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Eddie Van Halen has died

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Re: Eddie Van Halen has died

#121

Post by beaugunderson »

lillesvin wrote: post #64
mhh__ wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps, but modern decks have lots of features that record players don't have like effects and EQ. In this case the patented device is basically played in the same way (or can be) just in a different place. It's intended to be for tapping but that's a common pedal steel technique

> It's intended to be for tapping but that's a common pedal steel technique I have no idea about how to play pedal steel (but I do play guitar), I thought the string action was way too high on a pedal/lap steel steel to be able to tap on it?

Correct, the action on a pedal steel is very high (so high that you'd probably break strings if you managed to bend one to the "fretboard") and played with a bar.

Re: Eddie Van Halen has died

#122

Post by beaugunderson »

gumby wrote: post #6
MrMetlHed wrote: post #3

I saw on Twitter he has a patent for a guitar... "support device" that includes the greatest patent image I've ever seen: https://patents.google.com/patent/US4656917A/en

> "thus allowing the player to create new techniques and sounds previously unknown to any player" Not including players of the pedal steel. But that's the patent system for you. In any case it's all about what you do with it.

Eddie was a tapper, which is why this is innovative (not having to use your thumb to stabilize the neck opens up greater range of motion for tapping with the fingers). Very different method than pedal steel, which is always barred.

Re: Eddie Van Halen has died

#123

Post by Timpy »

mc32 wrote: post #117
TrackerFF wrote: post #106

One of the greats, that completely re-defined guitar, and spawned a new class of guitar players, as well as gear. I remember having played guitar for probably a year, when a friend of mine (who had been playing for the same time) threw on Van Halen 1 on a cassette, and we listened to Eruption. It sounded out of this world, like nothing else I had heard. After listening to Eddie play guitar (on/off) for decades, I've…

I think maybe Randy Rhoads, had he lived longer could have been as much a trailblazer. He was a consummate and eager learner who apparently in his spare time took lessons from varied styles of guitar players.

I studied classical guitar in university, Randy Rhoads was a favorite amongst the metal guys who turned classical because he played classical guitar too. The Van Halen brothers are both multi instrumentalists, both of them took piano lessons from a young age.

Re: Eddie Van Halen has died

#124

Post by beaugunderson »

dlivingston wrote: post #119
ct-1111 wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got the same feeling as brtkdotse when Chris Cornell of Soundgarden died. "They aren't making them like that anymore". And if they are, I haven't found any. Can you give us an example (like a YouTube link) of a modern guitarist (from the past 15 or so years) that approaches Eddie Van Halen's level of talent or innovation? An uplifting thought is that, like Cornell, although we have lost him, we still have his music…

My impression is that rock and roll is...well, dead. Genres wax and wane in popularity, and so does the talent in that genre, as talent becomes attracted to other genres (you ask who the modern day Van Halen is: who is the modern day B.B. King? Or Frank Sinatra? Or Mozart? On some level, it's a silly question, because those genres have become somewhat passé). A few years ago, garage band rock n' roll was topping the…

finding new (to me) bands that sound like the old bands I like is much easier given tools like everynoise.com, which I highly recommend (though it works best if you also have a Spotify account because of the playlists).

my current heavy rotation playlist of EVH-style guitar shredding is here, if anyone is interested:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6iCImsdr0rrYHStbFpOi2h?si=...

vastly different sound but the technical mastery is apparent.

Re: Eddie Van Halen has died

#125

Post by [deleted] »

ghostpepper wrote: post #69
MrMetlHed wrote: post #3

I saw on Twitter he has a patent for a guitar... "support device" that includes the greatest patent image I've ever seen: https://patents.google.com/patent/US4656917A/en

Does anyone else find it strange that Van is actually a middle name, thus rendering his name as HALEN EDWARD VAN

[deleted]

Re: Eddie Van Halen has died

#126

Post by sheriff »

gumby wrote: post #99
leptons wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The analogy does not hold up. There are quite a lot of differences between a "pedal steel" guitar, and an electric guitar. First, electric guitars do not have pedals. Pedal steel guitars do not have a resonating wood body. They produce very different sounds in very different ways.

Of course they do but the description described "techniques"; he's talking about a horizontal guitar play style. As my comment said I'm not saying there's anything wrong with the patent itself (and really the claims are the thing) just saying that that part of the description is probably wrong. And that the patent system doesn't care. FWIW all the pedal steel guitars I've ever seen are in fact electric guitars... but…

I play both guitar and pedal steel. The tapping techniques that would be used on a horizontal 6-string guitar would be impractical on a steel guitar (lap or pedal) because the action is too high and there are no frets.

Re: Eddie Van Halen has died

#128

Post by WalterSear »

adrianmonk wrote: post #108
gumby wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "thus allowing the player to create new techniques and sounds previously unknown to any player" Not including players of the pedal steel. But that's the patent system for you. In any case it's all about what you do with it.

Or you can just sit in a chair and stick a regular guitar in your lap, like lots of people have done. For example, Jeff Healey: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwgOUzodS6E&t=2m25s (Not trying to turn this into a competition, by the way. His style definitely seems like it was influenced by Van Halen.)

Or you could just play a stick. https://stick.com

Fwiw, I would be surprised if Eddie Van Halen was not aware of the instrument, since they were invented in Southern California ~8 years before the release of "Van Halen".

Re: Eddie Van Halen has died

#129

Post by clairity »

mixmastamyk wrote: post #116
clairity wrote: post #39

why should eddie van halen be discussed and memorialized here when kobe bryant’s death was relentlessly flagged and censored from discussion?

Eddie had a world-wide following and a patent. He inspired many geeks including this one. Kobe worked hard as well but was mostly an LA phenomenon with limited nerd-overlap. Yes the rules are rather arbitrary, but this particular outcome isn't too hard to understand.

that's your biases talking. basketball has roughly a billion fans worldwide (china is #2 after the US in b-ball fans) and every one of those fans knows who kobe is. van halen probably has in the few millions, mostly americans. and basketball is probably the most popular major sport among nerds (and many other demographics).

yes, the outcome isn't too hard to understand--hypocrisy. if you don't care about basketball you just ignore the posts about it. it takes willful malice to actively flag dozens of posts about the death of a singular athletic talent like kobe. he also has an oscar, a much rarer achievement than a patent.

Re: Eddie Van Halen has died

#130

Post by olivermarks »

woodpanel wrote: post #27

Never knew until recently, that the amazing guitar solo on Michael Jacksons Beat it was played by him. I can't find any transcripts, but in an interview on the Howard Stern show, van Halen said (if I remember correctly) that the infamous knocking at the beginning of his solo was him knocking on his guitar, like a professional who is giving his workhorse a friendly tap before the race - and that he was amazed Michael…

https://youtu.be/-mMHCNTAsTQ
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