Respawn Entertainment: Days of Glory

Chapter 701 Goodbye Bian Lang plays the lead vocals

At this moment, those who had previously thought that Bian Lang was just pretending by carrying a guitar on his back, all felt that their previous thoughts were too ridiculous.

"What are you thinking about? Brother Lang didn't hurt his hand like Feimos, so how could he carry a guitar on his back to pretend!" Liangzi, who had been silent until now, added fuel to the fire in the circle of guitarists.

After hearing this, a buddy wanted to say something in response, but was silenced by Xi Que's shameless remarks: "Don't treat me, Lang, as the lead guitarist. Before Di Li came along, wasn't it me who played the rhythm and he played the lead? Besides, if you can't play it yourself, how can you compose it?"

While he was talking, Bian Lang instantly dropped an octave and started playing a blues chord. When the brown retro sound came out, most guitarists would think, "How did you get this sound?"

The cameraman on the scene had given notice in advance. From the moment Bian Langshou put down the guitar, the camera kept following Bian Langshou playing Da Te. After the camera was turned to the large screens on both sides, another climax of emotions among the audience began to come.

At this moment, Bian Lang stepped on the return with one foot, and the concave part of the guitar body seemed to be embedded in his thigh. At the moment when he lowered his head to play, Guo Li, who was sitting at a camera position under the stage, raised her hand and pressed the shutter button, capturing Bian Lang, whose body blocked the spotlight and was framed with divine light.

After this 3-bar blues chord, the storm of double-tap strings begins to sweep in!

The double-tapped strings from the 6th to the 13th frets poured down like a torrential rain, causing most people at the scene to hold their breath, fearing that the sound of their breathing would affect Bian Lang's performance.

Especially the lead guitarists in the audience, their eyes widened, not daring to move. Even so, they still couldn't see which frets Bian Lang's fingers were pressing.

Even though this section of two-handed tapping is just over a measure long, which is only two seconds in time, for the lead guitarists in the audience, these two seconds are definitely the most valuable two seconds of the entire performance.

What can you do in two seconds? Even a tentacle monster at the starting point can't type more than a few words.

However, Bian Lang played 30 notes in these two seconds. If converted into BPM, the speed of Bian Lang in this section has reached an astonishing 750BPM.

However, this is not the end. After the string-picking, Bian Lang pulled the tremolo at the speed of light, followed by a 600BPM fast-playing climax, and ended with the 18th-fret vibrato, finally completing this electric guitar solo that was not long but was enough to shock the whole audience!

Not to mention the guitarists in the audience, even Di Li and Strauss on the stage were fascinated!

If Di Li was not on long-term loan and had no time to practice, and if Strauss was not busy preparing for teaching, the two of them would have definitely competed with Bian Lang for the premiere of this solo.

Although they were a little reluctant, the two of them were full of admiration for Bian Lang at this moment. As a creator, Bian Lang was able to maintain such a high level of performance skills despite being so productive, which was one of the important reasons why the two of them were willing to work at Rolling Stone.

If they were in Bian Lang's position, they would have died of nervous breakdown. Not to mention writing songs, the time and effort put into practicing the songs is beyond the imagination of ordinary people.

The key is that Bian Lang is the one with the lowest attendance rate in the Rolling Stones rehearsal. According to their estimation, he should not exceed one-third of the total rehearsal time. Despite this, Bian Lang has never been a drag... Dayong joked: "I feel that Bian Lang does not need to sleep. He must spend all his time practicing overtime when he goes home! If it were me, I would not be able to finish it even if I died of exhaustion!"

Whether it was the fans or the musicians in the audience, what they saw was Bian Lang's almost perfect performance on stage. Who could put themselves in his shoes and think about how superhuman Bian Lang must have been this year to be the rock star who shines so brightly and can do everything on stage now!
But who would have thought that these were the accumulation of decades of experience in Bian Lang’s previous life!
This solo starts with a high pitch, drops to a blues chord, and then rises back to the explosive ending through tapping and speed playing. It only takes a few bars or more than ten seconds. But for all the audience, it is an amazing musical journey.

