Zakk Wylde Trick

[zakkfan25]

If you are a huge fan of Zakk and Ozzy (Like me) I am sure u have seen Zakk do the trick where he holds the top part of the strings with one hand and go down the bottom strings with his other hand, what is that and how is the sound with out any picking? Thanks

[smfulla]

from what I am able to comprehend, this isn't a Zakk Wylde trick, it's used by alot of guitarists.
With your right or picking hand, you basically mute the strings around the nut area, and fret the strings you want with your fretting hand... basically like tapping...

[John Prophet]

uhh hold on...if anything thats a VanHalen trick, hehe.

you are doing a trill or just a continous hammer on pull off with the left hand and you are BARELY touching the string with one finger of the right hand to produce harmonics...you move the finger up and down to make different harmonics...sometimes it sounds like a flanger.

I think it is in VanHalens song "youre no good" off VH2...like right after the first lick off the solo.

An easier way to hear something similar is just to pick an open string with rapid picking and lightly touch a finger of the left hand on the string....moving it up and down to produce the different harmonics.

lets see, VH2 was 1979...wonder how old Zakk was, lol.

Oh yeah, Jake E lee did it too on the intro to an ozzy song on "the ultimate sin" album I think. (or something similar)

JP

[zakkfan25]

Thanks guys, I understand now

[smfulla]

hey john... what you were describing and what I was describing were different...
what I was trying to describe was basically a fretted legato line, muting with your right hand behind your left hand so as to not get any harmonics coming out

but for which ever definition you use, depends on where the 'top' is...

[John Prophet]

oh yeah, reaching around with the right hand to mute behind the left hand for pulls offs etc.

I knwo VH and Brad Gillis used to do stuff like be doing a pull off with the left hand and reach around it with the right hand to fret a lower note...so they were pulling off with the left hand to the note they were reaching around and fretting with the right hand, and they would change the right hand fretted note etc.

I always thought stuff like that was gimmicky but I guess live it can look cool.

Like the intro to "aint talking bout love" from VH...its basically just a riff with an aminor chord shape at the regular 2nd fret with an f note thrown in, but I knew a guy who liked to play it with a pinky stretch up to the 5th and 6th fret etc cuz he thought it looked cooler! lol.

JP