Now I’m getting into the Nuno/‘Fair Warning’ segments and of course it’s my favorite Van Halen album. You guys made some accurate observations. Eddie did relatively few interview references to what he did on the album and some things weren’t revealed until unedited versions of interviews were published in 2010.
(1982 Steven Rosen interview with Eddie)
Rosen: The “Hear About It Later” intro is a perfect example of those mountains of guitars. It segues from those dark legato chords at the very beginning into that hellish explosion of strings.
EVH: In the beginning it’s a clean Strat; the whole basic track was played with a clean Strat with a flanger on it and then my regular red and white main guitar that I use for all the other stuff.
The intro to “Hear About It Later” is indeed a strat because Eddie says so specifically in this 1982 interview. The intro is related to the “Women In Love” intro in that it was an out-of-phase pickup selection on a three single coil guitar and the compressed arpeggios have modulation...a rack chorus effect of some sort on the “WIL” intro and the MXR Flanger on the “HAIL” intro.
It is almost certainly a DIFFERENT strat on the two intros...Ed had used the unfinished Boogie Bodies strat with the Danelectro neck for “WIL” and by the 1981 sessions for ‘Fair Warning’ that guitar had been disassembled and parts used to make up different guitars. I theorize that it might have been a vintage 50s strat on “HAIL” since Ed was getting more vintage guitars around this time period, but it could just as easily be a slapped together instrument of some sort.
In the “WIL” intro, Ed is using the out-of-phase position between the Bridge and Middle pickups, but on the “HAIL” intro he is using the out-of-phase selection between the Middle and Neck pickups. Each of the intros have their own tuning offsets which are:
I theorize that both intros may have been recorded direct, but I have no clear evidence for that. Here are two clips I made to demo both intros on my 1968 Fender Strat into an Eventide H9 for the SM58 compression algo and a vintage Electro Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man for the delay...the “HAIL” intro obviously features my late 70s MXR Flanger and both clips used my 1965 Fender Super Reverb amp. My version of the “WIL” intro has no chorus because I don’t own a chorus pedal, but I think the chorus effect on the second album was a studio effect since to the best of my knowledge Eddie did not have a chorus effect either.
These have no post production, just whatever my iPhone camera/mic managed to pick up...
As for the sub-octave effects from the Eventide Harmonizer, I think that the unique sound of the overdubbed leads towards the end of “So This Is Love?” is the result of the Eventide sub-octave effect which I think has some inherent modulation or the sound is the result of a mixture of the sub-octave sound and the detune chorus sound of a second Eventide which is then effected by Eddie’s MXR Flanger. I run into this same situation with the outro vamp on “Drop Dead Legs”...is it just the sub-octave effect with some inherent modulation in that one effect OR is one Eventide with the sub-octave effect mixed in just so with a second Eventide with detune chorus?! Either way, there is some magic that happens when the sub-octave sound gets hit with the flanger waves! The tuning on this one is almost exactly 1/2 step down...which is strangely unusual in the catalog! It is one of the very few that I’ve found that were tuned almost exactly to chromatic pitch!
"So This Is Love?"
Eb: -2.3 cents Bb: -2.1 cents F#: -0.4 cents Db: (No change from standard equal temperament) Ab: (No change from standard equal temperament) Eb: -2.3 cents
I used a sub-octave effect from my H9 coupled with my vintage MXR Flanger to try to get close to the sound of that overdub. It’s simple, but I think it gets pretty close to the sound...
Just listening to the bonus episode with Greg. I have mentioned before that "Push Comes to Shove" is my favorite solo, too. And that story from Don Landee about the 3 takes is amazingly cool. It makes me wonder if the fact that it's a composite of 3 separate solos is the reason they never played it live? Like maybe Edward psyched himself out from trying to recreate it live, or it soured him on it because it was such a rarity for him to do it that way. What a great story, though. Great bonus episode, too, as usual.
GREAT bonus episode. I like the format of talking specific songs that the guest loves. 7 months since EVH passing and these episodes continue to be great grief therapy. Looking forward to what’s next.
Outside of getting hugs from my kids today, thanks for making my day with the bonus episode with Greg Howe ( who is one of my central influences )! Listening to it now and LOVING it!!
I’m into Episode 3 with Paul Gilbert and the song he’s thinking of that sounds similar to that bouncy vocal melody in “Beautiful Girls” is the intro from “Shining Star” by Earth Wind & Fire which is mostly Larry Dunn on Fender Rhodes and Verdine White’s bass. I never thought of that relationship, but Paul is right on with that comparison!