Strictly speaking, the last time Bian Lang performed as the lead singer and lead guitarist for Rolling Stone was at the Ximangmang Music Festival. Later music fans did not have the chance to see this scene, so how can we not be excited to see it happen again now.

But the solo in the interlude is not over yet, it just changes from electric guitar to keyboard. This solo composed of arpeggios according to the chord progression once again aroused the enthusiasm of the fans and the keyboard players in the audience were excited again.

If nothing else, just for this solo, they are all willing to blow the waves. Keyboardists are not a standard part of rock bands. Even the inaudible bass, one of the three major instruments of traditional rock, is on the list, but there is no keyboard.

In the original Earth, it was not until a group of psychedelic and progressive rock bands such as Deep Purple, The Who, and Pink Floyd emerged that the keyboard became one of the four major instruments of rock music with classic keyboard riffs. Coupled with the development of synthesizers, keyboardists once became an indispensable position in the band.

One of the songwriters of "JUMP", Eddie Van Halen, is not only ranked eighth in the 100 greatest guitarists named by Rolling Stone, but Guitar Magazine also ranked him first. At the same time, Eddie also played the keyboard in the studio version of "JUMP", which was named one of the top ten keyboard riffs in the world.

The most widely recognized compliment about Eddie is: "He is the man who reshaped the rock guitar!"

Before Van Halen released its self-titled debut, rock music was dominated by long, stilted guitar solos or simplistic riffs like those of the Sex Pistols and the Ramones.

Then came "Eruption," from Van Halen's 1976 debut. In just 102 seconds, Eddie redefined the sound of rock guitar with a gripping melody, a high-speed riff, and a dizzying roar... just as Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton had done a decade before him.

Even decades later, it still sounds exciting. Even if you have never played guitar, you may ask yourself after watching the video: "How is this done?"

Eddie is a self-taught guitar prodigy. He originally learned to play drums, but after hearing his brother Alex Van Halen's wonderful drum skills in the song "Wipe Out", he felt that he could not compare with his brother, so he switched to electric guitar.

"Eruption" was originally just a short improvisation played by Eddie and Alex during the recording of the album "Van Halen" during a rehearsal for a performance, but at the insistence of producer Ted Templeman, it was finally recorded. In an interview with Guitar Player in 1978, Eddie said: "I don't think too much, which is also the charm of this band. Everything is completely natural."

The pioneering spirit of Van Halen ran through Eddie's life for 40 years. Until October 2020, 10, Eddie died of cancer.

He has made countless innovations in the field of rock music. Not only did he make instrumental performance more radical, he also redefined the design and sound of instrumental performance.

In 2019, his famous self-made guitar Frankenstein was exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Earlier, the Smithsonian Institution Museum also exhibited one of his guitars. On the Blue Planet, Frankenstein's name is destined to be no less famous than it was in its original place.

However, these are just two examples of Eddie's influence on art and culture. Although legendary guitarists have pioneered the use of their hands to expand musical expression, Eddie's two-handed tapping of the strings in songs such as "Eruption" that looks like playing the piano still leaves a deep impression on rock music audiences.

Because Eddie's playing was so revolutionary that before the band signed a record company, Alex suggested that Eddie should turn his back to the audience to prevent others from copying him. But Eddie's answer was: "I've seen Jimi play like this with one hand in "Heartbreaker"!"

In 2008, Eddie explained the idea of ​​double tapping in an interview with Rolling Stone: "Jimi played it with one hand, and I thought I could play it that way, with either hand. But once you start doing it, the other hand can't help it, and then you can't stop."

At the same time, Eddie is also a mad guitar scientist. He likes to tinker with instruments himself. He always likes to modify his instruments to find the best effect.

He tried various ways to change the sound of the instrument, such as rubbing it with sandpaper and sawing it.

Frankenstrat built this guitar from a $50 Charvel body and an $80 neck, and added a humbucking pickup to the body, which gives it a fuller sound, like Les Paul playing on a Gibson.

