Radiohead

The members of Radiohead all attended Abingdon School, a boys-only public school. Jonny Greenwood joined as a harmonica player but soon became the lead guitarist.
Although Selway, Yorke, Colin Greenwood and O’Brien had left Abingdon by 1988 to attend university, the band continued to rehearse often on weekends and holidays. In 1991, when all the members except Jonny had completed their university degrees, On a Friday regrouped and briefly changed their name to “Shindig”. Although Oxfordshire and the Thames Valley had an active indie scene in the late 1980s and early 1990s, it centred around shoegazing bands such as Ride and Slowdive. On a Friday were never seen as fitting this trend and later commented that they’d missed it by the time they returned from university.
As On a Friday’s number of live performances increased, record labels and producers became interested.
Among Radiohead members’ earliest influences were post-punk acts such as Joy Division However, by the mid-1990s, around the release of OK Computer, Radiohead began mentioning an interest in electronic music, such as that of trip-hop act Massive Attack and the instrumental hip hop of DJ Shadow, which they claimed as major influences on the sound of OK Computer. Other influences on the album were Miles Davis and Ennio Morricone, along with 1960s pop groups such as The Beatles and The Beach Boys. However, the band have denied that their musical style is influenced by progressive rock.
Greenwood’s interest in 20th century classical music, especially that of both Olivier Messiaen, his former teenage idol, and Penderecki, was increasingly apparent on Radiohead’s next album, Kid A.
With Hail to the Thief, Radiohead continued their electronic influences of their previous two albums, although with renewed emphasis on guitar rock. Although The Beatles and Neil Young were a source of musical inspiration during this period, the band also continued to cite their influence by classical musicians and Can.
http://radiohead.totallyexplained.com/

Keith Richards

Richards often uses guitars with open tunings which allow for syncopated and ringing I-IV chording that can be heard on “Start Me Up” and “Street Fighting Man.” Richards has frequently used a five-string variant of the open G (borrowed from Don Everly of the Everly Brothers which uses GDGBD and is unencumbered by a rumbling, lower 6th string . On some of the Stones’ biggest hits, including “Honky Tonk Women,” “Brown Sugar,” and “Start Me Up”, this tuning is prominent. Though he still uses standard tunings, Richards claimed that his adoption of open tunings in the late sixties led to a musical “rebirth”. When Jones’ declining contributions left Richards to record all guitar parts on many tracks, Richards began playing more slide parts, but Richards stopped playing slide after Taylor and later Wood, both accomplished slide players, joined the band.<br>Richards – who has over 1000 guitars, some of which he hasn’t played but was simply given – is often associated with the Fender Telecaster, but his main guitar of late appears to be an ebony Gibson ES-355. It is often hard to detect by ear what guitar he plays. In Guitar World he joked that no matter what make of guitar, he can make them sound the same. “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” Richards recorded the first top ten hit to feature a guitar fuzz effect which has since become commonplace. Though in the 1970s and early 80s he used guitar effects frequently, since then he’s rarely used effects. Richards considers the acoustic guitar as the basis for his playing, and many Stones hits including “Street Fighting Man” and “Brown Sugar” feature acoustic guitar parts.
http://keith_richards.totallyexplained.com/

Mike McCready

McCready was born in Pensacola, Florida, but his family moved to Seattle shortly after his birth. As a child, his parents played Hendrix and Santana, while his friends listened to KISS and Aerosmith; McCready would frequently play bongo drums. At the age of 11, McCready purchased his first guitar and began taking lessons.
In eighth grade, McCready formed his first band, Warrior, whose name soon changed to Shadow. Originally a cover band playing during free periods at Roosevelt High School, the band eventually began writing original material. After high school, Shadow attempted to cut a record deal in Los Angeles, but, according to McCready:
Pearl Jam
Shadow split up soon afterwards, and McCready lost interest in playing guitar for some time. After being inspired by Stevie Ray Vaughan, McCready gradually began to pick it up again and finally joined another band called Love Chile.
In 2007, his guitar solos from “Alive” and “Yellow Ledbetter” were featured on Guitar World’s “100 Greatest Guitar Solos” list.
http://mike_mccready.totallyexplained.com/
Pearl Jam Betterman Live