It’s been a gas listening to the first two episodes with Steve. His transcription of “Eruption” and other attempts to transcribe Van Halen music inspired me to work on transcribing myself in an effort to get closer to the reality of what Eddie actually played. My transcription of “Eruption” appeared in the February 2021 issue of Guitar World and it all began with me working through Steve’s transcription when I was 12 in 1984. Who would have thought that my own transcription would appear when I reached 48?!
I hope to share anything I’ve learned over the last 40 years of studying Ed to anyone who is interested and I look forward to learning from everyone here!
Cool! My name is Allen Garber and I’m on Facebook and you can get me there and then I can direct message you my regular e-mail address. I appear on some podcasts and I’m a member on the VHLinks forum, username “garbeaj” and my YouTube channel is under the same name.
I can send you a link to a pdf of the February 2021 issue of Guitar World which includes a long form article covering my “Eruption” transcription and the transcription itself. I also made some corrections to several licks in “I’m The One”, but we didn’t have time for me to redo that entire song’s transcription before the publication deadline. The “Mean Street” transcription is a reprint and I did not get to correct that one before publication of the issue.
Thank you so much Dweezil and Jennifer. This was yet another amazing episode filled with so many great back stories. I love the intricate nuances you point out in the music that average fans like me are so happy to hear. Edwards music changed my life and has become the musical base of which all other bands are compared too. This series of episodes you’re doing it’s such a wonderful tribute to a man that gave the world so much beautiful music. Thanks again.-Jeff
Thank you, Dweezil, for the upcoming BONUS EPISODES. Lookin most fwd to all the cool stuff + "Smokey And The Bandit" moments! :) Your passion, commitment and pure love for EVH are beyond appreciated. ¡Saluto! XO
DZ - super excited for bonus episodes - thank you. Really enjoyed the live chat session - keep em coming. Excellent work all around.
Before we get in to the next phase, could wavs for all episodes in the early years be made available to replace the MP3? Wav, flac, any lossless is OK with me.
When I click the 'Hi-Res' download option for episodes 1, 2, 4 & 5, it still downloads the mp3 rather than a wav. Just thought I'd mention it in case the file links were wrong. It would be good to have the .wav versions of all of them if possible.
Dweezil.no presssure. My fault for being in a rush and responding. You truly have done an excellent job. And thanks for sharing the lick eddie played at your house the first time he came over to meet your dad. ( Dont rape me in this but I think that story and the demonstration of the “ lick” was worth the cash for this lol.
Hey Dweezil, I know when you first announced the podcast you had DeMartini and Lynch listed as being involved. I know sadly Warren won't be but was wondering if you reached out to George. Not sure if you caught this but this past weekend in Dallas on stage he did an impromptu "Ain't Talking 'Bout Love"... He has been very complimentary of Ed and would be amazing to hear you two talk about him.
Thank you Dweezil and guests! For the longest time I had this idea that the "toying with us" part in Eruption reminded me of a Looney Tunes cartoon and I finally researched it. It's a Kreutzer Etude and I remember being introduced to it in the Looney Tunes cartoon where the cast of the Jack Benny Show were cartoon mice. Anywho, this is the etude.
--Are you interested in having us give you some questions/notes for future episodes/live chats? Is there a place somewhere on the site ( or a place you could develop ) where we can properly drop these questions/notes/suggestions ( just so that we don't interrupt your workflow )?
I'm especially curious about the upcoming 5150 episode since I have notes about the album production that have never been answered. I once interviewed Sammy about some of the history of 5150 ( when his book came out ) and he honestly couldn't remember details about the album outside of what he wrote in his book.
Thanks for the suggestion. I'll create a space for questions related to the podcast. I've interviewed Mark Lettieri about 5150. I'm currently finishing up the bonus episode for the Early Years, it's an interview with Greg Howe. Shooting for getting it up on the site by the end of the weekend.
Mark is amazing and he’s a real Van Halen freak. I’m a friend of Erykah Badu and her family and I first became aware of him when he played with her band sometime around 2012. It was amazing to discover that this super smart master of theory and jazz improv was also a Van Halen super fan! I really look forward to hearing his thoughts!
Now I’m getting into the Nuno/‘Fair Warning’ segments and of course it’s my favorite Van Halen album. You guys made some accurate observations. Eddie did relatively few interview references to what he did on the album and some things weren’t revealed until unedited versions of interviews were published in 2010.
(1982 Steven Rosen interview with Eddie)
Rosen: The “Hear About It Later” intro is a perfect example of those mountains of guitars. It segues from those dark legato chords at the very beginning into that hellish explosion of strings.
EVH: In the beginning it’s a clean Strat; the whole basic track was played with a clean Strat with a flanger on it and then my regular red and white main guitar that I use for all the other stuff.
