How long did EVH play piano before picking up the guitar?

[Badabing]

I have read EVH picked up the guitar at age 12 after switching his drums for Big Al's guitar.
I know he began his musical career at like age 6 on piano. Did he play piano from age 6 till he picked up his axe? I heard he was playing Beethoven and shit like that. Is this true?!?

I was also stunned to find out EVH apparently played violin as a child as well. According to this months Guitar World issue, during the 5 page breakdown/lesson of Eruption, they mention that super fast trill EVH does on the high E at the 12th fret is actually a passage from Caprice Study #2 for Violin by Rodolphe Kreutzer!
I never knew that.

[muffdiver]

apparently he used to win piano competitions as a kid....

[graeme]

Originally posted by Badabing:
I have read EVH picked up the guitar at age 12 after switching his drums for Big Al's guitar.
I know he began his musical career at like age 6 on piano. Did he play piano from age 6 till he picked up his axe? I heard he was playing Beethoven and shit like that. Is this true?!?

I was also stunned to find out EVH apparently played violin as a child as well. According to this months Guitar World issue, during the 5 page breakdown/lesson of Eruption, they mention that super fast trill EVH does on the high E at the 12th fret is actually a passage from Caprice Study #2 for Violin by Rodolphe Kreutzer!
I never knew that.

From all the stuff I've read over the years he's never stopped playing the piano. I remember reading something in a guitar mag interview back in the mid to late eighties where it sounds as though he was pretty good on the piano as a teenager. His school used to have an end of year competition where each entrant would play one piece. Ed said he won it for two years running but then got bored and came 2nd the year after. He said that he had probably lost interest because rock had become his main love.He still loves the Mozart stuff from what I hear, especially considering Mozarts music is based on simple themes played with virtuosity, i guess that's not too surprising. I can't remember what pieces he played in the competitions though. It's going way back into my memory but i think this is correct. Any corrections anyone? Didn't know about the violin though.

[SToRM]

Walser, Robert. "Eruptions: Heavy Metal Appropriations of Classical Virtuosity." Popular Music 11 (October 1992): 263-308. Reprinted as Chapter 3 in Robert Walser, Running with the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal Music. Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press, 1993.

Although heavy metal music is typically viewed as removed from the classical tradition, the most influential heavy metal guitarists of the last two decades were in their turn highly influenced by the classical tradition, particularly in expressions of virtuosity. These influences range from straightforward borrowing of classical melodies or harmonic progressions to exploring the values associated with being a classical artist and a virtuoso. The reasons for direct quotation vary. Emerson, Lake and Palmer created a 1972 remake of Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition for the purpose of elevating public taste. Rainbow' s hit Difficult to Cure (1981), featuring guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, quotes Beethoven's Ode to Joy with an altered meter and a new introduction, finishing with sounds of laughter. The intent of this example is parody. Perhaps the most subtle form of appropriation lies not in quotation but in adopting values associated with classical music artistry. Yngwie Malmsteen represents not only the height of virtuosity, but also the nineteenth-century concept of the separation between artist and society. Malmsteen is a self-proclaimed "genius" whose style focuses on elitism and experimentation. The most compelling reason to examine the relationship between heavy metal and the classical tradition is heavy metal guitarists' increasing interest in classical models. Electric guitars provide the closest analogy to the virtuosic approaches to the organ, piano, and violin of past centuries.

Works: Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Pictures at an Exhibition (266); Deep Purple / Ritchie Blackmore, Highway Star (268-69); Rainbow / Ritchie Blackmore, Difficult to Cure (270); Edward Van Halen, Eruption (271-77); Ozzy Osbourne / Randy Rhoads, Goodbye to Romance (281).

Sources: Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition; Beethoven, Ode to Joy from Symphony No. 9 in D Minor; Rodolphe Kreutzer, Caprice Study #2 for Violin; Pachelbel, Canon in D. (FMM)

Index classifications: 1900s, Popular

cheers,

SToRM

[Loop Dee Loop]

I believe I read an interview on Ed where he said he took classical piano lessons and did all those competitions for like eight years as a kid that's probably the main reason he picked up guitar so easily as a very young teen

Al took em too. He said his mom was pretty strict about them practicing.

[ February 07, 2003, 01:24 AM: Message edited by: Loop Dee Loop ]

[TheCaboKid]

I read somewhere that had old Russian guy teaching them classical piano and would yell to Ed and Al faster! faster! and if they screwed up they would get their hands slapped!