Every now and again it’s nice to read a story that reminds you that even the world’s greatest guitar players are still human.
Dweezil Zappa has one such grounding anecdote, and it involved him giving Eddie Van Halen a guitar lesson for a Frank Zappa song that was melting his brain.
Van Halen had an extremely close relationship with the Zappa family, with Eddie even producing Dweezil’s first single, 1982’s My Mother Is a Space Cadet. Fast forward to 2010, and suddenly the apprentice became the master.
Speaking to 100 FM The Pike, Dweezil, Frank’s eldest son, called the moment a “really interesting, fun experience.”
“He came to one of my shows back in 2010 and we were playing the song St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast,” he explained (via Ultimate Guitar).
“After the show, he came up. He said, ‘What's that ‘pancake song’? What are you playing there?’ And I had to play this really difficult part and show it to him on the guitar.
“He goes, ‘I don't even understand how you're playing that. I could never play that.’
“In that moment, it was a total role reversal,” he continues, “because me as a 12-year-old, I was saying, ‘Play Eruption, play Mean Street,’ thinking I could never play that. So, I had this complete oddball experience. It was like the Jedi mind trick or something. It was very strange.”
It was an experience a whole universe – let alone a world – away from Dweezil’s humble early days playing the instrument. He remembers fondly when, at 12 years old, he got to use, and keep, Van Halen's 1982 Kramer for his band's cover of Runnin’ with the Devil at a school talent show.
But it happened, with the role reversal coming during Zappa Plays Zappa's tour supporting Jeff Beck, who was playing with an orchestra, on a string of US dates 14 years ago.
“We had a chance to play a bit backstage and I showed him some of the things I had to learn in order to pull off Frank’s complicated music,” Dweezil told Guitar Player that same year. “Eddie said, ‘I don’t know how your dad came up with that stuff, let alone how you figured out how to play it!’
“At a certain point, he laughed and said, ‘Who would have thought that you would be giving me a guitar lesson!’ Understand I say that with all the respect in the world. For him to even remotely acknowledge me showing him anything – that was an amazing moment.”
Dweezil has his dad's lineage as a drummer to thank for the riff's tricky nature.
“He was a drummer who became a guitar player, so the rhythmic element within his soloing is ridiculously strong,” he says. “He didn’t necessarily have the chops to where every single note was executed perfectly, but the charm of his playing is that he’s going for things that he might not be able to execute.
“I love that reckless abandon he had. The attitude of, ‘I’m going to go for the idea, even if my hands won’t let me do it.’ Not too many people are willing to risk that. I try and capture that spirit in my playing.”
Zappa’s prodigal son will play a set of his father's legendary music, celebrating 50 years since the release of Roxy & Elsewhere and Apostrophe(*), at the Warfield Theatre in San Francisco on August 4.
The “Pancake song” – as Eddie put it – is expected to feature and Guitar Player Presents has teamed up with Goldenvoice to offer readers a chance to win tickets to the show.
Zappa is also expected to play his brand-new “microphonic” signature guitar, crafted by the luthiers at Shabat and unveiled earlier this year.
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