- Alex Van Halen was wearing his trademark japanese-style bandana and no shirt. Alex Lifeson couldn’t help but notice how toned Alex Van Halen was after all these years, a man with the body of.
- Alex Lifeson is featured on Marco Minnemann's 2017 release Borrego, on which he played guitars on three songs and co-wrote the track 'On That Note'. In 2018, he played lead guitar on Fu Manchu 's 18-minute mostly instrumental track 'Il Mostro Atomico' from the group's Clone of the Universe album.
- Alex Van Halen: It's our turn! David Lee Roth: OK, guys, I hope you read this issue! - True Stuff, July 4,1981 'We gonna go back in time now - back a year's time to Leicester, England. You're gonna have to look that up; it's spelled with an 'ie' or something.
Check out a band firing on all three cylinders but pay special attention to Alex Lifeson's solo in this Freewill live video. Top 5 - Hendrix, Van Halen, Clapton, SRV, Alex Lifeson.there, it's settled. I await your rebuttals.
Vid: ‘The Spirit of Radio Lesson’ from Alex
Even though I played in bands that copped multiple tunes off Rush’s Moving Pictures album, my favorite Rush album is Permanent Waves. The band was just on fire for that recording. Lots of energy, great parts, great arrangements that are complex yet understandable.
Did I say great?
Naturally, I got curious about Alex Lifeson’s gear on that album. I remember watching the Loving Pictures-era studio and live videos on MTV, but not Permanent Waves-era stuff – which apparently doesn’t exist, according to what’s on the almighty YouTube.
So failing a visual of what Alex used, here’s what some Internet sleuthing dug up. Several websites hav copied and pasted the same info among each other, so the following is some of that plus a little anecdotal info dug up here and there. Lifeson fans please check me on this stuff.
Alex’s Permanent Waves Gear
Guitars
> Black ’77 Fender Stratocaster with an original (no fine tuners) Floyd Rose tremolo, no locking nut – Alex used powdered graphite in the string slots – and a Gibson humbucker. Used on “The Spirit of Radio” and the lead on “Different Strings.”
> A sunburst Gibson Howard Roberts Fusion was also used on “Different Strings.”
> Trusty white Gibson 355, stock, used on the rest of the album with the exception of the leads on “Jacob’s Ladder,” which was:
> Custom-built Pyramid solid-body [could not find a pic of this guitar either].
> Acoustics were a Gibson J-55 and a Dove in Nashville tuning.
Amps
> Amps were said to be a combination of Hiwatts, Marshalls and Mesa/Boogies into Marshall 4×12 bottoms. Live, Alex was clearly favoring Hiwatts at this time.
> He also used a Leslie cab [song?].
Effects
> “Various” wahs, fuzzes and phasers, according to the websites, along with “Loft analog delays and Maestro parametric EQs.”
> The flanger in “The Spirit of Radio” is presumed to be an Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress or an Eventide Harmonizer, with most thinking the former.
> After my experiments with the new Eventide PitchFactor pedal, I’d say that Alex was also using an Eventide Harmonizer, at least for some parts if not for whole songs. The Harmonizer was (and still is) used a lot by guit-slingers in the studio, and was seldom talked about.
Alex on the ‘The Spirit of Radio’ Opening Riff
Category: Alex Lifeson, Electro-Harmonix, Eventide, Gibson, Hiwatt, Marshall, Mesa/Boogie, Strat
The Final Four kicks off with Eddie Van Halen taking on Alex Lifeson for a spot in the championship match! It’s very close!
CLICK HERE TO VOTE NOW.
EDDIE VAN HALEN has had his mettle tested lately, coming out on top in marquee matchups with the likes of Randy Rhoads and Joe Satriani. With his triumphant return to the top of the guitar heap with Van Halen’s new album, A Different Kind of Truth, the timing seems perfect for Ed to make a run toward the final round.
Standing in his way is Rush’s ALEX LIFESON, who has added wins over a couple of heavy metal legends in Tony Iommi and Dimebag Darrell to his win belt after becoming the king of the prog world, defeating Steve Howe, Frank Zappa and Neal Schon in the tournament’s early rounds.
Guitar World’s Online Producer says, “EVH has simply advanced the instrument in so many directions that it’s nearly impossible to vote against him.” Read who Guitar World’s own staff voted for, below:
JIMMY BROWN, Senior Music Editor
Pick: Eddie Van Halen
Alex Lifeson Geddy Lee
Lifeson’s contributions to expanding the lexicon of rock guitar, in terms of creating original, innovative licks, aural textures and rhythm parts/compositions, are enormous and will be revered and imitated by players for generation to come. But what EVH did for advancing the sonic possibilities afforded by a hot-rodded electric guitar and “harmonically optimized” tube amp, plus effects, most notably phaser and stereo reverb, as well as raising the proverbial bar when it comes to elevating such playing techniques as tapping, finger vibrato, harmonics and whammy bar dips and dives, represents nothing short of an upward seismic shift that forever changed and enhanced the landscape or hard rock and metal.
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JOSH HART, Online Producer
Pick: Eddie Van Halen
Like Jimmy, I feel like EVH has simply advanced the instrument in so many directions that it’s nearly impossible to vote against him, even with this tournament showing just how powerful Lifeson’s legions of followers really are.
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DAMIAN FANELLI, Online Managing Editor
Pick: Eddie Van Halen
No offense to the great Alex Lifeson, his many followers, Rush and all of Canada (which, by the way, is the foreign country I visit most often; no matter how hard they try, American cookie companies can’t make a good maple cookie), but this is a no-brainer. Eddie Van Halen is a freakin’ genious, a revolutionary … honestly, I don’t think this needs more explanation.
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PAUL RIARIO, Technical Editor
Pick: Eddie Van Halen
Rush On Eddie Van Halen
Do you remember those commercials many, many years ago with the Mac guy and the PC guy? For as long as I can remember, guitarists were nothing but mere PC drones being loud and derivative, and out of nowhere, this hotshot kid from Pasadena, California (not Cupertino) turned the guitar playing world on its head by intuitively modifying and tweaking his gear to make it work for him in the same way racers swap out components to hot rod their street machines. And in the same presumptuous manner that superstar athletes attack their last stretch to set a world record, EVH’s effortless rhythmic sense and hyper-charged solos made guitar playing a competitive sport overnight. Eddie Van Halen is the Mac guy, and there’s not one guitar player out there who hasn’t borrowed at least one aspect of his influence.