Profile of Zakk Wylde on Famous Like Me

Jeff Wiedlandt (born January 14, 1967 in Jackson, New Jersey), better known as Zakk Wylde was the lead guitarist in Ozzy Osbourne's band. He also plays lead in his own band, Black Label Society, who are typically part of Ozzy's Ozzfest tour, and has been featured on the debut album for Damageplan, as well as Derek Sherinan's album "Black Utopia" alongside Yngwie Malmsteen. He was a good friend of the deceased Dimebag Darrell and they even exchanged guitars. Dimebag had given Zakk a guitar with the same body as his but with the trademark bullseye design on it. After Dimebag's death, Wylde dedicated the song "In This River" to him. Wylde's film credits include Rock Star and the concert DVD Boozed, Broozed, and Broken Boned.

Zakk became a well-known guitarist after becoming lead guitarist and co-writer for Ozzy Osbourne. He sent Ozzy a demo tape in 1987 and was hired to replace the departed Jake E. Lee. Jake replaced the deceased Randy Rhoads, an idol of Zakk's. Wylde was hired at the age of 18 after only one audition. Ozzy had run through many hopefuls following Jake's departure. At his fated audition, Zakk reminices that he was hired on the spot even before he started playing, when he as still tuning his guitar. He first appeared in No Rest for the Wicked in 1989 with Ozzy Osbourne. In addition to Black Label Society, Zakk has been part of a Southern style blues band "Pride & Glory" that released one self titled album before disbanding.

He has also released a solo project entitled "Book of Shadows" that contained a much different style of music than he had been accustomed to producing in the past. Zakk Wylde's guitar-playing style is usually characterized by his use of pinch harmonics (often confused with Artificial Harmonics), and his guitar soloing technique is usually characterized by his use of the minor pentatonic scale, playing rapid box-pattern licks using strict alternate-picking, creating a very distinctive, choppy attack, compared to the more fluid playing styles of other rock guitarists. Another notable feature of Zakk's playing is his liberal use of "chicken pickin'", a technique which is usually associated with country music, and which is (comparatively) rarely seen in metal. It is probable that he picked up this technique from Albert Lee, one of his influences. He is known for his use of Gibson Les Paul Custom model guitars with a unique "bulls-eye" graphic on them, a design he used to deliberately differentiate himself visually (despite having a similar hairdo) from Randy Rhoads - who was also frequently identified by his white Les Paul Custom. (Interestingly, one of Zakk's favorite stage guitars of late is a replica of Rhoads' Flying V.) Zakk's signature Les Pauls include, a red and off-white bulls-eye model, a black and off-white bulls-eye model, an orange "buzz-saw" bulls-eye model, and a "camo bulls-eye" model with mother-of-pearl green camouflage body in-lays. His original "bulls-eye" Les Paul was bought from a regular store front and is christened "the Grail". It was lost to Zakk for some time when it was stolen. Zakk and the Grail were only reunited after a number of years when Zakk managed to track down it's new owner and buy it back from him. Gibson has released production models of Zakk's unique guitars, a testament to his commercial success and influence. Ozzy has always left the option open to his musicians to leave if they see greener grass elsewhere, but Zakk had stayed faithfully by the side of the Prince of Darkness ever since his teens. Until recently, that is. He missed a few shows with Ozzy (apparently he didn't get on with Jason Newstead) and subsequently got admitted to rehab, is apparently having marital difficulties and will not be recording on Ozzy's latest album. Ozzy has put out an open invite for guitarists' demos.

Wylde has also appeared as a guest star on the TV show Aqua Teen Hunger Force. He has stated he hates the band Limp Bizkit and especially their frontman, Fred Durst. Wylde is also believed to be politically conservative, and shares beliefs with the Republican Party. He is a New York Yankees and New York Giants fan.

Zakk Wylde's Gear

Guitars:

Various Gibson Les Paul Custom guitars (including Signature Model),with a "Bullseye" graphic,as well as the famous "Rebel" Les Paul decorated with bottle caps.

