During a recent on Talking Metal, Zakk Wylde talked about AC/DC, VAN HALEN, the pentatonic scale, and more.
Zakk said: “When any band is good at what they do — like AC/DC — it’s not a matter of reinventing the wheel, you know what I mean? Whether it’s [1979’s] Highway to Hell, or [1980’s] Back in Black, they’re not reinventing the wheel but it’s like, ‘No, they don’t need to.’ It’s a cheeseburger, but it’s done really well.
“You go to In-N-Out Burger, you go to White Castle, the thing is, it’s done really well, and so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. If it’s good, that’s all that matters, and it always comes down to songs. At the end of the day, why are we listening to [Ozzy‘s] Blizzard [of Ozz] and [1981’s] Diary [of a Madman]? You don’t just fast-forward to get to Randy [Rhoads] playing the solos, it’s the whole meal…
“King Edward [Eddie Van Halen] changed the planet, right? The whole thing is, you’re going to see VAN HALEN because of the songs… I mean, not everybody in the crowd is a guitar player, at a VAN HALEN concert. When people go, ‘Do you play guitar?’ ‘No, I don’t play guitar, I just love VAN HALEN, I love their songs.’ Not everybody who goes to LED ZEPPELIN concerts plays guitar or drums. They’re there because they love the music.”
When asked about his fondness of the pentatonic scale, Zakk responded: “Obviously, I have my love for Frank Marino and his use of pentatonic scales. John McLaughlin, I mean, his command over pentatonic scales is just out of control. Those two guys, in particular, Frank Marino and John McLaughlin, as far as technique, and the Formula-One, racecar, out-of-control technique of pentatonic scales…
“I like the sound of it, I also love three-notes-a-string from Al DiMeola — with Al, it’s almost no pentatonic, he’s all diatonic, three-notes-a-string. It was just like, I crossed off the list of all these guys – if you don’t want to be referenced, talked about that guy…
He continued: “If you don’t want to be compared to David Lee Roth, don’t be doing splits off the riser and do all of Dave‘s moves, and then talking to the crowd, doing all the, ‘Look at all the people here tonight!’ It’s like, ‘Dude, that’s a Dave thing.’ It’s like, ‘You’re doing that,’ you’re doing Ozzy with the peace signs. It’s kind of like an elimination process, You go, ‘Alright, what’s left on here? Pentatonic scales. I’ll just pick them and see how creative you can get using them.’ That’s how that all came about.”
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