Zakk Wylde Reveals How He Found His Own Guitar Style By Refusing To Play Like Eddie VH And Yngwie Malmsteen

Former Ozzy Osbourne lead guitarist Zakk Wylde opened up about his iconic guitar sound along with his tenure with Osbourne during an interview with Guitar World, and apparently, he created his sound by eliminating other legendary guitarists’ techniques such as late Van Halen guitarist Eddie Van Halen‘s tapping, or Yngwie Malmsteen‘s harmonic minor.

As many of you might know, there are a few guitar icons such as Eddie Van Halen, Yngwie Malmsteen, Jimi Hendrix, and so much more. The reason why these guitarists are legends in music history is that they all have a trademark sound that is unique to them either they created or known for such as using the wah pedal, tapping technique, and harmonic minor.

That’s exactly why once another guitarist uses these guitar techniques that belong and attached to some other iconic guitar player in the fans’ eyes, it’s most likely going to sound similar to those legendary musicians which is the worst thing an artist can do, being compared to a guitar icon.

During a recent interview, Zakk Wylde explained this situation and stated that he created his own sound with a specific style, by choosing other techniques and styles than those guitar legends such as Eddie Van Halen, Yngwie Malmsteen, and Jimi Hendrix.

In addition to this, Wylde stated that he didn’t want to be compared to those musicians, therefore, he needed his own unique sound to separate him from any other guitarist. Thanks to his efforts in order to be original, he reached his trademark guitar sound.

Here is what Wylde said:

“I was sat with Steve Vai one night and we were talking about when I got the gig with The Boss. And I was telling him that I needed to find my own sound to separate me from anybody else. I didn’t want to get compared to other players… so how could I sound more like Zakk Wylde? I just wrote a list of things you can’t do.

If you don’t want to sound like Eddie Van Halen, don’t do any tapping or use the whammy bar or harmonics. I didn’t want people saying I sounded like Yngwie, so that meant no harmonic minor, no sweep-picking or arpeggios.

If you don’t want to sound like Jimi Hendrix, stay off the Uni-Vibe and don’t play a Strat with a wah-wah. Classical stuff was more Randy’s thing so I stayed away from that. If you don’t want to get compared, don’t play it!”

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