Zakk Is The Man

[DrewJD82]

Probably the closest he’s done this to the studio recording in a ‘live’ setting yet. Love that the dude has had the same pedalboard for so long and just does his thing without a lot of fuss. Right when I first started playing guitar, Ozzmosis came out and MTV played the “Perry Mason” video nonstop, it blew my f*cking mind. I was all about Gilmour/EJ back then and I’d never heard such, pun intended, wild sounds coming from a guitar. Just walls of guitars with these huge pick slides and these squeals I had no clue could even come from a guitar.

Shortly after I rent the Live And Loud VHS from Blockbuster (ha…that idea in itself is humorous these days) and that’s when I really became a Zakk fanatic. I was a pudgy 14 year old but still wanted to rock a pair of leather pants with no shirt…..man, I really wish I would have attempted it just so I’d have pics to laugh at now. Nonetheless, his playing style just grabbed me and pulled me in, the manhandling of the strings, that huge vibrato and those pinch harmonics!

I know he gets sh*t for overusing them, but I don’t believe there’s such a thing.

I was down with the first few BLS albums but tapped out around the 4th one. I forgot how much I dug the first several until I recently listened to them and remembered there’s some sick riffs in there. I wasn’t a big fan of the drunken biker period where he was taking himself a bit too seriously, but once he quit drinking and went full goofball he’s like having that crazy uncle who just makes you laugh all the time. I’m just glad he finally stopped talking about the Kardashian Diet Ass shake in every interview.


Definitely wish he still mixed up some country licks in his leads, that was what really set him apart from other guitarists for me. No More Tears, the whole album, is my pinnacle Zakk era. Dude is definitely in my top 5 favorite guitarists and I was fortunate to catch him with Ozzy around 2018 or so. Then I saw him again doing an “acoustic set” and ended up walking out about 30 minutes into it because he was plugged into his pedalboard and just wanking between songs for far too long, I was hoping for a night of “Machine Gun Man” and I basically got BLS without drums.

 

[Fireproof]

I’m a huge Zakk fan as well.

And if anyone thinks he’s just all pinch harmonics and bravado, you HAVE TO listen to this. This song (which he wrote and played for the Guitars That Rule The World album) made me an instant fan. From his chicken pickin’ to riffs to squeals… he can do it all!!



Seriously - if you haven’t heard this song - do yourself a favor!

 

[Gearzilla]

I always enjoy hearing Zakk and Yngwie hand off leads on this track.

Starting around 1:27 in periodically.

 

[-BOOGIEMAN-]

Luv me some Zakk!!! Total friggin monster!!!

 

[Fireproof]

And that No More Tears is one of the best solos!!

 

[TSJMajesty]

I'm one of those guys who thinks he over-does the squeals, but I freaking LOVE his chorus-washed-out, PHAT effin tone he got from that JCM!! I think that was about the time I had 3 Marshalls at my house, my 900, a buddy's 800, and my other bud's Plexi, and I got to hook up my MP-1 in true stereo, crank it up since nobody was home, and it was aMAZing!!! It was his tone that inspired me to try that "experiment", and I never looked back!

Bought a used JTM and 4x12 Greenback-loaded cab to go with my 900 half stack, and was in stereo-heaven ever since!!

And he IS such a cool dude!! Remember what he gave Todd? (RIP)

 

[la szum]

I'm one of those guys who thinks he over-does the squeals,

When he did those artificial harmonics on Crazy Babies on his first album with Ozzy
no one was doing those pinch harmonics on the low E string. In the subsequent decades
since he has more than made up for the 40 year deficit where no one ever did them on
a guitar. Might even have a surplus at this point.





It's so hard to develop a signature style and tone, and Zakk definitely has that. Props!
And if we were Buds I'd bust his balls even more for the squealies.

 

[DrewJD82]

I'm one of those guys who thinks he over-does the squeals, but I freaking LOVE his chorus-washed-out, PHAT effin tone he got from that JCM!! I think that was about the time I had 3 Marshalls at my house, my 900, a buddy's 800, and my other bud's Plexi, and I got to hook up my MP-1 in true stereo, crank it up since nobody was home, and it was aMAZing!!! It was his tone that inspired me to try that "experiment", and I never looked back!

Bought a used JTM and 4x12 Greenback-loaded cab to go with my 900 half stack, and was in stereo-heaven ever since!!

And he IS such a cool dude!! Remember what he gave Todd? (RIP)

I hadn’t realized it until just now, but he’s the only metal guy who uses chorus on distorted tones and I love it. It still sounds heavy when he does it.

 

[la szum]

I hadn’t realized it until just now, but he’s the only metal guy who uses chorus on distorted tones and I love it. It still sounds heavy when he does it.

Listen back to that No Rest For The Wicked album and the tones since then are not AS chorusy.

I think since they (ShOzzy!) forced Jake to use a Flanger they ran out of options and really
only had Chorus left to force on Zakk. Phaser was already taken by Eddie.

