Van Halen Little Guitars Lesson

[prototipedexbox]

this guy is not Van Halen is a loser failed, that mimics the real van halen

[TheAgentAssassin]

Damn Ed was/is so creative

[bencoker]

Thank you! Very cool.

[Jokieish]

your voice is cool

[yankeeG]

isn't it "SUSPENDED 4th?"

[levicashrocker]

Dude.Very fun song tp play. I've been playing for a while so i picked up this really fast but you also taught it very well. Never saw it taught before. I always thought it was too hard to play. Thanks for the vid.

P.S. Screw anyone that says " that's not right. It's like this" Sounds great to me.

[VanHalenRocks100]

Is there a lesson that can teach me this song without need of a capo?

[darkais776]

@VanHalenRocks100 unless you wanna snap you're strings by tuning to the proper tuning, no. But the tuning on the studio version is F-C-F-A#-D-G

[odgeUK]

I'm intrigued. The original was recorded on a short scale guitar. Would a short scale guitar have been tuned to EADGBE when played open? In which case, are we using a capo just because the fingerings are too much of a stretch on a regular scale length guitar?

[mikecosgrove]

 Graffiti yellow strat, NICE!

[ENEMENCIO123VISION]

you guys are confusing me with all that note talk stuff... as far as im concerned ... Guitar is All About Feel... Thats All I Know... ;)

[BSlash24]

very good. One of his hardest to play, the finger picking, tuning and all, well done.

[ElDuderino59]

Thanks very much!!! Best VH Lesson out in Youtube land. If I paid you would you make a video lesson of different VH song I want to learn?? I'm serious and would PayPal you

[mikkespo1]

YO DUDE! - I just watched your lesson, then read some of the comments- maybe its cuz Ive been playing a lotta years, but i followed it great! I have to tell you, 1.) I always loved this song, never saw it taught before, 2.) You're a GREAT teacher, THANK YOU, thanx, man, you're aces~!

[thisgirlalexaa]

HI! GREAT lesson, but I had a little bit of trouble following your fingers (where to put them at obviously) at 2:00....but its not your teaching! like I said...GREAT lesson....its just the fact that im a dunderhead. lol

thanks.

[SPVTrader]

Ed used a combo of pick and finger picking.

[itzfast]

Thanks for sharing! I would've never figured this out on my own. I especially did not know about using the capo to make up for him using the short scale Les Paul. Thanks again.

[CavenEdwards]

Cool!!!!

[TheInvalidChronicles]

where does one find capo's?

[guitarist278]

@TheInvalidChronicles any local music store should have them

[amnaad81]

this note this note this note...yeah you got this fromm a tab

[jumproge]

sounds like trevor from wkuk

[CaptainOats124]

Damn it man!! I want to learn the nylon solo intro! :/

[TruthAxe]

Cool. Thanks for naming the chords.

For the rest of us. Forget the drop D tuning and ditch the capo. All of that is unneeded. Learn your fretboard instead!

[gabe41590]

ill be at this for awhile

[goodboy196]

aw. never relly thot of buying a kapo for this song. i tighted my strings up hella for this song lol. highE broke XD

[DarthKazi]

Thanks for the capo idea. I had a helluva time with this song and tried several tunings and it just made the fingerings crazy.

[chad00023]

very cool thanks for posting this

[eddiehalenvan]

just standard tuning with a capo??

[jctkelly]

Nope.  Drop-D tuning with a capo at the third fret.

[jctkelly]

Drop the 6th (lowest) string down to a D. I really shouldn't have to explain this. There is a Wikipedia entry for "drop D tuning." It is probably the most common alternate tuning for guitars. Also I state in the video to drop the 6th string down to a D. Any book will tell you that the 6th string is the lowest string. And if you listen closely, you can hear the first note played is a low D. I suggest that you purchase a basic guitar technique handbook before attempting to play this song.

[eddiehalenvan]

thanks man, i wondered about the strings coz in norway we call them quite different then in U.S

[Trooperx0]

I thought it was suppose to be the 2nd....

[eddiehalenvan]

@jctkelly didnt get that in the vid.. :D

[eddiehalenvan]

you dont have to finger pick on the fretboard???

[orion6324]

@jctkelly lol your terrible and that sounds like shi*

[edwardvhalen]

@eddiehalenvan i love your name haha

[barkleyspider]

I like the breakdown but, I get a great deal of guidance from these when I can watch it being played all the way through at speed. Or at least play the individual parts at speed after the explanation. Nevertheless, this did help. Thanks

[Dergaboy]

Beginner guitar player here, been playing since spring of the year and this has got to be my favorite VH song, had to learn the licks. Problem I'm having is I can't follow what strings your picking @5:36-5:42, can't even see with the video in HQ.

Thanks for the video!

[jctkelly]

The first chord is 3-3-3-0-0-0 and the second is x-2-4-4-0-0. This is a tough song for a beginner to bite off but I'm glad you're trying! Good luck!

