My first assault on EVH....

[duhvoodooman***]

When Van Halen hit it big in the late 70's, it was at a time that my personal guitar playing/interest (for several reasons) was at a low point. I was certainly impressed by what I heard from this new whiz kid out of California, but I never bought any of VH's stuff or tried to learn any of the songs. Owning nothing but my old Yamaha flat-top at the time, that probably wouldn't have worked too well, anyway!

Having read so much adulation about EVH here and elsewhere in recent months, I've started to dig into the band's considerable body of work and gain more of an appreciation for it. It is certainly an extreme rarity when a guitarist comes along who absolutely revolutionizes playing styles within his chosen genre, but Eddie undoubtedly did exactly that for hard rock guitar. I can definitely understand why Nelskie and others here idolize him. IMO, that he was ranked 70th on the much-maligned Rolling Stone Top 100 Guitarists list just underscores what a farce that thing was. Laughable.

The point of this rambling discourse is that my first foray into the minefield that EVH's guitar work presents for an amateur like me was to learn "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love". Compared to most of his stuff, it's pretty simple. At this pace, I should work my way up to "Eruption" somewhere around 2088. I found a pretty good backing track on the web and practiced the tune for several days to get rid of the most overt flubs. Just thought I'd post it here as (1) a nobly conceived if poorly executed tribute to Eddie, whose strings I am not worthy to change, and (2) encouragement for the other amateurs here like myself, because if I can learn it, probably anybody with a little determination can!!

Played on my Epi LP through the bridge pickup, using the UK80's amp model on my Vox AD30VT, with the flanger reverb effect selected for the main riff/chording sequence (settings as shown in accompanying graphic). I also used my Digitech Bad Monkey OD pedal to boost the bottom end a bit. Recording/editing done with Audacity. I recorded the basic riff/chord track for the entire tune first, pretty much in a single take, then laid down the solo sections over the top. Forgive the 5th fret harmonics, which pretty much suck. I'm not really satisfied with the tone on the solo parts, and will probably re-record those. There are also some "fills" here and there in the original recording that I'd like to add, too--not note-for-note necessarily, but something to break up the repetition of the main riff.

But anyhow, here's a link to the clip as it currently stands:

Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love (3.6MB)

And here's the AD30VT patch graphic:

[Justaguyin_nc]

applause... applause.. applause.. excellent Voodoo! I justa like those flangers!!! I wanna Electric Mistress

[sunvalleylaw]

Sweeeet!!! I love it! My favorite era of VH also.

[ted s]

Yeehah DVM !! , "poorly executed.. not worthy to change his strings" ???
Forget it man, that was frgn. fantastic ! Does Mrs.Voodoo say you are too critical of yourself ?

[marnold***]

I see you have the same backing track that I do My only gripe is with the AD30VT's flanger itself, unfortunately you can't adjust the mix of the effect. With a clean amp the flanger is fine. With a heavily distorted sound, the flanger is too over-the-top for me. You hear way too much flange and not enough guitar, IMO.

This is the first "real" song I taught myself. Having said all of the above, I like your version.

[Spudman***]

That was great Voodoo. Nice work. Sounds like you put some time into getting 'Eddyfied'.
Keep it up.

[SuperSwede]

DVM, whohoo that was refreshing to hear! I am a reverb junkie so I would like to have heard more reverb on the intro guitar, but apart from that I think you nailed the EVH tone

[Tim]

Great tune DVM. Also the AD30VT patch graph helps me immensely. I think you did a fine job at mixing it all together. Do not rely on your own ears, but of those who admire you work and talent.

[duhvoodooman***]

Yeehah DVM !! , "poorly executed.. not worthy to change his strings" ???
Forget it man, that was frgn. fantastic ! Does Mrs.Voodoo say you are too critical of yourself ?

I keep making the mistake of listening to the original! Though I'm pretty happy with how it turned out overall, hearing EVH his own bad self play it injects a massive dose of humility!

Sure it doesn't need more cowbell??

[duhvoodooman***]

I see you have the same backing track that I do My only gripe is with the AD30VT's flanger itself, unfortunately you can't adjust the mix of the effect. With a clean amp the flanger is fine. With a heavily distorted sound, the flanger is too over-the-top for me. You hear way too much flange and not enough guitar, IMO.

This is the first "real" song I taught myself. Having said all of the above, I like your version.

