@@cambodianz he actually used both quarter step, like King Edward(one of his heros), and as you said, 1 and a quarter step(Close to C#/Dflat standard).
But how would he know what's been done, when his claim is that he only knew Clapton, and like a little bit of hendrix.basically saying he lived in a eco chamber where the only.musiv he heard/played/listened to, was his own
@@bartib1151 I agree. I'm a huge EVH fan. My aunt was friends with him and I even met him...over the phone. And I've been to several of his concerts, starting with the 1984 tour. Just speaking facts, not hate.
He definitely knew it and believed in the moment of this interview. He was riding a high over how popular they were and how well their albums and concerts were selling. But I think it highly possible EVH later suffered from imposter syndrome. He would talk a lot about how he never took lessons on guitar and just did what sounded right to him. I think that is why he liked to surround himself with actual studied guitar players. Neal Schon said EVH used to hang out with him a lot on the first tour. Of course EVH and Lukather became tight. And EVH was a major van of Holdsworth and was in studio with him as time permitted. I think it highly likely the dismissal by Clapton really hurt EVH to the core. EVH and Brian May did that collaboration and did a song that was a tribute to Clapton. Clapton did not like it and said as much. Brian said when he told EVH Clapton open rejected it, he could tell he was really hurt. In early interviews he used to talk about Clapton all the time. After the diss......almost never mentioned again. And as we go along I think EVH got back into piano because he wanted to be taken seriously as a song writer and not just party rock. Roth could never understand that.
Dimebag tuned to D on cowboys from hell, a whole step down in most of vulgar display of power, and C# in their later stuff. He never tuned 1/4 step down 😂
@@raven4442 That's just a lie. Dime himself said he tuned to that, his guitar tech said he tuned to that, the tab said he tuned to that, the people on youtube who nail his tone & sound like Atilla said that...And it's plain to anybody who can hear - all you have to do is set a tuner to 425hz and tune up standard and play CFH or Cemetary Gates and it's perfectly in tune. Not only that, but even the songs that are in different tunings like drop D are still a quarter step down. I've been playing guitar for decades & what I'm saying is just an indisputable fact. So either you got your information from some garbage tabs back in the day and have been playing it wrong, or you're just ignorant, or you're a troll.
@@raven4442he used all different tunings on all of the pantera records. Some in E some 1/2 step down, d standard, drop D, drop C# and a lot of the D standard stuff is 1/4 step down. Pantera has tones of footage and dimebag has talked about it on MULTIPLE different occasions. He played how he felt. Some stuff he would work on in one tuning but not like where he had to play it on the fretboard so he would tune as such. He had different guitars for different tunings. In his clinic video you see him change guitars for different stuff. SMH some people just wanna get on here and act like they are right when they don’t know shit. You’re on RU-vid all you gotta do is look for the shit and you’ll find it but that’s too damn easy for some people I suppose
George Thorogood was asked about cheesy song writing. He told the interviewer all the best songs had already been written, he's just having fun. Paraphrased of course.
@@shaneb203 It's a nice thought though; before all the drinking and drugging took their toll, everyone in the band was friends; but Eddie had a lot of anger that needed a place to land, and in his constantly zoned out state, I guess Mike looked like a good target. I think Ed sensed that he wouldn't have gotten away with abusing Dave, and he and Alex were too codependent for Alex to be the target. Mike was such a nice unassuming guy that Ed probably felt safe attacking him.
@@jasondesselles9168 Thanks; it's a shame that the toxic stuff became part of Eddie's overall incredible legacy, but we're all massively flawed, and now that Ed's dead, his brother and Sammy are around 70 years old, and Mike has moved on, I figure it's time to focus on the gifts that incredible band gave us rather than the sad interpersonal drama. Yes Eddie was quite flawed, but the fact that there are still fans livid with him over his treatment of Mike, says more about them and their need to get a life than it does about Eddie and his darkest days of indulging addictions and lashing out at people who didn't deserve it. Mike forgave him so maybe it's time us fans did the same.
I had a cassette player that played tapes too slowly, making the music sound a whole step lower than normal. There were some songs I had only heard on that tape deck, so when I heard them on the radio for the first time, I was confused. It took me a long time to figure out what was going on-I never claimed to be the brightest kid.
That’s funny, I had the opposite problem trying to figure out Van Halen songs in the 80s. My tape deck played a half step up! So then when I was jamming with other people or heard it on the radio I couldn’t figure out what was wrong lol. When I eventually figured the stuff out from a CD, I realized how much easier it was to play the songs in E instead of F. Can you imagine? F is like the worst guitar key… and I learned to play all of Led Zeppelin 3 in the wrong keys too.