The intro to “Hear About It Later” is indeed a strat because Eddie says so specifically in this 1982 interview. The intro is related to the “Women In Love” intro in that it was an out-of-phase pickup selection on a three single coil guitar and the compressed arpeggios have modulation...a rack chorus effect of some sort on the “WIL” intro and the MXR Flanger on the “HAIL” intro.
It is almost certainly a DIFFERENT strat on the two intros...Ed had used the unfinished Boogie Bodies strat with the Danelectro neck for “WIL” and by the 1981 sessions for ‘Fair Warning’ that guitar had been disassembled and parts used to make up different guitars. I theorize that it might have been a vintage 50s strat on “HAIL” since Ed was getting more vintage guitars around this time period, but it could just as easily be a slapped together instrument of some sort.
In the “WIL” intro, Ed is using the out-of-phase position between the Bridge and Middle pickups, but on the “HAIL” intro he is using the out-of-phase selection between the Middle and Neck pickups. Each of the intros have their own tuning offsets which are:
"Women In Love" intro
1st string: Eb +27.7 cents
2nd string: Bb +27.9 cents
3rd string: F# +29.6 cents
4th string: C# +30.0 cents
5th string: Ab +30.0 cents
6th string: Eb +27.7 cents
"Hear About It Later" intro
1st String: -31.7 Cents
2nd String: -31.9 Cents
3rd String: -21.6 Cents
4th String: -22.0 Cents
5th String: -22.0 Cents
6th String: -31.7 Cents (Drop Db Tuning)
I theorize that both intros may have been recorded direct, but I have no clear evidence for that. Here are two clips I made to demo both intros on my 1968 Fender Strat into an Eventide H9 for the SM58 compression algo and a vintage Electro Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man for the delay...the “HAIL” intro obviously features my late 70s MXR Flanger and both clips used my 1965 Fender Super Reverb amp. My version of the “WIL” intro has no chorus because I don’t own a chorus pedal, but I think the chorus effect on the second album was a studio effect since to the best of my knowledge Eddie did not have a chorus effect either.
These have no post production, just whatever my iPhone camera/mic managed to pick up...
As for the sub-octave effects from the Eventide Harmonizer, I think that the unique sound of the overdubbed leads towards the end of “So This Is Love?” is the result of the Eventide sub-octave effect which I think has some inherent modulation or the sound is the result of a mixture of the sub-octave sound and the detune chorus sound of a second Eventide which is then effected by Eddie’s MXR Flanger. I run into this same situation with the outro vamp on “Drop Dead Legs”...is it just the sub-octave effect with some inherent modulation in that one effect OR is one Eventide with the sub-octave effect mixed in just so with a second Eventide with detune chorus?! Either way, there is some magic that happens when the sub-octave sound gets hit with the flanger waves! The tuning on this one is almost exactly 1/2 step down...which is strangely unusual in the catalog! It is one of the very few that I’ve found that were tuned almost exactly to chromatic pitch!
"So This Is Love?"
Eb: -2.3 cents
Bb: -2.1 cents
F#: -0.4 cents
Db: (No change from standard equal temperament)
Ab: (No change from standard equal temperament)
Eb: -2.3 cents
I used a sub-octave effect from my H9 coupled with my vintage MXR Flanger to try to get close to the sound of that overdub. It’s simple, but I think it gets pretty close to the sound...
I can only imagine how Eddie felt when Frank said "Thanks for reinventing the electric guitar" to him. Man, what a amazing story!
Just listening to the bonus episode with Greg. I have mentioned before that "Push Comes to Shove" is my favorite solo, too. And that story from Don Landee about the 3 takes is amazingly cool. It makes me wonder if the fact that it's a composite of 3 separate solos is the reason they never played it live? Like maybe Edward psyched himself out from trying to recreate it live, or it soured him on it because it was such a rarity for him to do it that way. What a great story, though. Great bonus episode, too, as usual.
GREAT bonus episode. I like the format of talking specific songs that the guest loves. 7 months since EVH passing and these episodes continue to be great grief therapy. Looking forward to what’s next.
Outside of getting hugs from my kids today, thanks for making my day with the bonus episode with Greg Howe ( who is one of my central influences )! Listening to it now and LOVING it!!
I’m into Episode 3 with Paul Gilbert and the song he’s thinking of that sounds similar to that bouncy vocal melody in “Beautiful Girls” is the intro from “Shining Star” by Earth Wind & Fire which is mostly Larry Dunn on Fender Rhodes and Verdine White’s bass. I never thought of that relationship, but Paul is right on with that comparison!
Dragging on a Tuesday ,,, teaching,,, late night recording session and in my delirious consciousness I come here to find,,,, BONUS EPISODe!!!!!
