When do you stop learning how to play a song? Haters are encouraged to reply!

[nobozos]

I don't mean to come off argumentative or superior in what I'm about to say, so please understand that I'm just stating facts here and I don't mean it as a personal attack...again, I'm just stating facts.

At this point, with all available evidence given...

Hey garbeaj, I'm not offended at all. Clearly, Eddie was a monster player, even with the tapping aside. And yes, Eddie played guitar solos of his heroes that he learned note-for-note. I never said that Eddie invented two-hand-tapping, I said he innovated and perfected it. I'm not saying he was the best at it, and I'm not saying that he did the most with it, but I am saying that everybody knows he did it, and almost nobody outside the guitar playing community knows the names of anyone else who did it.

You make a lot of good points with references from interviews and stuff, but can we admit that when it came to writing Van Halen songs, Eddie's songwriting and the way he played solos did not adhere to standard scales and modes, and relied more on fingering patterns and tapping?

When I joked about EVH being a "Lazy" player, what I really meant was that he didn't necessarily spend a lot of time learning what everyone else did as far as theory and scales. He primarily had a lot of patterns that he picked out and made the most of them on the neck. I've looked and tried to play those patterns, and there are notes he plays that don't belong in the scale for the chords in the song, but he made it work. He had a natural gift for knowing where the notes were that he wanted to play on the neck, and a musical sensibility to put those notes where he wanted. In contrast, compared to somebody like Steve Vai, who works extremely hard to craft each note they way he wants it in the composition. My sense is that Steve worked very hard at his craft, and Eddie just kind of "Winged it" and played what he thought would sound good.

A more fair and accurate representation of what I meant was that Eddie wasn't a "lazy" player, but he was just more naturally gifted and took advantage of economy of movement to achieve the notes he wanted, instead of spending countless hours repetitively practicing scales and studying theory. That's not a bad thing. There are things that he did with the guitar that would never occur to a person sitting in their bedroom with a metronome and beating their head against the wall with theory. More important than his technical ability, was the music in his head, and his ability to communicate it through his hands. He just did it in a way that baffled everybody who saw it.

[ejmaes67]

Garbeaj, when I first saw your post title I totally misunderstood what you were asking until I read it through. I thought you were asking how much frustration you tolerate before you give up. But after reading your whole post, here's my answer: I pretty much agree with most of the people here who talk about learning songs for their cover bands. I just get it as close to original as I can and improvise what I can't figure out. At least that's what I've been doing in my band. Most of the time the song is suggested by someone else in our band, so if I'm not real into it, I'll just come up with something that's acceptable. The only time I really dig into a song is when it's one I pick that I really like and really gets me jazzed. And I usually always try to improve it and get it like the recording. Anyhow, so I guess there's the answer, I never stop learning a song unless it's one I don't care about. Getting back the the frustration thing, there's some songs I just won't even bother with as I've come to grips with my limitations of guitar playing over the last 40 years. I really wanted to learn the solo for "My Sharona" and play it live, but I only wanted to do it note for note, and I just couldn't get it right, so I gave up and moved on to something else. I guess I could have come up with my own version, but I just didn't want to because I love that solo so much. Kinda why I never learned Eruption, I'd rather hear it than play it. Sorry, I'm babbling.

[Little Intruder]

I never tried learning Eruption. Why bother? Like Jimmy Page said: "I can't do it. I can't even smile like him."

[noise next door]

[VHLimey]

Brian May was tapping in 1977 on The News of the World album. Maybe he invented it.

[Dave's Dreidel]

Brian May was tapping in 1977 on The News of the World album. Maybe he invented it.

People were tapping way before then, I've seen video of Chet Atkins doing it, and I am sure he wasn't the first.

[ScottyBHarris]

Tapping starts around 1:15

1965

[Brett]

As Van Halen fans, we all know that Ed didn’t invent tapping. And he never claimed that he did anyway. But there was no guitar player in mainstream rock music that used it to the level that he did and the different ways he did. He was so creative when it came to using that technique. And millions of guys tap now, but none of them have that thing that Ed brought to it that made it so special.

But I do believe that he was introduced to it probably by Kilgore and Harvey Mandel.

[Dave's Dreidel]

Ed brought it into the mainstream and advanced the technique to the point it is almost a given in most guitarists bag of tricks.

[Little Intruder]

Imagine seeing this on tv in 1974 and thinking about all the possibilities with an electric guitar?

[Brett]

Emmett Chapman was a brilliant guy.

[Little Intruder]

Brett, his invention was pretty awesome. It's creation deserves a full documentary. I doubt I could make any music using it but it sure looks fun! Imagine it with distortion or effects pedals? Off to outer space you go!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapman_Stick

[VHLimey]

Bob Dylan invented it the same year he invented rap and hashtags. Heard that straight from the horse’s mouth.

[fudd]

Brett, his invention was pretty awesome. It's creation deserves a full documentary. I doubt I could make any music using it but it sure looks fun! Imagine it with distortion or effects pedals? Off to outer space you go!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapman_Stick

Better than this game of sticks:

https://www.urbandictionary.com/defi...tummy%20sticks


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