_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Jeff's Lesson Notes

"Meet Vin Heuton"
Vin Heuton Lesson 1

 

There are certain dynamics involved with playing a VH type piece.  What I have done below is use common double stops and a couple common scales mixed with some techniques that Ed likes to use and added a pinch of imagination and I have a mock V.H. song section.  This would sort of be an interlude into solo sort of thing. 

This is from the band Vin Heuton.  The idea here is to practice the techniques that Ed uses but also what is very important with V.H. stuff is the vibe or the feel of it and how it flows. 

Here in this first lesson of VH Style 101 I must and will pound it into your head that playing a V.H. sounding thing, what ever it may be has less to do with the actual notes you hit and more to do with the flow and feel of it. 

As we go forward with these lessons I will prove that to you time and time again by playing things that are not V.H. but making them sound like V.H..  To give an example.  I did this once with an AC/DC song.  I was in a V.H. mood one day and I was playing a show with a cover band I was in at the time and one of our songs was Back in Black.  When the solo came around I played the notes that Angus played but played them with a V.H. vibe or feel to them.  What came out was a cool sounding solo that showed very little variation from the original. 

I will give you the basic scale or scales I'm using and I will give you the basic double stops and or chords I'm using.  Then below that I will tab out what I'm playing on the video. 

I will of course perform this section for you on the video so that know what it sounds like as this is not a real actual V.H. song but rather something I made up at 6 am.   lol 

Going forward we will focus on Ed's rhythm playing, riffs and licks and chord patterns and also we will of course continue the soloing series we are beginning here.  The whole point of this is to help you to understand how the man plays and that Eddie V.H. is really more of a style than he is a person who plays guitar.  What I mean by that is that Ed changed the way we approach the guitar and that's what made him unique.  It really had far less to do with any weird scale or anything that he was using.  In fact most of his solos when tabbed out, look remarkably like Eric Clapton solos in spots. 

The real trick to being an innovator is understanding that you need to be yourself as a player.  Its more about imagination than it is fret board knowledge or "talent" which is a word I personally hate as I think it limits people and puts them in a little box so to speak. 

You can see Eddie V.H.'s influences when his music is tabbed out, but you can't really hear them when he plays.  That's the secret and what I feel makes him incredibly special as a guitarist and also why I think his style is worth learning and understanding. 

When you want to play something like VH.  Think of VH.  Think of how he acts when he plays.  Break your leads up and add personality to them.  Things don't usually just blend together with V.H. stuff.  It's like speech.  Like I said a long long time ago.  Ed plays guitar with punctuation, much the way we talk to each other.  There are pauses and breaks and each part of a solo or fill says something to you and even sometimes laughs at you. 

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Lesson

Main Chords or double stops being used. 

     F#5  A5     D/F#     E           E     F#/C#    E/B

E____________________________________________
B____________________________________________
G_____2____2____1____________________________
D_____2____4____2_____6____4____2____________
A_4___________________7____4____2____________
E_2__________________________________________

Main scale or scales being used.  (just the white meat scales are tabbed below some other filler notes exist.)

Common 9 tone scale that Ed likes to use when staying in one position to solo.  This scale slides anywhere on the fret board and the key is dictated by its position.  This one below is technically an F# minor but Ed would also used it to solo in the key of A or E in some cases.  F# minor is the relative minor of A by the way.  And also 9 Tone means that there 9 individual notes or pitches in this scale. 

Below in yellow highlight are the note pitches of this 9 tone scale in order starting from A to make it easy to read and follow (this is NOT the scale order that's tabbed out.  See diagram below for those pitches) :

A, B, C, C#, D#, E, F, F#, G#

Tab of the scale we will be using.

This is a good scale to know for VH.  We'll be using it often with this Vin Heuton stuff, and keep in mind that it's movable to any position on the fret board.  There are probably 100 scales we'll be messing with for VH, but this one is a good place to start, and it's great for any skill level to sink their teeth into.. Or should I say, "Sink their Pick into"... 

E______________________________2_4_5__________________
B________________________2_4_5________________________
G__________________2_4_5______________________________
D____________2_3_4____________________________________
A______2_3_4__________________________________________
E__2_5________________________________________________

Diagram of this scale with pitches

Note:  D# = Eb.  I don't have an Eb gif.

You could really put this scale in any order you want but Ed usually likes the pattern I tabbed for you above.  There are other scales of course that Ed uses and we'll get to some of those in other lessons.  For now we'll deal with this one.

In the main lesson below I will form a VH style riff out of the double stops given earlier and add in some fills using the scale I gave above. 

NOTE:  I will not always stay in scale pattern.  I'm going to be using the notes that make up the scale all over the fret board.  Again it's very important that you know the notes on your fret board.

The lessons on this site are only an expansion of topics covered on my products.  If you don't know the notes on your guitar or understand your fret board then the Beginners 101 product that I produced will be right up your alley.  With 6 hours of video you can't go wrong with it really.  

** Always remember that with JFRocks.com, PRODUCT CONTENT DOES NOT MATCH OR OVERLAP THE WEBSITE IN ANY WAY.  If it's on the site it's not on a one of our products, or visa versa. **

_________________________________________________________________________