touring with ozzy! He was set from day one! The best guitar player in my book. His style is like no other! Dudes, will be trying to copy him 4 ever! Genius ,open channel, Zack is one of the best there will ever be! Just shows you how smart the "Boss" really is. Picked him from 20 thousand demos! Hope they get to jam one more time.
Honestly I'd have loved to have heard Zakk mix in some classical style stuff on top of his pentatonic shreddery o' doom. Mix it up a little bit, create spaces, different intervals. That'd have been interesting to hear.
It's not Zakks tone here, it's the mic hooking up the amp, they did a bad job with that. Don't underestimate his playing
MetalHayd yeah defiantly blowing the mic preamp out
That is the excuse I always use when I suck on stage too !?😂
aunt jenifer Aight, well.. Lets hear you play ?
Still doesn't hide that it's sloppy playing. The distortion should mask it but it's making it even worse.
@@jeremyrafuse5330 lol
I crave for zakks tones. Mid boosted crunch with that light chorus runnin 2 stacks in stereo love giving that wide feel and ill pinch harmonic in any song love those P harmonic
That rotovibe adds cool effect
great guitarist and nice tone
zakk wylde is awesome!
would sound 1000 times better with a cleaner tone
Coffee he uses distortion like mike bloomfield would use the reverb, it puts a background to his sound so your mind almost hear 2 instruments. you have to listen through it to hear his very CLEAR notes
It's your shitty speakers bruh
@@letsgooo1637 😂
Zakk is an incredible guitarist!
great video
Now they have something to aim at🤣🤣🤣 Zakky kills me. Love u dime💔
Hello you, Zack where,have you been, good timeing,Love you man,always have
Great video
St.dime, love it
Zakk is a shadow of his former self, his style had a lot more taste during the days of Pride N Glory.
I know, and his lack of music theory as his style !?!?!
Ah yeah, PAG was extra country
He’s gotten so much better as he’s gotten older, it’s really incredible.
Probably cuz he doesn’t drink anymore and workouts.
f0kface he’s been working out for decades, him not drinking anymore is different. I wasn’t talking about either...his actual technique is what’s better. He isn’t just running down pentatonic scales all day every day.
NVH1984 look how buff John Petrucci is, MAB used to be bigger at one point. Conspiracy 🤔
f0kface nah they just learned from the rock heroes before them who aren’t alive now. Rock and roll guys changed out the condom machines on tour buses for coffee machines and wheat grass shooters. That kind of lifestyle is only sustainable if you’re Ozzy or Keef and immune to death
No more Jager just IV drips
He reached his zenith in 1991 on no more tears.
This is too subjective... Ozzmosis, Book of shadows ,BLS just to name a few kick ass guitar work after No more tears..
@@EVEROSFP1 the beardless years have been the best subjectivity
1:00 - 1:33
"All that's left is pentatonic scales."
That also leaves you with other scales such as,
The Major and Minor scales, the Blues Scale, and the Chromatic Scale. Not to mention that leaves you with the modes,
Lydian Mode
Mixolydian Mode
Phrygian Mode
Ionian Mode
Locrian Mode
Aeolian Mode
...and the Dorian Mode.
Why do you limit yourself? I see the passion and the creativity. I see the happiness. Yet so many people think you are overrated only because you only use Pentatonics.
I love you Zakk, so if you are reading this, before I end this comment I will like to remind you and anyone else reading this that Niel Peart, the drummer for Rush, completely reinvented his style for their later album(s). You can also do the same. So why do you limit yourself?
St. Wylde you're a living legend
His tone at the house of guitars in 93’ 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Tone is subjective.
There i said it.
Cool!
I doubt very highly anybody would've confused Zakk's style with that of Randy Rhoads or Eddie Van Halen if he had used harmonic minor scales like Randy or two-hand tapping like Eddie. It's more about tone and feel that separates one guitarist's style from another. That's why you can give an identical rig to several guitarists, and each one will produce a unique sound. Think about it. Zakk, Slash, Ace Frehley, Jimmy Page, and God knows who else play Gibson Les Paul axes through Marshall stacks, and each guitarist sounds different from the next. So if he wants to go back on his word and throw a diminished scale into one of his leads, I don't think anybody will say to themselves, "Is that Yngwie Malmsteen?"
He seems like a super cool dude.