Van Halen Guitar Technique

Van Halen has claimed he developed his signature tapping approach after studying the guitar solo from the Led Zeppelin song “Heartbreaker” (played by Jimmy Page).
Although Van Halen popularized the approach, he did not, despite popular belief, invent this technique; Steve Hackett from the group Genesis used a tapping technique as early as 1971 (in the album Nursery Cryme). Ace Frehley of Kiss has also used this technique as early as 1973. Van Halen is known for holding the pick between his thumb and middle finger; this leaves the index finger free for easy transition between picking and two handed tapping.
In support of his large variety of two-handed tapping techniques, Van Halen also holds a patent for a flip-out support device which attaches to the rear of the electric guitar. This device enables the user to play the guitar in a manner similar to the piano by orienting the face of the guitar upward instead of forward.
http://eddie_van_halen.totallyexplained.com/
Eddie Van Halen – Eruption From “Live Without A Net”

Edward Van Halen

According to Eddie, while he was delivering newspapers (to pay for his drum kit) Alex would practice on it. After Eddie heard Alex’s performance of the The Surfaris’ drum solo in the song “Wipe Out”, he grew annoyed that his brother had overtaken his ability and decided to switch and begin learning how to play the electric guitar.
Eddie has many influences; most notably Eric Clapton, however he’s also acknowledged the influence of Queen guitarist Brian May and fusion guitarist Allan Holdsworth.
Edward Van Halen’s approach to the guitar involves several distinctive components. His innovative use of two-handed tapping, natural and artificial harmonics, vibrato, and tremolo picking – combined with rhythmic sensibility and a melodic approach – have influenced an entire generation of guitarists.
Whilst relatively commonplace today, Van Halen’s ground breaking techniques were originally a closely guarded secret; before the release of the band’s eponymous first album, the guitarist would often play solos and more complex riffs with his back to the live audience. This was done at the advice of his bandmates to prevent any guitar players from stealing his style and technique before the album came out in 1978.
http://eddie_van_halen.totallyexplained.com/

The Jimmy Page Sound

On a number of Led Zeppelin songs Page experimented with feedback devices and a theremin. He used a Wah-wah pedal but not in the traditional way of rocking it back and forth as done by Jimi Hendrix and other contemporaries; instead, he put it fully forward in the treble position to get a sharper tone.
Page is also widely credited for the innovations in sound recording he brought to the studio during the years he was a member of Led Zeppelin. During the late 1960s, most British music producers placed microphones directly in front of the amplifiers and drums, resulting in the sometimes “tinny” sound of the recordings of the era. Page commented to Guitar World magazine that he felt the drum sounds of the day in particular “sounded like cardboard boxes.” Instead, Page was a fan of 1950s recording techniques; Sun Studios being a particular favorite. In the same Guitar World interview, Page remarked, “Recording used to be a science,” and “[engineers] used to have a maxim: distance equals depth.” Taking this maxim to heart, Page developed the idea of placing an additional microphone some distance from the amplifier (as much as twenty feet) and then recording the balance between the two. By adopting this technique, Page became one of the first British producers to record a band’s “ambient sound” – the distance of a note’s time-lag from one end of the room to the other. This technique was constantly adapted and developed, to the point where he placed microphones in hallways, which is how he achieved the distinctive drum sound for “When the Levee Breaks”.
http://jimmy_page.totallyexplained.com/
Jimmy Page playing a longer version of the Stairway to heaven solo.

Jimmy Page and Led Zeppelin

For the composition of the bulk of Led Zeppelin songs, Page adopted his trademark Gibson Les Paul guitar and Marshall amplification, although he also often used a Supro amplifier and a Telecaster guitar in the recording studio. His use of the Roger Mayer-designed ToneBender fuzzbox (“How Many More Times”), slide guitar (“You Shook Me”, “Dancing Days”, “In My Time of Dying”), pedal steel guitar (“Your Time Is Gonna Come”, “Tangerine”, “That’s the Way” and for effect at the very end of “Over the Hills and Far Away”), and acoustic guitar (“Gallows Pole”, “Ramble On”) also demonstrated his versatility and creativity as a composer. Page is famous for playing his guitar with a violin bow, as on the songs “Dazed and Confused”, “How Many More Times” and in the interlude of “Whole Lotta Love”. This was a technique he developed during his session days, although strictly speaking he wasn’t the first guitarist to use a violin bow, since Eddie Phillips of The Creation had done so prior to Page. On MTV’s Led Zeppelin Rockumentary, Page said that he obtained the idea of playing the guitar with a bow from David McCallum, Sr. who was also a session musician. Page used his Fender Telecaster and later his Gibson Les Paul for his bow solos.
http://jimmy_page.totallyexplained.com/

