Jump to content
Hamer Fan Club Message Center

Speaking of... Brad Gillis —rig explanation and instructional content


zorrow

Recommended Posts

Even if I never was into Night Ranger and even if the “Speak of the Devil” album wasn’t exactly what one would have liked out from his collaboration with Ozzy, Brad Gillis remains an important influence to me because of two reasons:

One, my first attempt to reading tablature was with a Guitar Player lesson on which Brad taught his section of the “Don’t Tell Me You Love Me” solo. I developed my very rudimentary “first lead chops arsenal” from that attempt. 

Two, my very first instructional video ever was Brad’s on Star Licks... which I just found on YouTube —how illegal is that? :rolleyes:

So, here’s the aforementioned video, for your appreciation. FYI, the real action starts around 11:30, but for you gear geeks it might also be interesting seeing him going through his rig during the first eleven minutes:

Now feel free to discuss about Brad here, including Night Ranger, his stint with Ozzy, his “Gilrock Ranch” and “Alligator” solo albums, his collaborations with Geoff Tate, Derek Sherinian and others... as well as about anything else related to his playing.

Let the fun commence! :) 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And here’s a “micro-cover” of “Crazy Train” by Night Ranger —I found it very cool:

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know it was just a little jam to highlight Brad's playing but I missed the great descending bass part of the original. 

I missed seeing RR so I saw Brad at the Oakland colliseum (I think, or was it cow Palace in SF?). Anyway, he did a good job. Would have been interesting to see what original music they would of made together.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Brad is so under appreciated and I always loved his tone.  Interesting to see his EQ on the Boogie, way different than most folks' V config.  

Isn't it a major pain to not have the fine tuners on the Floyd?  I always wonder how long it takes for him or his tech to get that just right in locking it down. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, bruce919 said:

Brad Gillis was one of the people who made me want to play guitar. I still have the VHS Star Licks Tape (along with the Jeff Watson version) , defiantly a pioneer in Floyd Rose use techniques.

It still floors me that I, a hardcore Floyd junkie, somehow initially missed a lot of his work. I didn't catch his work on Ozzy's SOTD until years later and even then, half dismissed it because it wasn't Randy. Didn't listen to the entire album until sometime in the early 90's. Sure, I was well aware of NR hits like Sister Christian, Don't Tell Me You etc. and You Can Still Rock etc. and while his work on those was noteworthy, again, for whatever reason, he escaped my full attention despite his masterful and daring use of the bar.  Maybe it was because of the pop flavor NR had; I tended to relate more to the more brooding and classically inspired stuff and the innovative, quirky work of Vai and Satch.

Interestingly enough, in addition to his bar work, I found a lot of his phrasing and licks were equally impressive. Some of it was pretty cliched and overused in the hard rock and hair metal circles but none the less impressive in that it was apropos for the song and showed just enough flash and technical acumen to make me perk up and take notice.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, scottcald said:

Brad is so under appreciated and I always loved his tone.  Interesting to see his EQ on the Boogie, way different than most folks' V config.  

Isn't it a major pain to not have the fine tuners on the Floyd?  I always wonder how long it takes for him or his tech to get that just right in locking it down. 

If I even look at my Floyded axes, they tend to slip out of tune a tiny bit.🤣 I can't imagine life without them. Given his vigorous and inspired use of the bar, I'm a little surprised he went without them. His tech must've been a busy dude- and fast!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, diablo175 said:

It still floors me that I, a hardcore Floyd junkie, somehow initially missed a lot of his work. I didn't catch his work on Ozzy's SOTD until years later and even then, half dismissed it because it wasn't Randy. Didn't listen to the entire album until sometime in the early 90's. Sure, I was well aware of NR hits like Sister Christian, Don't Tell Me You etc. and You Can Still Rock etc. and while his work on those was noteworthy, again, for whatever reason, he escaped my full attention despite his masterful and daring use of the bar.  Maybe it was because of the pop flavor NR had; I tended to relate more to the more brooding and classically inspired stuff and the innovative, quirky work of Vai and Satch.

Interestingly enough, in addition to his bar work, I found a lot of his phrasing and licks were equally impressive. Some of it was pretty cliched and overused in the hard rock and hair metal circles but none the less impressive in that it was apropos for the song and showed just enough flash and technical acumen to make me perk up and take notice.

I’m on an equivalent wave to yours.

I dismissed NR because I was into way heavier or bluesier stuff back then, as well as into early progressive metal. I even dismissed glam/hair metal! So, NR had no chance with me, even if one couldn’t escape to their radio hits at the time.

As of the whammy bar goes, there was a time I was reasonably interested on it, but the tuning hassles ended up discouraging me big time. I’m therefore more influenced by the other elements in Brad’s playing style than by his whammy bar acrobatics —which are awesome, indeed. And well, I do know what he does is mostly based on clichés, but I developed some of my rock vocabulary by trying to copy those clichés, actually. IMHO, Brad was creative enough to create great solos upon that apparently banal foundation and sound VERY convincing at the same time. That’s why I think he’s a big part of the ADN of American lead guitar. He ROCKS! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

39 minutes ago, scottcald said:

Brad is so under appreciated and I always loved his tone.  Interesting to see his EQ on the Boogie, way different than most folks' V config.  