Why are his fingers orange? Has he been wearing rawhide work gloves in the rain?
I think that amp was just a small practice amp and not any of his main amps. I've seen Zakk several times and met him twice, best guy , super nice! He can have a beer (or whatever) and shred on my gear anytime lol
I wish he played his examples with a clean tone and no phaser or flange effect
he is a legend.
Wylde Audio has managed to capture so much of the old Hendrix and Marino tones from when they played live - which is what I'd presume Zakk was aiming for in part.
However, those unfamiliar with the combobulation of tonalities that Zakk likes in other players, many people will just hear the over-fuzzed, over-distorted muffled sound: which is ironically what I think Zakk went for, as there's no way all those guitars and amps at WA ended-up the way they did by accident.
Get rid of the fuzzy distortion, Floyd Rose, and get that Wah, overdrive/boost into your amp! Old school Zakk!
God this guy is so good
Am I the only one who loves that guitar tone. Its chaotic and sounds like it's about to blow up
I hope this is your way at sarcasm....
@@knocknevis7390 why? Because your opinion is what I should rely on to decide my own tastes? Because your tastes are superior? Nah. It's not sarcasm. I like it and I sure hope you don't decide your tastes are based on other peoples opinions because that would be a waste of your mind and your ability to think for yourself.
@@tom1957 first off. UA-cam hotshot, I've been a wylde fan since before he came about and continued Randy's style. Secondly, I've seen him preform live more times than I have fingers and toes, all his videos of him playing before and live have always been the same! His tone was amazing! This shit just started when he started introducing his gear. I have not seen him since the gear thing started, so I'm hesitant to believe that what I'm hearing is what he's hearing. I've owned a real bullseye signature guitar, I put everything on my personal Gibson he ran from daze of ozzy and up until his career in bls (it was the same)
Point is, this definitely my own opinion and most agree, it sounds horrible. Hell would you like me to give you a link so you can compare??? These morons in here saying that he's always sounded like that are nothing more than people who probably own a guitar and dont play it or simply don't play and just hate out sheer jealousy.
@@tom1957 I'm certainly not hating, and I highly doubt it's the guitar making it sound like what I'm saying is horrible, but his line of gear. I'm going to get one of them, eventually. I was just looking forward to having my guitar hero's gear, guitars and showing up to jam sessions or to the bar gig, rocking WYLDE everything.
@@knocknevis7390 What makes it sound so horrible? Its nasty and gnarly and honestly I like it. I'm not a huge fan to where I buy gear to get his old tones but I honeslty like the chaotic sound. Its unconventional and funny. Almost reminds me of jack whites. It may be worse in a sense to his old tone but he can play guitar and can do whatever the fuck he feels like with his tone. Maybe you're so complacent and comfortable with a sound that you've just ignored any change. Change is important. People couldn't imagine distortion to be a great tool until jimi Hendrix really started to open ears for it.
Zakk would prob sound pretty good with a Tele through a cranked deluxe, just want to see it happen once, his hybrid picking skills are pretty right on
Never heard a Peavey Rage 15 in years!
Pretty cool how he eliminated techniques that have been done before, as to not be compared to, and came up with a simple but effective way of playing pentatonic scales, I think I dug the clean work more than the super distorted, couldn’t make out the notes, it was just a blur.
No Rest for the Wicked!!!
I don't understand... What is the problem with phaser? I think it's better than ring modulator...
Geez he is so freaking good
That beard and moustache are just majestic
Can't help but to notice the guitars laying around that's not wylde audio.
I think he is playing through the Marshall in the background, but I've noticed in the last few videos his tone has changed even before making or using his own brand, sound/the is subjective but of recent Zakk's tone is very saturated with gain and wet signal but I'm not sure if it's just in demos and lessons.
Dude, love you man, can you dial the effects and gain down a bit?
Turn that fuckin gain up. The flange no and chorus
Interesting about the list he said he made on his playing style. I thought all the pentatonic stuff was just naturally how he played. When I saw him with Generation Axe last year he definitely played fast stuff. And I like him but it’s just a lot of noise most of the show. Wish he’d find a better sound, he’s definitely a gifted player.
