Spanish Fly and EVH's Ovation

[garbeaj]

Ok Bill! I played through your TAB for the entire opening run and the part from the strummed Am chord onwards and it is right on the money-of course! The TAB I posted earlier for the opening run was only slightly different and I see exactly where it differed...I've incorporated that correction and it works much better! And as for the part from the Am chord onwards...BINGO! I never could get these parts to sound right and again you've got me doing it right after me getting it wrong, wrong, wrong for all these years.

I've been working on this since 1986 when I was 14 starting with Steve Vai's problematic transcription. I worked on "Spanish Fly" before I started on "Eruption" a little later in 1986..SOO excited to get these picked parts right. Again, these are the parts that no one gets right...but thanks to Bill the veil is lifted!

Now how can I convince my wife to let me get an Ovation cutaway classical...

[garbeaj]

Alright...I found a Korean made Ovation Celebrity classical with OHSC on Reverb for $300 including shipping...hopefully I can justify this to the wife. Hopefully it gets lost in the herd and she doesn't notice it!

It's not quite as nice as stratonator's, but it is VERY similar. I've only owned one nylon string acoustic guitar before and it was really a solidbody electric-acoustic-a Gibson Chet Atkins Cutaway Classical. Sounded great plugged in, but horrible as an acoustic instrument.

Stratonator's clip has the sound for sure and Bill's fingerings are Eddie's fingerings as far as I'm concerned. I can't wait to really get cracking on woodshedding Bill's transcription and really "get" it finally!

[garbeaj]

Oh god...the left hand fingering on the parts from the 12th fret joint and higher are a SUICIDE MISSION. DAMN...it is VERY hard to play those parts. I'll keep working at it, but I know I'm going to sell this Ovation and get a cutaway Ovation eventually. Incredibly, those ones command over $1200 versus the standard bodies like the one I just got (and like the one Eddie played).

Also, please note that I have revised the tuning for "Spanish Fly" from Van Halen II. I think I've got it a little more accurate now that I have been using the Ovation classical. (I edited my earlier posts to reflect the revision)...

Bill...as I've been struggling with that last run at the 12th fret and the descending Am arpeggio because of the lack of a cutaway, I'm wondering if maybe Eddie might have played it as follows to make it a little easier on himself with regard to the lack of the cutaway?
-----------------------------------------------P------P------H----------------------------------------
E----------------------------12----13----15----13----12-----------12-------------------------0----
B-------12----13----15---------------------------------------15-----------13----10-----------0----
G----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------10------------
D--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------D-----U-----D------U-----D-----U--------------------------D-----U-----D-----U-----D-----

* I edited this to show the correction that Bill caught below! D'oh!

[wjamflan]

Bill...as I've been struggling with that last run at the 12th fret and the descending Am arpeggio because of the lack of a cutaway, I'm wondering if maybe Eddie might have played it as follows to make it a little easier on himself with regard to the lack of the cutaway?

I suppose it's possible, though I think you meant the following:

-----------------------------------------------P------P------H----------------------------------------
E----------------------------12----13----15----13----12-----------12-------------------------0----
B-------12----13----15---------------------------------------15-----------13----10-----------0----
G------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------10---------
D------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------D-----U-----D------U-----D-----U--------------------------D-----U-----D-----U-----D-----

[garbeaj]

Bill...as I've been struggling with that last run at the 12th fret and the descending Am arpeggio because of the lack of a cutaway, I'm wondering if maybe Eddie might have played it as follows to make it a little easier on himself with regard to the lack of the cutaway?

I suppose it's possible, though I think you meant the following:

-----------------------------------------------P------P------H----------------------------------------
E----------------------------12----13----15----13----12-----------12-------------------------0----
B-------12----13----15---------------------------------------15-----------13----10-----------0----
G------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------10---------
D------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------D-----U-----D------U-----D-----U--------------------------D-----U-----D-----U-----D-----

Wait what? That looks exactly like what I just posted? What am I missing?

[wjamflan]

Wait what? That looks exactly like what I just posted? What am I missing?

Check out the notes at the end at the 10th fret - wrong strings....

[garbeaj]

Wait what? That looks exactly like what I just posted? What am I missing?

Check out the notes at the end at the 10th fret - wrong strings....

OOPS! I see it now...sorry!

Yes, the way you have it is what I meant...

Do you see what I'm saying about the lack of the cutaway making it less likely that he played that part as a "straight" arpeggio and that the position shift that I tried to post makes the most sense?

[garbeaj]

How about this slight change in the part on the G string leading to the sextuplets:

------------H----H--------------------------H----H--------------H----P----P--------------S---H--SL------
E------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
B------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
G-----------------------------------------4----5---------4----5----7----5----4----------4-/-5---7-/-8----
D------------------------4----5----7---------------7--------------------------------7----------------------
A--------4----5----7----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------D--------------D----U----D----U--------------D----U--------------------U----D----------------

[wjamflan]

Allen - I hear one hammer on and a slide. But, as always, feel free to play it in whatever way you hear it. I'm just trying to help...

[rdodson]

Ah, the Ovation nylon-string. What a great guitar.

It was ruined when Ed put steel strings on it for "Take Your Whisky Home".

Great transcription work. In piano, this level of technical study is called pedagogy. Not just playing the notes, but playing them the way the composer intended with the correct fingerings. Love to see it here.