Those first 2 albums are epic. Along with Women and Children First and Fair Warning. Of course 1984 is the epitome of the rockin 80s sound. I'll Wait is a totally underrated classic imo. The best on that album imo
@@Paul-k5l1kDiver Down actually increased their audience. It was popular at the time because it appealed to the people who weren’t into the heavy stuff, like the two previous albums. I remember a bunch of frat boys loving Diver Down. It also helped set up 1984 to be a success right out of the gate. It may not be their best but it sure was popular in 1983. At that time I listened to Diver Down a lot. I learned Cathedral on bass. But later Woman and Children First became my favorite VH album.
The internet came along and opened up a world of music for me. After a while I also discovered alternate tunings and I could then do things I could never have figured out without discovering it on the internet.
I remember that. I always thought he tuned to Eb so Dave didnt have to strain so hard. We used to put the record on 16rpm to make learning his solos easier but 1 octave down
I'm an originator ALSO! Dude! I'm impressed!! So are YOU! That's the idea! I would stop and start cassettes piece by piece! Until the miracle of CD"s where I COULD USE A REMOTE with my third hand while I would play solos!
@@chrisbauman2562Bach wrote using the rules of counterpoint. He dismissed anyone who didn’t. So, rules for some allowed them to advanced the art so much that it set the foundation for music for the next 300 years. I’m sure Eddie got tired of Guitar Player Magazine trying to get him to explain everything. Where’s the fun in that?
That's how we all did it before tuners became available unless there was a keyboard player, then we tune to that. My earliest learning to jam to radio and records involved constant retuning to each song that came on since they were all slightly different.
Eddie was a genius, paved his own road which many tried and died to be in his lane, no one (before or since) could keep up with "The Brain" which was Eddie Van Halen
Right and sometimes back in the day, if the producer didnt like the tempo of the song, they would adjust the speed of the tape. This would also effect the pitch of the song too. Learning songs by hear listening to the original studio release can sometimes be tricky bc of this. So when that happens, i will reference a live version of the song, which is typically tuned to the standard 440hz
That is what made him the Hendrix of my Day.. I was 14 when V.H., came out and luv Hendrix and influenced me to .. not 🚫 az much but I luv that break new ground and be original .. thinking outside the box 👍
A perfect testament that immigrants who come to the USA, not knowing a lick of English, can become an Iconic World figure. Awesome Edward. He definitely set the bar.
Yeah, like immigrants are coming to America and changing the world on the regular🙄 more like looking for an easier life and becoming lazy and coasting off the American people. Remember, ask not what America can do for you but instead, ask what you can do for America🤨
He's making it sound like an accomplishment.. Wow, he actually tunes his own guitar.. all by himself.. That's why he was revolutionary.. he could tune his guitar! So that's why he fixed those locking tuners..!! The genius!! If you play the guitar and you don't tune the guitar yourself.. well, you don't really play the guitar..
Except most of all of their tunes (certainly in the DLR era) were half a step down. There is some validity to where some of the songs were slightly off pitch, but most of them were 1/2 a step down.
Alot of AC/DC stuff is done like that. I like to play along with Bluetooth and usually quit halfway through those. Sounds like me and the band arr both out of tune.
@@cornfilledscreamer614Ed may have been referring to the tuning he used live (30 cents sharp of e flat) since this is closer to being a quarter step down, than it is being a half step down. When I watched live footage of the band, I often noticed Ed's tuning was some weird 'in-between' tuning that was above e flat, but below e standard. This was confirmed to me when I bought a Peterson strobe tuner and downloaded a bunch of presets from VH nut, Allen Garber. One of them, titled 'Outta Love', is also the live tuning the band used in the early days. Cool stuff.
lol, I had the same thought in the 80s. Who cares what it’s tuned to as long as the guitar is in tune with itself. Fffff…40 years later trying to play all my old songs I have no damn idea how they are tuned. 😂😂
That’s me, i pick one up and if a string or two needs a tweet i do it and everybody tunes to me. Im probably about a full step down most of the time. I have three guitars i use on stage and they are pretty good about staying in tune. On stage everyone tunes to me before we start and they just play it by ear from then on. It’s not a stadium, you can hear yourself pretty good.
He also talked once, I think in the 80's or 90's, about tuning the B string slightly flat. Said it just seemed to stay in tune longer and played better, sounded better. With all this fanned fret stuff nowadays - you start to connect the dots with who started it all.
Hendrix had perfect pitch. No tuner needed. It sounds like EVH does not have perfect pitch as he has to rely on a tuner... and He is babbling on about tuning a quarter step down. No reason to do that. 1/2 step or more down could help the singer. 1/4 step down helps nobody.
Not loving Ed's energy here. He's a wizard, no question, but not exactly an eloquent speaker. But he had a lot of people conjecturing around him, 'who tapped first'?!? Holdsworth, Brian May, Segovia, BLABLABLA...And A LOT of slingers chipping at him in LA at the time. Oh and who's better Randy or Ed?!?!?! Sorry, Randy was great, Edward was another dimention imo. BTW, Blizzard of Oz came out 3/81. Randy had 3 Halen albums to hear, and FW came out 4/81. Ed was doing the intro to Mean Street. While Randy was doin Dee. EVH GOAT.
