Rock journalist Jas Obrecht is sharing a very cool unseen document with the world – his complete scan of Steve Vai’s original seven-page handwritten transcription of Van Halen’s “Eruption,” done in 1984.
From Jas Obrecht’s Talking Guitar:
While I was a staff editor at Guitar Player, we decided to feature Eddie Van Halen on the cover of the July 1984 issue. Since I’d already interviewed Eddie four times for the magazine, we asked if he’d be willing to give our readers a crash course in his playing style. Eddie agreed, and our music editor, Jim Ferguson, was dispatched to Los Angeles to meet with him for the “My Tips For Beginners” section of the cover story.
We also thought it would be beneficial to include music for more advanced players. Eddie’s “Eruption,” the guitar-and-drums instrumental on 1978’s Van Halen, seemed the obvious choice. But who could transcribe such a complex piece of music, with its groundbreaking finger taps, whammy wranglings, and sonic effects? The answer: Steve Vai, who’d just finished recording his Flex-Able solo album.
At the time, the 23-year-old Vai was a Berklee College of Music graduate and a member of Frank Zappa’s band. Zappa regularly referred to the six-foot-tall Vai as “our little Italian virtuoso.” Steve found his way into Zappa’s orbit by doing freelance transcriptions of some of Frank’s more complex pieces. We contacted Steve, and he agreed to take on the “Eruption” assignment.
Weeks later, Vai’s package arrived. The instant I unfolded his taped-together seven-page transcription, it struck me as a work of art. For starters, it was handwritten on cream-colored music paper. A similarly colored variation of White-Out had been used to make corrections. Notes on the top left-hand corner of the first page declared “Guitar Part Transcribed for Guitar + Pumped Marshalls” and “Balls Out!” This was no ordinary transcription.
Steve included eight paragraphs of notes to accompany the transcription. Here they are:
“Featuring screaming scale passages and rapid-fire two-handed arpeggios, ‘Eruption’ from the LP Van Halen is one of the most virtuosically performed rock instrumentals on record. Whether you decide to learn the entire solo or just skim it for new ideas and licks, be sure to listen carefully to the piece in order to get the feel and other technical aspects that defy notation.
“Transcribing is an art in itself, and it’s a skill you should cultivate if you want to continually add to your musical vocabulary. Most players of improvisational styles—especially jazz, blues, and rock—learned the majority of what they know by taking music off of records. When I transcribe, I transfer the tune from disc to reel-to-reel recorder, which enables me to slow down a solo and double-check each phrase. And I often use a cassette, because it’s easier to operate and facilitates reviewing a lick over and over.
“If you were to compare this transcription to another of the same tune, you would undoubtedly see differences. Even if you were transcribe the same piece two different times, you would likely do it differently. While some transcriptions are far more accurate than others, in general the art is a relative one. (For instance, the pitch of a particular bend might fall between two notes, and consequently be written in more than one way. In other words, when putting a player’s improvisations on paper, the rhythms, notes, and fretboard positions of licks are open to interpretation.)
The first two pages are shown below. To read the rest of Steve Vai’s notes and see the full seven pages of the transcription, visit Talking Guitar – Jas Obrecht’s Music Magazine.