Something to listen as I do the long drive to next gig. Thank you Sir D
It’s been a gas listening to the first two episodes with Steve. His transcription of “Eruption” and other attempts to transcribe Van Halen music inspired me to work on transcribing myself in an effort to get closer to the reality of what Eddie actually played. My transcription of “Eruption” appeared in the February 2021 issue of Guitar World and it all began with me working through Steve’s transcription when I was 12 in 1984. Who would have thought that my own transcription would appear when I reached 48?!
I hope to share anything I’ve learned over the last 40 years of studying Ed to anyone who is interested and I look forward to learning from everyone here!
That’s great I’d be interested in seeing your work how do I contact you?
Cool! My name is Allen Garber and I’m on Facebook and you can get me there and then I can direct message you my regular e-mail address. I appear on some podcasts and I’m a member on the VHLinks forum, username “garbeaj” and my YouTube channel is under the same name.
I can send you a link to a pdf of the February 2021 issue of Guitar World which includes a long form article covering my “Eruption” transcription and the transcription itself. I also made some corrections to several licks in “I’m The One”, but we didn’t have time for me to redo that entire song’s transcription before the publication deadline. The “Mean Street” transcription is a reprint and I did not get to correct that one before publication of the issue.
Will the bonus episodes be accessible from this page? Thank you.
+1
Yes! The Episode is available now.
Thank you so much Dweezil and Jennifer. This was yet another amazing episode filled with so many great back stories. I love the intricate nuances you point out in the music that average fans like me are so happy to hear. Edwards music changed my life and has become the musical base of which all other bands are compared too. This series of episodes you’re doing it’s such a wonderful tribute to a man that gave the world so much beautiful music. Thanks again.-Jeff
Thank you, Dweezil, for the upcoming BONUS EPISODES. Lookin most fwd to all the cool stuff + "Smokey And The Bandit" moments! :) Your passion, commitment and pure love for EVH are beyond appreciated. ¡Saluto! XO
DZ - super excited for bonus episodes - thank you. Really enjoyed the live chat session - keep em coming. Excellent work all around.
Before we get in to the next phase, could wavs for all episodes in the early years be made available to replace the MP3? Wav, flac, any lossless is OK with me.
Thank you!
When I click the 'Hi-Res' download option for episodes 1, 2, 4 & 5, it still downloads the mp3 rather than a wav. Just thought I'd mention it in case the file links were wrong. It would be good to have the .wav versions of all of them if possible.
Dweezil.no presssure. My fault for being in a rush and responding. You truly have done an excellent job. And thanks for sharing the lick eddie played at your house the first time he came over to meet your dad. ( Dont rape me in this but I think that story and the demonstration of the “ lick” was worth the cash for this lol.
Can't wait for the bonus episodes!
I’m sorry. Your email / message said your uploading the episodes this Sunday ??? ( misread and typed in a flurry of anticipation ,, please forgive )
No Worries Jim! If I can, I'll post it sooner.
Hi Mr Zappa,,, where do we find the bonus epis?
Hey Dweezil, I know when you first announced the podcast you had DeMartini and Lynch listed as being involved. I know sadly Warren won't be but was wondering if you reached out to George. Not sure if you caught this but this past weekend in Dallas on stage he did an impromptu "Ain't Talking 'Bout Love"... He has been very complimentary of Ed and would be amazing to hear you two talk about him.
That's cool to hear a Lynch version. I dig it
Thank you Dweezil and guests! For the longest time I had this idea that the "toying with us" part in Eruption reminded me of a Looney Tunes cartoon and I finally researched it. It's a Kreutzer Etude and I remember being introduced to it in the Looney Tunes cartoon where the cast of the Jack Benny Show were cartoon mice. Anywho, this is the etude.
Hi Dweezil! Just a few questions:
--Are you interested in having us give you some questions/notes for future episodes/live chats? Is there a place somewhere on the site ( or a place you could develop ) where we can properly drop these questions/notes/suggestions ( just so that we don't interrupt your workflow )?
I'm especially curious about the upcoming 5150 episode since I have notes about the album production that have never been answered. I once interviewed Sammy about some of the history of 5150 ( when his book came out ) and he honestly couldn't remember details about the album outside of what he wrote in his book.
Thanks Dweezil and be well!
Hi David,
Thanks for the suggestion. I'll create a space for questions related to the podcast. I've interviewed Mark Lettieri about 5150. I'm currently finishing up the bonus episode for the Early Years, it's an interview with Greg Howe. Shooting for getting it up on the site by the end of the weekend.
Mark is amazing and he’s a real Van Halen freak. I’m a friend of Erykah Badu and her family and I first became aware of him when he played with her band sometime around 2012. It was amazing to discover that this super smart master of theory and jazz improv was also a Van Halen super fan! I really look forward to hearing his thoughts!
Hey Dweez, will there be any bonus episode dissecting "Two Burritos & A Root Beer Float? There should be!