Jackson Randy Rhoads model

Dean Razorback

Gibson SG Doubleneck

Gibson Chet Atkins Acoustic/Electric

GMW Guitarworks Flying V (made popular by zakk's idol and preddesecor, Randy Rhoads, original design by Karl Sandoval)

Custom "Glory" Guitar

Andy Beech Custom Guitar

Various Dean Dimebag series guitars.

Pickups:

EMG Active 81 & 85 Humbucker Models (sold as Zakk Wylde set)

Effects:

Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive

Boss CH-1 Chorus

Dunlop JH-1 Wah Wah (Zakk placed stacked picks together underneath the JH-1's foot pedal so that he would be able to hit his "sweet spot" more precisely)

Dunlop RotoVibe

He currently endorses the following products from Dunlop Manufacturing, Inc.

Dunlop ZW-45 Wah-Wah

MXR ZW-44 Dunlop Overdrive

MXR M-134 Stereo Chorus

Rack Mounted:

Monster Cable 3500 Power Conditioner

Korg DTR-2000 Digital Rack Tuner

Amps:

Marshall Amplifiers

Marshall JCM 800's and ZW 2203's with 6550 Power Tubes

2 Marshall 1960B cabinets w/ TV Cloth with Electro Voice EVM12L speakers rated at 200 watts each

Amp Settings:

Bass - 10, mid - 3, highs - 10, presence - 2-3, preamp volume - 10, master volume - 6-7

Misc:

Monster Cables on everything. Leather Guitar Straps are made by Red Monkey Designs.

Strings: GHS Zakk Wylde Boomers

For Standard, Eb, Dropped D, and Dropped B tunings: GBZW: .010 .013 .017 .036 .052 .060

For Dropped A, Dropped G, and other dropped tunings in a "D" tuning: GBWZLO: .011 .014 .018 .036 .052 .070

Discography

With Pride & Glory:

• Pride & Glory (1994)

Solo:

• Book of Shadows (1996)
• Kings of Damnation (Two-Disc Career Retrospective) (2005)

With Derek Sherinian:

• Inertia (2001)
• Black Utopia (2003)

With Black Label Society:

• Sonic Brew (1999)
• Stronger Than Death (2000)
• Alcohol Fueled Brewtality Live (2001)
• 1919 Eternal (2002)
• The Blessed Hellride (2003)
• Hangover Music Vol.VI (2004)
• Mafia (2005)

With Ozzy Osbourne

• No Rest For The Wicked (1989)
• Just Say Ozzy (1990)
• No More Tears (1991)
• Live & Loud (1993)
• Ozzmosis (1995)
• The Ozzman Cometh (1997)
• Down To Earth (2001)
• Live At Budokan (2002)

Other Appearances

• Make a Difference:Stairway to heaven/highway to Hell (1989)
• Ward one: Along the way (1990)
• Dweezil Zappa: Confessions (1991)
• LA Blues Authority (1991)
• Britny Fox: Bite Down Hard (1991)
• Guitars that rule the world (1992)
• C.P.R(1992)
• Stevie Salas: The Electric Pow Wow (1993)
• Blackfoot:After the reign (1994)
• Stairway to Heaven Tribute (1997)
• Carmine Appice's Guitar Zeus 2(1997)
• Thunderbolt Tribute To AC/DC (1997)
• Hard Pressed - Nobuteura Mada(1997)
• Love:Tokma (1997)
• Merry Axemas Vol.2 More Guitars (1998)
• RE-SET - Marcy (1998)
• Humanary Stew - A Tribute To Alice Cooper(1999)
• Ozzfest 2001: The Second Millenium (2001)
• Rock Star Soundtrack (2001)
• Themes of Horror (2001)
• Ozzfest 2002 (2002)
• Gibson's 50th Anniversary (2002)
• Damageplan - New Found Power (2004)
• Mafia - (2005) -

(the other appearences section was taken from www.blacklabelsociety.net)

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Zakk Wylde