How can people spend so much time chasing EVH tone

[GuitarStv]

I'm not getting these straw men / false dichotomies. Where are all these people that explicitly say they'll play better by getting more expensive gear without having developed their playing skills?

Every guy who can barely play barre chords but owns multi-thousand dollar guitar is yelling that pretty loudly.

And why would it be the case that someone who has nice gear wouldn't have the same drive to develop their playing skills as someone with cheap gear?

This is what I was talking about earlier. Because developing skill is hard. Buying shit is easy.

 

[Clint 55]

Every guy who can barely play barre chords but owns multi-thousand dollar guitar is yelling that pretty loudly.

So you're in charge of what people can and can't buy? Why can't people be not skilled (yet) and enjoy nice gear?

This is what I was talking about earlier. Because developing skill is hard. Buying **** is easy.

As if they're mutually exclusive lol. Someone can have nice gear and get good. Cheap gear doesn't have a monopoly on developing playing.

 

[Securb]

It's more rewarding however to take a step back from all your fancy schmancy equipment and realize you're making it sound good and not the other way around.

Finding an enjoyable sound out of a $30 solid state amp and an early attempt at a digital distortion pedal to me is loads more fun than getting a better sound out of gear that costs 20 times as much

I get what you are throwing down. I sit on the sofa a lot playing through my little Excelsior, and when it is in the zone, I am more impressed than if I am at practice playing through my massive pedalboard into a 100w Marshal half stack. I expect my main rig to always sound exceptional; when my little practice rig shines, it takes more work and is more rewarding.

 

[GuitarStv]

So you're in charge of what people can and can't buy? Why can't people be not skilled (yet) and enjoy nice gear?

Nope, and of course they can. But they'll never sound like *insert guitar hero here* without the practice.

As if they're mutually exclusive lol. Someone can have nice gear and get good. Cheap gear doesn't have a monopoly on developing playing.

Of course you can get good on nice gear. My experience is that most of the people who go out and buy really high end stuff before learning to play usually don't get any good though.

 

[Clint 55]

Nope, and of course they can. But they'll never sound like *insert guitar hero here* without the practice.

They didn't all say that was their intention to sound like a guitar hero without practice.

Of course you can get good on nice gear. My experience is that most of the people who go out and buy really high end stuff before learning to play usually don't get any good though.

A lot of people with cheap gear don't get any good. Level of discipline to develop one's playing and gear quality aren't correlated. I bought an expensive Hammond before I could play well, and now after only 2 years, I'm pretty good at it. The nice instrument didn't prevent me from developing myself.

 

[jeremy]

nice gear should encourage you to play more, but its about putting the time in on the instrument. if you dont, it doesnt matter how good your gear is.

 

[Chris Pile]

What's weird is I was playing in a band, and working in a guitar store when the first VH album came out, and I had no idea who they were. I don't think they even hit my radar until about the 3rd VH album.

 

[JMP/HBE]

A 70's 100 watt JMP Marshall w/a boost of some sort will get you into Ed tone territory.
The talent / technique & schwing you're either born with or not.
As for the ole "toan in yer fingers" crap if thats true cut off all your fingers in a pile and try to plug them into an amp and see what tone you get.
FWIW most EVH gear / gizmo's have nothing to do with the gear used on the first 6 VH albums.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

If it makes everyone feel better, I thought Nirvana sucked, too!

I'm thankful that I started playing when Nirvana ruled the world. Kurt (and most of the other popular players of the era) all stressed the importance of doing your own thing. I loved EVH as well, and I spent plenty of time learning his stuff. Copying his sound, or anybody else's? That's missing the entire point of what EVH was about. Same with Hendrix, or any other innovator.

 

[JOLLY]

Like today I got it with a BB2/BB3 combo Les Paul through a Boss DN-2 into a cheapo Crate MX10.

I'm not calling you a liar, but I doubt it sounded like him with that setup.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

I was still much more impressed with the guitarists that came before him.

I wasn't, personally. But I'm not really into older music.

I'd much rather chase EVH's tone than Hendrix's, but that's just me.

And I'm not even into shred.

I wasn't born in 1978, TBH. But to this day, I see EVH's influence much more directly in the style of tone that I like. At least when it comes to historic "Guitar God" kinda people.

 

[Blille]

What strap did EVH use?

 

[Mincer]

I am inspired by his changing search for his tone. It changed a lot, because each album was one home base on the path to wherever he was going. I dig players that evolve like that. But instead of copying their path, it made it ok to search for my own- and have that evolve over time.

 

[Chistopher]

I'm not calling you a liar, but I doubt it sounded like him with that setup.

No ones going to mistake it for the record, but my point was the age old "tone is in the fingers" idea.

If I were to hire someone for the sole purpose of sounding like another guitar player, say sound like BB King, I would prefer the one that has an understanding of his picking dynamics and technique rather than one who has a 1:1 replica of Lucille.

 

[Sirion]

Honestly, the only thing that bothers me about it is that there were so many cool guitarists from that era, and people that are so zoomed in on Eddie aren't even scraping the surface. And that bothers me a lot. Eddie may have been first, but 45 years down the line that ought to be of historical interest only. There was so much incredible rock guitar playing from that era, from the intricate guitar arrangements on the Vandenberg records to George Lynch's modal interchanges to Reb Beach's pop-Holdsworthian approach to tapping, and it is being shoved under the carpet because eDdIe CaMe FiRsT.

A side effect of this is that we are now seeing a fair bit of retouching, where Eddie is given credit for innovations that he may have been an early adaptor of, but had little to no impact on the development of, the latest being the SDE-3000EVH, where the promotional material goes so far as to suggest that Eddie created the w/d/w rig (if anybody can show me a credible source that proves that Eddie actually did invent fine tuners or the W/D/W rig I'll retract this).

So yes,I like Eddie's playing and know a fair bit of his material intimately, but all the talk of "King Eddie" makes me want to vomit.

 

[ZiggyZipgun]

I never got into it, but that's probably because he put his efforts into some of the worst songs I've ever heard. That style hasn't aged well and neither has most of Gen X. Elvis gives me hope, because we're pretty close to outliving the last of his fans. There will come a time when no one gives a shit, and I might be around to see it.

 

[Chistopher]

I never got into it, but that's probably because he put his efforts into some of the worst songs I've ever heard. That style hasn't aged well and neither has most of Gen X. Elvis gives me hope, because we're pretty close to outliving the last of his fans. There will come a time when no one gives a ****, and I might be around to see it.

.

 

[Ascension]

I have always been more impressed with Eddies overall musician ship in particular his rhythm playing and mastery of dynamics than just his lead playing. Not that his ability to solo wasn't impressive it was but to me it was the entire package he brought as a player not just one aspect. I played in a few power trios with stand up singers and what he did as a player in that setting is what has always impressed me more than anything. Example is here with Seventh Seal live. Listen to the dynamics and colors he brings to this song overall. To me it's mind blowing!

 

[DankStar]

Agreed.
I think the EVH is more of a Van Hagar era tone as opposed to the Plexi tones. But yeah, when I think of Eddie’s tone I’m hearing that Plexi.

I think it's pretty cool he kept things fluid as time went on from his tone to his guitar choice. Some of the tones on ADKOT are pretty dang heavy.

 

[JOLLY]

Edward Van Halen is my favorite guitar player of all time. Van Halen is my favorite band of all time. I personally think that Edward Van Halen is the greatest rock guitar player of all time. I've never tried to chase his tone or sound/play like him.