Awesome picker
For better or for worse his sound is instantly recognizable. You hear his playing and you know it's him! He has created his own style which is something not many can say. I will say though, something is definitely wrong with the sound in this video. It almost sounds like there's a connection issue with the battery for the emgs. Either that or he's fooling around with a bad fuzz pedal lol
This is a BAD FUCKIN' MAN
Zakk's tone in a nutshell : Tube screamer cranked up, Compressor cranked up plus lots and lots of chorus
"So I developed this list to make it seem I only know pentatonic scales."
There ya go. That's what you meant.
I saw him live with Ozzy a few years ago. I love his style. Personally not crazy qbout his tone, maybe it was just that night specifically but it just sounded like he turned the bass on his amp all the way to 0. He still kicked ass though.
I think he does it to compensate for ozzys voice
Awesome licks, but it sounds like a swarm of really angry bees.......
The bEEEEEEEEeeeeeSSS!!
To be fair, while Zakk has had horrible metal lead tone for a number of years in these types of videos, his live sound on the recent Book of Shadows tour was pretty epic, as was his use of the Rotovibe. And the slightly broken up lead sounds on new album are worthy of Eric Johnson.
Ay zakk sounds like we run the same rig!
but how does he get a beard like that? it's beautiful
Jeff BROTHER
Cool Frank Marino & Mahogany Rush reference! "Does anybody know the answer . . ."
He is a stable Genius.....
at the Guitar
I love zakk and his playing but wish hed go back to his Gibson Marshall rig. Wash eargasmic
Hearing the riffs at 3:00 clean would have been nice
Zakk is like everyone ffwd
I've just noticed how thin Zakk's wrists are in ratio to his hands and arms. You don't often see his wrists for leather and studs.
Sounds like a drowning sack of cats
Smh
Goddammit, Zakk! Your tone used to be damn near perfect, but now... That beard must have roots in your ear holes, son! Go back and listen to your Pride and Glory stuff and the Pentatonic Hardcore video. That tone was clear and articulate and still got a good running start for the kick in the nuts that your playing is. Pretty please with a Guinness on top?
+10 points for the Frank Marino reference. Mahogany Rush is seriously so underrated it’s almost criminal.
I see people making comments about EMG pickups all the time, especially on Zakk vids, stating it automatically makes your playing go into no tone or mud land. That is totally false. I don't use EMG"s exclusively, but I do use them in my Les Pauls and they sound very clean and sweet.I could come close to the Allman brothers tone with them if I wanted.They can also be very aggressive and badass.That type of logic would mean I could pickup Ronnie Le Tekro's guitar and sound like a clone of him.I wouldn't. I would sound like me. Different pickups would enhance certain frequencies but at the end of the day you sound like yourself.
Zakk bring back the "no more tears" tone please.
Tone? Where we go we don't need any tone! Love Zakk anyway
The raw sounds
Ele disse que nao usa sweep?
HOW DO YOU DO UNISON BENDS ON A FLOYD WITHOUT THE OTHER STRINGS GOING OUT OF TUNE? He's obviously not doing anything to counter the pitch change, is he using a tremsetter? Or am I just missing something?
At what point did you hear/see unison bends?
Brandon Paul Official he does about 3 in the first 15 seconds of the video but 0:14
Couple more short ones in the second section, but for context I was going through a lot of different videos of Floyd players at the time I posted this to see how they were counteracting the strings changing pitch while bending another (pulling the bridge up)
A B Cars N’ Guitars That’s not a unison bend. He’s not doing any. At least not traditional style unison. He wouldn’t be able to with the Floyd man.
Must be his new amps making that noise or the microphone
Fizzy!
In my opinion Zakk should never have crossed all of those techniques and scales off the list of potential colors of which to build
His solos with. I feel like in doing so he greatly diminished what could have been great melodic and innovative music from a great guitarist instead of simply blisteringly fast and even faster forgotten offerings to his solos.
There is something in your beard man... I quite couldn’t pay attention to his playing cause of that!
Second Zakk, The pentatonic thing is Frank Marinos thing
I love and respect zakk. Why does he say because others do this and that so he can't do it also because it's their thing? I don't understand.
11 19 1993
his audio signal is clipping...
Paisley can't hold a match 🔥
Lol Zakk is the Best Hands Down
Zakk was using a Floyd??? WTF. Zakk is amazing!
He said he didn't wanna do whatever else was doing so what's he decide to do? Pentatonic scale, like every blues classic rocker from the seventies and metal heads from the 80's was doing pentatonic scales,