Classical is WAY MORE DIFFICULT than rock. EVH can’t play classical guitar let alone the Blues. Ask Eric Clapton about that. He called EVH an amateur 😂. GOAT? GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE 😂😂
Drop C-sharp tuning. The advantage of this one is that you get access to an extended range without detuning all strings. Additionally, you can play power chords much easier on the bottom two strings.
I wonder if he also changed all the nuts, bolts and screws on his guitar to all different sizes and head types? Why hexagonal or phillips? Why not a few pentagonal or heptagonal ones or some irregular ones for an even more pioneering and rule breaking approach? Maybe tuning to a common pitch is not as much a rule as a convention of practicality, convenience and repeatability.
So doing what Hendrix did = doing what's never been done. Got it. Honestly I think he was trying to make his stuff harder to learn. He used to turn his back to the audience during hammer-ons/tapping so no one could figure out what he was doing
The dude tuned so that particular voicings rang the way he wanted. Dweezil goes into this somewhere, others too. Pretty sure the inverted triad on RWTD is an example, that thing is locked. And the first open G triad on Mean Streets is beyond. And since he had only bass in the mix and not a bunch of other shit to intonate to, sans the howling 'wolf' discrepancies. The just tune to each other and go! BTW, imaging the Simmons demos are strobed, because they were doubled!
There is absolutely no reason to tune a 1/4 step down. Not wrong to do it but no reason to do it. It makes no difference. 1/2 step or more down could possibly help the singer. 1/4 step down helps nobody.
actually he has, I just saw a clip when he was talking about players who flat out copied what he was doing. Ed brings up Clapton, Page and Beck as the ones he learned the most from, but never copied what they did and played what they played verbatim. He just incorporated into his own way of coming up with something orginal
@@MisterNiles Metallica did the same thing. Tune up your guitar and play with Kill 'Em All. Not like the avg shmuck couldn't figure out Metallica songs...
I use d standard tuning everytime i had a guitarist with me and id say yea your gonna have to tune down they almost looked like they are about to have a seizure.
Also. I think we’re on the same wave length except I lack the discipline to get that good. But when I progress, EVH stuff is like home. Not, yeah I can do that , but home.
Wow 😮 Anytime I try this tuning to the instrument thing all my music friends get all bent out of shape What with chromatic tuners There’s very few people that’ll tune by ear 👂 now …. They probably can’t Truth be known but I started back in the day of the pitch pipe/pitch fork Then graduated to memory lol 😊….
Its his own "custom" tuning that many people have done to give them their own signature sound like Dimebag did. On the other side, Metallicas KILL EM ALL and Sabbaths PARANOID are a few cents up sharp from E also the first Cathedral album is between B and B flat. Just some examples of of this practice i can think of off hand but there are many more. Good way to F" with people trying to learn your songs. Lol. Imagine how heavy those VH songs would've been, if Ed had stayed in D tuning like ED said they were in the early years.
Thank you, that’s exactly right. I used to always tune to e flat to play along with early Van Halen and of course I was always frustrated that it didn’t sounds quite right. Something was always off. Especially with Van Halen II. Then I found a Van Halen forum where this guy figured out to the exact cent what Ed’s tunings were for like 20 of their songs and they are all so different, you would think it would make the guitar out of tune but once you tune each string appropriately, the guitar is in perfect tune, and no where near 1/2 step down or standard.
What’s your take on the assertion that another reason Ed tuned slightly below standard E was that it made the strings a smidgen looser and the extra slack enabled him to pick slightly faster?
@@reprintranchmeh, honestly as a guitar player myself, thats the last thing im worried about for tuning is the slack in my strings. Its not gonna make that much of a difference anyways and any guitarist worth their weight especially ed could play fast regardless. Highly doubt thats why he did it. More so for the tones
for the records they just re-adjust it back to the correct pitch...BUT as a guitarist, if you all tune to each other, it may not be A440 or D# or whatever, but if ya all tune to each other you're all in tune....anyone listening would never know the difference. Most musicians can't tune to save their lives, and anyone who's a guitarist knows if you all use your tuner, you all will not be in exact tune, might be if you all had the very same precise tuner like a Peterson Strobe...but one guy tunes up, and the rest tune to him, that's how it works, so what EVH says here is 100% logical....and I'm not a EVH 'fan'. It doesn't matter if you're tuned to E or D or in between.
Have you ever listened to off-pitch (or 432Hz or other "non-standard") music with someone who has absolute pitch? Most just accept it and say a pitch, tuning or key is somewhere below E, but not quite Eb. Some find it more irritating, impure and at the very least unprofessional.
Almost sounds like a cheech and Chong skit. A quarter step down why the rules? Kinda like how he set his variac and how he used a chainsaw on the shark. Eddie was great
