Let's take a sneak peak into the trick bag of the one and only Eddie
Van Halen. One of the most innovative rock guitarist to come along.
The guitar parts in Van Halen's take on the Roy Orbison song "Oh,
Pretty Woman" gets a Eddie Van Halen face lift.
The intro to the song is a really fun riff to play. It comes complete
with whammy bar tricks, harmonics, and slides. Some of these "tricks"
are actually very easy to play and master, so what are you waiting for?
Jump right in!
Part 1
The first four measures of the intro
a relatively easy:
The slide up to the 10th fret at the very end can be performed by sliding
your first finger up the fretboard until you hit the 10th fret and then
sliding it back down. Where you start the slide and end it doesn't really
matter. You should do it fairly quickly because you only have a beat
to perform it before going on to the next part.
This is what it sounds like when done properly:
Part 2
The next part of the intro introduces some of Eddie's signature tricks
which include harmonics and whammy bar tricks.
The 1st and 2nd measure are identical. Apply a slight palm mute. To
do this you'll rest the heel of your picking hand lightly on the strings
just before the bridge and apply a little pressure as you pick the string.
This will create a slightly muffled tone for the note.
The "A.H." above the D note on the A string/5th fret stands
for artificial harmonic. This is sometimes also called a "pinch
harmonic". A harmonic is a cool trick you can use to make the sound
of the note you're playing sound at a higher pitch.
An artificial harmonic occurs when a harmonic is induced from a fretted
string. For example, if you fretted the E string at the 3rd fret and
played a harmonic at the 15th fret, you would hear a harmonic G.
Playing artificial harmonics requires you to touch the string lightly
just as you pick it with your picking hand thumb. All you do is hold
the pick so that only the very point is protruding below the flesh of
your thumb. Immediately as you pick the string, allow the flesh of your
thumb to touch the string. With a little practice you'll start producing
harmonics:
The "N.H." in the measure below stands for natural harmonic.
Natural harmonics occur with open strings. By slightly touching the
string you are playing right above the 5th, 7th, or 12th fret when you
pick an open string, you can get clear bell like tones. Give it a try!
It's pretty easy. If you don't get a clear sounding note and get a muffled
sound, then you're touching too hard. You just barely have to come in
contact with the surface of the string.
For this measure, Eddie creates natural harmonics on the 7th fret and
then dips it with his whammy bar three times. That's what the notation
with the 1 over it means. It's almost like a graphical illustration
of the movement you use with your whammy bar. A dip only requires you
to push the bar down and then let it return to it's natural state. The
"1" is telling you to dip down on whole step which is the
equivalent of 2 frets.
Here's the example:
In the last measure Eddie does a dive with his whammy bar. To do this
just push the bar down 1 1/2 steps.
Part 3
The last part of the intro is really the hardest. Jumping from
the A string to the B and high E strings and back down to the
low E string is no easy task to do with a clean attack.
There really is no secret cure that will allow you to play it right.
All it takes is a little practice. Isolate the hard part and practice
it until you have it right:
Video
Watch the 3 different parts discussed above performed in the videos
below:
