Dimebag Darrell’s shoes are hard to fill in. Following the guitarist’s tragic death, Pantera didn’t even try to find a replacement for him. However, this challenging task ultimately fell on Zakk Wylde’s shoulders. In a recent Guitar World interview, Wylde explained the most challenging aspect of playing Darrell’s guitar parts in the band.
“No matter what I do, it’s going to sound like me,” said Zakk Wylde, stressing that he can’t fully replace Dimebag Darrell. “I can practice all I want and stay as faithful as I want, but I will never escape that. It’s like if Randy Rhoads were to play Eddie Van Halen’s ‘Eruption.’ No matter what he did, it would sound like Randy playing, not Eddie. You’re never going to mistake Randy for Eddie or Eddie for Randy, and it’s the same with me playing Dime’s stuff here.”
He continued, explaining how he plans to stay true to Darrell’s playing and stated, “I am going to go in, learn the parts, be as faithful to what Dime did as possible, and just be me. I will have fun with it, knowing that I am not expecting myself to sound like Dime, and no one else should either, which is how it is when I play with Ozzy or whatever else. I’ll be using my guitars, effects, and pedals, a lot of the pedals that Dime actually gave me, and yeah, I’ll definitely be using some of Dime’s pedals and stuff, too.”
“I’m still working out how it’ll all come together,” Wylde revealed, giving more details about his rehearsals. “But I look forward to seeing how it flows once I do. Dime’s tech, Grady Champion, will be coming down too, which is great. I’ve got my tech, but it’ll be great to have Grady here to help pay tribute to Dime.”
Pantera fans know that nobody can sound like Dimebag Darrell. Corey Taylor also recently claimed the same but argued that fans should support Pantera through Zakk Wylde and Charlie Benante’s journey. Currently, the band is preparing for their long-awaited tour and the Monterrey Metal Fest in December 2022; it appears Zakk Wylde has a long list of things to do to stay faithful to Darrell’s work.