In a 1978 interview with Guitar Player, Eddie said: "If you put the pickup too close to the bridge, it sounds shrill, and if you put it too far away, you get a sound that doesn't fit the rhythm. I like it back so it has a little bit of a shrill sound."

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He also installed his own frets, stripped away all unnecessary parts except for a volume knob, and finished it off with a diagonal stripe paint job and glued a row of picks to the guitar for easy access after he switched strings.

“No one taught me how to modify a guitar, I learned entirely through trial and error!”

"I've broken a lot of guitars, but now I know what I'm doing and I can do anything I want to do. I hate going to the store and buying ready-made guitars."

The above are what he said during the interview. If it were put in the current online articles, it would be the ancestor of Versailles. Others want to buy but can't, but this guy hates buying ready-made products, so he chooses to make his own!
Although he wasn't the first guitar virtuoso to do this—Lonely and Les Paul both had their own custom guitars—it was Eddie who inspired guitar customization in the 80s.

He also brought other innovations to the guitar world: He collaborated with guitarist Floyd Rose on a tremolo-arm stabilization system and encouraged Rose to add fine tuners to the bridge that were often used on violins.

He also patented a playing aid called the "D Tuna" that makes the guitar easier to finger and allows guitarists to play a full range on the lowest strings. He also patented a unique headstock and a stacked humbucker pickup. He also worked with Fender on a special humbucker pickup that was never released.

However, Eddie's contribution to rock music is more than that. In order to pay tribute to the sound called "Woman tone" created by his idol in the song "Sunshine of Your Love", Eddie also devoted himself to creating his own guitar tone called "Brown Sound".

Eddie realized this idea using his Frankenstein guitar, a 1968 Marshall Super Lead amplifier, an MXR Phase 90, and an echo pedal.

Although he had modified amplifiers and had countless amateurs follow suit and break their equipment, the fact is that he used a transformer to change the voltage of the amplifier, allowing his amplifiers to be used at a lower voltage, and then used other electronic devices to control the volume of the amplifier.

This makes the tone sound crisp, sharp but warm! This is exactly the tone you need when playing guitar!
When Eddie and his band were rising to prominence, New Wave bands represented by Blonde and Duran Duran dominated the charts.

Eddie also created a hard rock hit with the help of synthesizers, "Jump"!
Not only is there a fiery guitar solo that sounds like a brilliant fill, but there is also a brain-burning keyboard lead. He has also experimented with keyboards in songs such as "And the Cradle Will Rock...", but "Jump" is something that only belongs to Van Halen, interesting but still tough.

In addition, in the album "1984", Eddie used synthesizer bass to create a song "I'll Wait", which was also very popular. Although "Eruption" full of harmonics, legato, tapping and roaring was just a coincidence, Eddie went all out in subsequent works.

In the song "Spanish Flay" from the album "Van Halen II", he brought his tapping and speed to the acoustic guitar playing; in "Sunday Afternoon In The Park" from the album "Fair Warning", he and Alex, who played the keyboard, created a Led Zeppelin-style mountain fog-filled duet.

"Gathedral" from "Diver Down" is a trick of vocal control, his guitar sounds like a keyboard, but with a more classical feel; "Little Guitars" from the same album is a Spanish guitar exercise;
"316" from For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge would have been an acoustic ballet if lead singer Sammy Hagar had incorporated vocals, but it's beautiful in its own way, while "Baluchitherium" from Balance proves that Eddie is as good at jazz-rock instrumentation as the guitar icons who came later, Steve Vai and Joe Satriani.

Not only that, "Panama" and "Right Now" show a unique beauty of relaxation and tension. When it comes to sound creation, Eddie can do it with ease.

The same was true for Bian Lang at this moment. After the interlude with various instruments playing to the fullest, Bian Lang put down the guitar and returned to the lead singer position, leading the audience to continue to jump together:

“Might as well jump. Jump !
Go ahead, jump.
Get it and jump. Jump !
Go ahead, jump
Jump!
Jump…”

(End of this chapter)