More of the Jimmy Page Story

In 1965, Page was hired by Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham to act as house producer and A&R man for the newly-formed Immediate Records label, which also allowed him to play on and/or produce tracks by John Mayall, Nico, Chris Farlowe and Eric Clapton. Page also formed a brief songwriting partnership with then romantic interest, Jackie DeShannon. He worked as session musician on the Al Stewart album Love Chronicles in 1969. He also played guitar on five tracks of Joe Cocker’s debut album, With a Little Help from My Friends.
Although Jimmy Page has recorded with many now famous musicians, many of his early recordings are unfortunately only available through bootlegged copies, several of which were released by the Led Zeppelin fan club in the late 1970s. The records released by the fan club include many otherwise unreleased live Led Zeppelin recordings. One of the rarest of these is the early jam session featuring Jimmy Page playing with Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, featuring a cover of “Little Queen of Spades” by the late blues legend Robert Johnson.
http://jimmy_page.totallyexplained.com/

Jimmy Page

While still a student, Page would often jam on stage at The Marquee with bands such as the Cyril Davis All Stars, Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated and with guitarists Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton. He was spotted one night by John Gibb of The Silhouettes, who asked him to help record a number of singles for EMI, including “The Worrying Kind”. It wasn’t until an offer from Mike Leander of Decca Records that Page was to receive regular studio work. His first session for the label was the recording “Diamonds” by Jet Harris & Tony Meehan which went to Number 1 on the singles chart in early 1963.
After brief stints with Carter-Lewis and the Southerners, Mike Hurst’s group, and Mickey Finn and the Blue Men, Page committed himself to full-time session work. As a session guitarist he was known as ‘Little Jim’ so there was no confusion with Big Jim Sullivan for example ‘Big Jim’. Little Jim’s studio output in 1964 included Marianne Faithfull’s “As Tears Go By”, The Nashville Teens’ “Tobacco Road”, The Rolling Stones’ “Heart of Stone” (alternate version), Van Morrison & Them’s “Baby Please Don’t Go” and “Here Comes the Night”, Dave Berry’s “The Crying Game” and “My Baby Left Me”, and Brenda Lee’s “Is It True”. Under the auspices of producer Shel Talmy, Page contributed to The Kinks’ 1964 debut album (although, despite rumours to the contrary, he didn’t play any of the guitar solos); and he sat in on the sessions for The Who’s first single “I Can’t Explain” (although his guitar parts may not appear on the final mix), but he played on the B-side “Bald Headed Woman”.
http://jimmy_page.totallyexplained.com/

Yngwie Malmsteen

Aside from technical prowess, distinctions of Malmsteen’s guitar style include a wide, violin-like vibrato inspired by classical violinists, and use of such minor scales as the Harmonic minor, and minor modes such as Phrygian, and Aeolian. Malmsteen cites the Fender Stratocaster and the single coil pickups as being instrumental to his unique tone. He uses his custom design by DiMarzio, a vertically-stacked humbucker mounted in a single coil housing. Malmsteen sought to combine the tone of a single coil with the reduced noise of a humbucker. The Malmsteen signature model Stratocaster made by Fender is based on this combination. Malmsteen prefers vintage Fender Stratocasters from 1968 through 1972. On all his guitars, the tone is disconnected from the middle pickup. Yngwie only uses the bridge (DiMarzio HS-3) and neck pickups (DiMarzio YJM) on his guitars and allows the low output DiMarzio HS-3 on the bridge pickup to be driven by the floor pedals for his unique rich sound. All of Malmsteen’s Stratocasters have brass nuts and are refretted with Dunlop 6000 super jumbo fretwire. According to Fender, Yngwie has one of the most impressive collection of vintage Fender Stratocasters known. He has well over 200 Stratocasters, including one original Fender Stratocaster actually signed by Leo Fender.
http://yngwie_malmsteen.totallyexplained.com/