Player No. 097heavy-metal
Zakk Wylde
Ozzy Osbourne's longest-serving guitarist, hired at twenty and debuting on No Rest for the Wicked (1988). Wylde built his voice on a 1981 Gibson Les Paul Custom he calls 'the Grail' — bought in 1987, refinished with its bullseye only after he realised a cream Custom made him look like he was auditioning to be Randy Rhoads — driven by EMG actives into cranked Marshalls. Squealing pinch harmonics, a heavy vibrato and pentatonic phrasing hardened by Southern rock became the template a generation of metal players copied. He founded Black Label Society in 1998.
heavy metalhard rockmetal
WyldeFILE 097
The Wylde catalogue
Field notes on Wylde
All field notes →The Edge's Delay Settings Decoded: How U2 Gets That Sound
Dotted eighth notes, analog repeats, and the delay settings that define U2's guitar sound. Plus how to set it up on your modeler.
How to Get Stevie Ray Vaughan's Tone on Line 6 Helix
The complete SRV Helix preset guide. Amp model, drive settings, and the secret sauce that makes it sound like Texas.
Sidechain vs. Inline Noise Gates: When the Detector Needs Its Own Signal
A sidechain noise gate reads your clean guitar to decide when to open while it mutes the distorted signal. Here's why that stops high-gain chatter when an inline gate can't.