 

[la szum]

 

[TSJMajesty]

Phaser was already taken by Eddie.

You are so right. Guitarist turns on a phaser, and everybody's like, what, are you trying to sound like EVH? (Cuz you kinda do.)

 

[hippietim]

I hadn’t realized it until just now, but he’s the only metal guy who uses chorus on distorted tones and I love it. It still sounds heavy when he does it.

You must have missed the 80s.

 

[DrewJD82]

You must have missed the 80s.

Well, I was born in ‘82

I’m still a fan of a ton of 80’s stuff, but Zakk’s distorted tone with chorus is the only tone I really dig, aside from EVH once he started using the micro pitch stuff, but I don’t consider EVH to be all that ‘heavy’ in the same way Zakk is. Overall, I prefer distorted rhythm tones to be on the drier side, but anything goes with leads!

 

[ejecta]

King of the squelly.

 

[GuitarBilly]

My biggest influence growing up and still one of my favorite players. Hell of a nice guy too.

 

[TSJMajesty]

My biggest influence growing up and still one of my favorite players. Hell of a nice guy too.

I thought of Zakk when I watched your clip.

 

[Alex Kenivel]

I was a huge RR fan as a kid so everyone else after sucked and I didn't give anyone the time of day. Totally not fair, I know, and it kind of biased me I guess. Or maybe it's the fact that I'm not into biker cringe or chorus effects. I saw him at Gen Axe and his shtick was pretty annoying - the same Pentatonic run over and over while he walked around the aisles followed teams of stage hands all jumping over each other to jack in a new cable into another junction box so he can walk out another 50 feet.

So far this thread has shown me the light with the acoustic and bluegrass tho.

 

[mavrick102000]

Probably the closest he’s done this to the studio recording in a ‘live’ setting yet. Love that the dude has had the same pedalboard for so long and just does his thing without a lot of fuss. Right when I first started playing guitar, Ozzmosis came out and MTV played the “Perry Mason” video nonstop, it blew my f*cking mind. I was all about Gilmour/EJ back then and I’d never heard such, pun intended, wild sounds coming from a guitar. Just walls of guitars with these huge pick slides and these squeals I had no clue could even come from a guitar.

Shortly after I rent the Live And Loud VHS from Blockbuster (ha…that idea in itself is humorous these days) and that’s when I really became a Zakk fanatic. I was a pudgy 14 year old but still wanted to rock a pair of leather pants with no shirt…..man, I really wish I would have attempted it just so I’d have pics to laugh at now. Nonetheless, his playing style just grabbed me and pulled me in, the manhandling of the strings, that huge vibrato and those pinch harmonics!

I know he gets sh*t for overusing them, but I don’t believe there’s such a thing.

I was down with the first few BLS albums but tapped out around the 4th one. I forgot how much I dug the first several until I recently listened to them and remembered there’s some sick riffs in there. I wasn’t a big fan of the drunken biker period where he was taking himself a bit too seriously, but once he quit drinking and went full goofball he’s like having that crazy uncle who just makes you laugh all the time. I’m just glad he finally stopped talking about the Kardashian Diet Ass shake in every interview.


Definitely wish he still mixed up some country licks in his leads, that was what really set him apart from other guitarists for me. No More Tears, the whole album, is my pinnacle Zakk era. Dude is definitely in my top 5 favorite guitarists and I was fortunate to catch him with Ozzy around 2018 or so. Then I saw him again doing an “acoustic set” and ended up walking out about 30 minutes into it because he was plugged into his pedalboard and just wanking between songs for far too long, I was hoping for a night of “Machine Gun Man” and I basically got BLS without drums.

Big Zakk fan here as well, so much so I named my oldest son after him - (No. Not Jeff Spelled Zakk).

I really enjoyed about every song on his Pride and Glory band project.

 

[DrewJD82]

Big Zakk fan here as well, so much so I named my oldest son after him - (No. Not Jeff Spelled Zakk).

I really enjoyed about every song on his Pride and Glory band project.

No Jeffrey Weidlant?

 

[JiveTurkey]

I was a huge RR fan as a kid so everyone else after sucked and I didn't give anyone the time of day. Totally not fair, I know, and it kind of biased me I guess. Or maybe it's the fact that I'm not into biker cringe or chorus effects. I saw him at Gen Axe and his shtick was pretty annoying - the same Pentatonic run over and over while he walked around the aisles followed teams of stage hands all jumping over each other to jack in a new cable into another junction box so he can walk out another 50 feet.

So far this thread has shown me the light with the acoustic and bluegrass tho.

I get you. I was a fan of Jake mainly. Zakk was mindblowing in the early Ozzy days and P&G. The biker thing got old with me as well but that always kind of ran parallel to the talent in my mind. Dude is undeniable; whether you dig his persona or not. I think he'd be super cool to hang with. The Zakk Sabbath thing is awesome as well. I would love to catch a show of that stuff \m/