ZAKK WYLDE
There’s No Rest For The Wicked in Wylde’s world of fast alternate picking and pinched harmonics, says Charlie Griffiths of this great rocker.
Zakk Wylde was born in New Jersey in 1967 and since his appearance on Ozzy Osbourne’s No Rest For The Wicked in 1988, has remained one of the most respected and renowned players in the hard rock and metal genres. Zakk’s combination of bluesy feel, shredding alternate picking and trademark pinched harmonic vibrato is as legendary as it is recognisable.
Zakk’s tenure with Ozzy has continued throughout the years with No More Tears and Ozzmosis being highly recommended rock guitar masterpieces. As well as this, Zakk released the acclaimed Pride And Glory in 1994, which paved the way for his Book Of
Shadows solo works and Black Label Society, with whom Zakk has released multiple albums. His bluesy Southern metal style makes him the perfect choice to honour Dimebag Darrell’s legacy for the forthcoming Pantera tribute shows.
Zakk uses a lot of alternate picked Pentatonic and Blues scale patterns and Example 1 demonstrates a typical six-note descending sequence with each note picked with confidence and attack. The key to mastering this two-notes-per-string picking technique is in the angle at which you tilt the pick. The common perception is that we hold the pick in a horizontal plane and move it in a ‘down-up’ motion. Although this theoretically works when playing on one string, changing strings is a messy and inexact affair. Instead, position your hand so the tip of the pick is higher up in space than the round edge of the pick. This makes picking more of an ‘in and out’ motion, with some ‘down and up’ movement too. So with each fragment, the pick moves into and away from the strings. Starting ‘away’ from the strings allows for a clean first ‘downstroke’ on any string. So, whether so are traversing multiple strings, like Ex1, or moving back and forth between a pair of strings like Ex3 and Ex4, this technique will serve you well.
Once you are comfortable with alternate picking, we can add pinched harmonics, or harmonic squeals or screams. To achieve Zakk level harmonics you’ll need gain and chorus to widen the sound. The pinched harmonic is so called because we ‘pinch’ the string with the side of the thumb as we pick it. The physics are the same as producing a regular two-handed natural harmonic, except the node point touch, pick and release motion is all performed with the same motion. The harmonic’s pitch and clarity depends on the point on the string at which you are positioned. Move up and down the string to discover the different harmonics available. Once you hit the harmonic, use your fretting hand to add a wide vibrato. There is really no vibrato too wide in the Wylde world. Use your forearm and wrist to repeatedly bend the string up and down at least a tone, but a Minor 3rd bend will probably sound more Zakk-like.
Our final example is an approach Zakk takes when phrasing three-note arpeggios across strings as with his famous Miracle Man solo. Rather than alternate picking, Zakk uses a downward sweep picking motion across two strings, followed by an upstroke to complete the three-note repetition. This is a cool technique to use in any style of playing.
Play each example very slowly at first and focus on accuracy rather than speed as you learn these techniques.
NEXT MONTH Charlie has five examples to try, emulating the great rocker George Lynch