Thanks, marnold. Actually, you can dial down the "resonance" of the flanger effect (Edit 3) on the AD30VT, which makes it less obtrusive. But I only had it set at 9 o'clock, and it's still pretty much "in your face"!

[duhvoodooman***]

DVM, whohoo that was refreshing to hear! I am a reverb junkie so I would like to have heard more reverb on the intro guitar, but apart from that I think you nailed the EVH tone

Good suggestion--I'll fool around with that some, Swede. I'm still "tone farming" this tune, especially the intro and solo parts.

To all of your Fretters who commented--Thanks for you ideas & encouragement!

[ted s]

Cowbell yes, but just a bit. You wouldn't want to over-do the cowbell.
http://www.ojaiwan.net/audio/cowbell.wmv

[Lev]

Excellent Job, and thanks for the settings guide on the vox. Looking forward to giving it a try when I get home .

[zeusse]

Excellent job voodooman its always tough to emulate Eddies tone's, I know I've been at it for years and never get it quite right. As I never want you to think I'm picking at you I'm not! Just some helpfull insight to what I have tried and failed at with his tone on the first album....He uses a Marshall Plexi and a variax control on the amp...which is nothing more than a votage regulator..all gain,volume,treble,bass to the max and then he adjusts volume with the variax control and volume on his guitar..only problem is the amp ran so damm hot he had to put a fan on the back just to keep it cool enough and he still blew tubes. I forget which reverb pedal he use but it was cranked all the way and other than that just the MXR Distortion and MXR Flanger and Phaser....the trick here is in the order of the pedal setup....he went with phaser first then distortion then flanger then reverb and delay and compressor last(backwards on the compressor to clip the high frequency).

On the riff itself you just want to use a little more mute with your palm and staccatto the notes a bit more and thats about it......And one more trick some VH guys never caught was on Eruption at the end its not his whammy bar its his delay pedal, as he does the dive bomb he bends down and turns the rate knob down....hehe that pretty cool! Hope that help you out a bit more...When I get some free time I'll post a short clip of my intro with my tone....cheers man! Great job my first attempt years ago never sounded that good.

[duhvoodooman***]

Excellent job voodooman its always tough to emulate Eddies tone's, I know I've been at it for years and never get it quite right. As I never want you to think I'm picking at you I'm not! Just some helpfull insight to what I have tried and failed at with his tone on the first album....He uses a Marshall Plexi and a variax control on the amp...which is nothing more than a votage regulator..all gain,volume,treble,bass to the max and then he adjusts volume with the variax control and volume on his guitar..only problem is the amp ran so damm hot he had to put a fan on the back just to keep it cool enough and he still blew tubes. I forget which reverb pedal he use but it was cranked all the way and other than that just the MXR Distortion and MXR Flanger and Phaser....the trick here is in the order of the pedal setup....he went with phaser first then distortion then flanger then reverb and delay and compressor last(backwards on the compressor to clip the high frequency).

On the riff itself you just want to use a little more mute with your palm and staccatto the notes a bit more and thats about it......And one more trick some VH guys never caught was on Eruption at the end its not his whammy bar its his delay pedal, as he does the dive bomb he bends down and turns the rate knob down....hehe that pretty cool! Hope that help you out a bit more...When I get some free time I'll post a short clip of my intro with my tone....cheers man! Great job my first attempt years ago never sounded that good.

Wow, some cool insights there, zeusse! I'm afraid I don't have near enough equipment to reproduce the pedal sequence you're describing. Pretty much have to get there with my AD30VT and it's flanger reverb effect, plus an external OD pedal. But it sounds like I've definitely gotta dial up the reverb more.

The palm muting/staccato picking is a great suggestion--I'll definitely work on that. I can hear in my mind exactly what you mean by that.

Looking forward to hearing your version of the intro!

[Tim]

Cowbell yes, but just a bit. You wouldn't want to over-do the cowbell.
http://www.ojaiwan.net/audio/cowbell.wmv

LMAO!!!! That was funny. That was the first time I saw it.

[marnold***]

Thanks, marnold. Actually, you can dial down the "resonance" of the flanger effect (Edit 3) on the AD30VT, which makes it less obtrusive. But I only had it set at 9 o'clock, and it's still pretty much "in your face"!

SWEET! Thanks for the tip. For some insane reason, I never adjusted that setting. Now with that turned almost all of the way down, it's really quite usable with high gain amp models. *fiendish grin*

[Hogfullofblues]

That was sweet, Voodude! And thanks for the settings too.