Isn't it a major pain to not have the fine tuners on the Floyd?  I always wonder how long it takes for him or his tech to get that just right in locking it down. 

@scottcald:  Brad is definitely underappreciated is a rock guitarist who made his mark with Ozzy Osbourne, then Night Ranger. I didn't get to see the original Ozzy lineup with Randy Rhoads, but saw Ozzy with Brad Gillis onstage at the Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, CA. He played all of the guitar parts close to how Rhoads played it, plus his own vibe on it as well. The Speak of The Devil CD showcases his playing with Ozzy. Brad uses a variety of amps. I have a friend who works with him and has indicated to me that he also uses a Mesa Boogie Tri-Axis preamp, a Soldano Decatone, and now a Crate Stealth amp head. Living in the Bay Area, Brad has probably bought up every original, hand made non fine tuner Floyd Rose bridge in this area along with vintage guitars for his collection. He also retired his red '65 Fender Strat and uses his Fernandes Brad Gillis replica guitar onstage.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Guitar George

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow that PRS is cool, but has a new cool factor for me, given it's Brad's.  So, is it just a half hour of barely adjusting tuners, locking down the nut and re-checking the tuning?  Is there some special set up to not make it maddening?  I like the compact, stealthier appearance of the non-fine tuners, but wouldn't want to dedicate my life to tuning one guitar.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Back in the '80s I had a Kramer with a non-fine tuning Floyd, and I couldn't get it in tune once I locked down the nut...  It drove me absolutely crazy to the point I sold the guitar.  I don't have Brad's patience I guess, and I'm very happy to have a few guitars with Floyds and the fine tuners today.  I saw NR in a small club here in Denver before they got big, and Brad and Jeff Watson were big influences on my in my late teen years.  I always argued with folks that Gillis was a more masterful tremolo artist than EVH was, and I'll stick to my guns on that one today too... 🤘  One of my favorite guitarists from that era for sure!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, GuitarGuy65 said:

I always argued with folks that Gillis was a more masterful tremolo artist than EVH was, and I'll stick to my guns on that one today too... 

I agree with that.  Ed likes the big moves and dive bombs.  Brad does that too, but does a lot of more subtle stuff and the of course the flutter is cool. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 hours ago, GuitarGuy65 said:

Back in the '80s I had a Kramer with a non-fine tuning Floyd, and I couldn't get it in tune once I locked down the nut...  It drove me absolutely crazy to the point I sold the guitar.  I don't have Brad's patience I guess, and I'm very happy to have a few guitars with Floyds and the fine tuners today. 

The key to tuning happiness (with both OFR and non-fine tuner FRs) is that the string bar has to be set so that the string angle lays FLAT front/back over the bottom of the nut. The strings (after stretching, of course) shouldn’t pull sharp or flat after locking. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, RobB said:

The key to tuning happiness with non-lock FRs is that the string bar has to be set so that the string angle lays FLAT front/back over the bottom of the nut. The strings (after stretching, of course) shouldn’t pull sharp or flat after locking. 

Thanks, I'll have to check mine, even though they have fine tuners.  I thought I had read somewhere once that the original locking nuts also had a very tight tolerance which helped that, but I only saw that once and nowhere else.  And now, I can't even remember where I read that, or think I read that. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, scottcald said:

I agree with that.  Ed likes the big moves and dive bombs.  Brad does that too, but does a lot of more subtle stuff and the of course the flutter is cool. 

+1

Certainly, Brad is one of the more adventurous bar users, integrating a greater variety of bar techniques into his passages than Ed.  I think if I were to have the skills any of the known (rawk) bar maestros, I'd want it to be an amalgamation of Vai, Gillis and Jeff Beck. Between the 3 of them, you have pretty much every base covered.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, diablo175 said:

+1

Certainly, Brad is one of the more adventurous bar users, integrating a greater variety of bar techniques into his passages than Ed.  I think if I were to have the skills any of the known (rawk) bar maestros, I'd want it to be an amalgamation of Vai, Gillis and Jeff Beck. Between the 3 of them, you have pretty much every base covered.

I think Beck comes out on top in that.  He does some crazy stuff but is generally the most musical, and damn, he uses a non-locking trem to boot!  Though, I'd be happy with 1/80th of any of their skills. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, scottcald said:

I think Beck comes out on top in that.  He does some crazy stuff but is generally the most musical, and damn, he uses a non-locking trem to boot!  Though, I'd be happy with 1/80th of any of their skills. 

I'd probably agree. His use is so much more musical and seamlessly integrated. Feels less like an effect and more like a note choice. That said, I think Vai can and does do that from time to time, just not as extensively. I like his work because he encompasses the entire spectrum- from subtle musical applications to off-the-charts, norm-shattering weirdness. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A post Randy Rhoads & Rudy Sarzo, Ozzy Osbourne band. Timeframe is approx Nov / Dec 1982. After Rudy/ pre-Jake. Tommy Aldridge in white. Very rare to see photos of this short lived line-up.

image.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...