[Dergaboy]

I got that part, my problem was what strings you pick after you strum each of those chords. Is it the 2nd, 3rd, then 5th strings?

[jctkelly]

I don't recall, and I'm not sure I played it exactly like the recording anyway. For what it's worth, it looks like I hit 1-2-3-6-34 and then 1-2-3-5.

[arthurkitchen]

Thanks man, MY Favorite VH song!

[nejikid]

whats the tuning on the amp for this song? sounds like u needa lot of distortion cuz at first i thought it was keyboard when i listened to the song xD

[jctkelly]

I didn't pay much attention to the amp settings. The issue with the sound mostly comes from the single-coil Fender Lace Sensors. At the time I recorded this video, my only humbucker-equipped electric was at my brother's rehearsal space in another city. I'm not an EVH devotee and I haven't devoted any time to trying to mimic his sound. I recorded this video only because the other video out there at the time was wrong.

[jclaxon]

Great lesson! Thanks

[joescout]

i play it drop d no capo but this is very good

[prettymuchaaron]

youre an excellent teacher mate

[thebluesrockers]

the color of that guitar makes me want a hamburger with mustard and onions

[hazor777]

I heear ya !! I love the old Fender colors -- there's something very American about it all. ala the burger w/ French's mustard LOL!!

[fallsoversteve]

badass strat.

wherd u get it

[jctkelly]

It's a late-80s Strat Plus. I bought it used in 1992.

[corks01]

Great work mate ! Much appreciated..

[kiplingroad1]

Holy Shit,You got some long ass fingers!Maybe you can transcribe Nightmare on elm street! I am curious to see your hockey mask!!!!!!!!

[gunraykilla]

eddie is also tuned half down (Eb)

[DTPVH]

@gunraykilla But with the capo that doesn't matter.

[DrAxegrinder]

Great job breaking it down- FWIW, it's SUSpended 4th, not SUStained

[marc726]

this was excellent!! thank you very much.

[drexelfall]

gosh,i go looking for some Knowledge

and the crap is still there....luckily there

are still good hearts out there,thank JESUS your knowledge is greatly aprecieated,thanx

man

[EVHguitarz]

k-po!

[Nyxrayman]

Great Job! You're an excellent teacher. Thank you.

[christophgerald]

pretty sweet JC...............

Thanks

[johndennerrocks]

Good Job man!

John Denner

[Totally80sDude]

THANKS FOR POSTING! Definitely one of my fav van halen songs, and the way you broke it down has saved HOURS of frustration. 5 stars and favorited.

[gismwism]

Incidentally if you want to be nitpicky then your version of ATBL with your band was crap - the solo was off, and if you want it to sound like EVH you need to upstroke your chords.

[gismwism]

That's crap. EVH didn't play the song using barre chords, as the original poster explained in the video.

[theratfarmer]

don't worry with these dummies. i understand 100%.

[ezjeff]

Jct, this is just awesome. I feel like i'm back at berkely school of music in boston in a lesson in the morning! Oh the memories. I didn't know eddie played this on a "short scale" guitar. Amazing Ed came up with this from his head, and we're reaping from his hours of jammin. RIP stevie ray! Hey do you know the rythm for Stevies "superstition" live version? I'm trying to get our keyboardist to let the guitar handle the scrubbin.

I love drop d, but with like godsmack tracks, a monkey can LOL

[VenomForged]

nice guitar man =D same colour as mine but i've done a frankenstrat with insulating tape over it lol

[theratfarmer]

thats good stuff man. how many people have a mini les paul? anyone who has taken good guitar lessons can understand you 100%.

[blahman178]

that axe looks cool. what pickups are in it?

[zanik00]

Not bad but he refers to his third finger as his fourth. Probably on accident.

[TheDarDar1]

JCT,

Excellent job on this song. Wonderfully taught!

[cybersilver71]

Can you do a video for human beings and can't tell me...slow, cause I'm learning and I really love those songs. Great vid.

[jctkelly]

Sorry, I don't have time. I only did this as a video response to a lesson that I thought was inaccurate. Plus, I don't really know or play any "Van Hagar" songs. Good luck.

[bosephusjr]

Nicely done! I've seen videos of Eddie playing this song live on the mini-LP & this is the way he played it... Thanks for posting & thanks for not going tooo slow!!

[joedinaadi]

put it all together

[jctkelly]

I leave it to viewers to put it all together. I'm not interesting in showing my chops to the world, I just wanted to help people learn to play the song. All the parts are there, you just need to stitch them together.

[swansong93]

thanks for the hellp

[Plexihacker]

Nicely done! It's good to see someone play it correctly vis-a-vis the short-scale Les Paul Eddie played.

[BeakerMD]

good stuff.. you should post more!

[dan3232]

for some reason i couldnt add your video response but want to to show the capo way to play it