Xciter "Pickin' Up Speed"

[@dnd820]

DAMN!!! George had tone even then!!!!!

[@tedcabana]

All Ways great to see old videos of a master guitarist kicking his foot through that door.

[@jonsilence]

Fantastic super rare footage! I was at this gig....great to see it again.

[@pamwelch7228]

Love it!

[@jonsilence]

I was at this gig. Some guitar history for those who weren't personally there as I was to watch it unfold: George Lynch was playing like this in 1976 before Van Halen were signed, nearly two years before VH1 was released. But in '76 Eddie was mainly playing a 335, and less often a Destroyer--NEITHER OF WHICH HAD A WHAMMY BAR, as evidenced by the two Starwood recordings which circulate that I personally made (June 30 1976 & Jan 18, 1977) and have no whammy whatsoever. After VH were signed in February '77 Eddie began to morph himself gradually into the EVH that the world at large would be introduced to a year later in Feb '78 with the release of VH's debut. And what Eddie became just happened to bear a striking resemblance to the manic whammy-wielding George Lynch seen here. As for tapping, George & Eddie went TOGETHER to the Starwood for a tutorial c/o Harvey Mandel of Canned Heat. I saw Eddie/VH and George/The Boyz sharing the bill on the night Gene Simmons came to see them at the Starwood in '76, and then watched Eddie eventually integrate major Lynch components into his own playing. You may not like it but its true. Bonus point: George is quoting the obscure UK stoner band May Blitz from 4:56 to 5:12!

[@Diggerdog2nd]

I respect that u were lucky enough to be there. Definitely wish I was but I just watched an interview with George where he said even though Eddie & he were contemporary's he was influenced by Eddie. And despite the rumors he was not tapping before Eddie. That's from Georges own mouth. As far as the whammy goes Eddie has said from way back that he tried playing a Fender strat for the whammy but the sound was to thin & sound was more important then that to him. Which is why Eddie bought the parts for his first version of Frankenstein in 76 so if that was completed by 77 then that's the reason u saw Eddie start to use a whammy live.& Besides Hendrix was the first to go crazy with the bar so can't really assume Eddie did it because George did even though Eddie has also said Hendrix wasn't a big influence.With you tube now all of us that weren't there can hear all kinds of VH gigs & Eddie jamming up to 3 or 4 years before they were signed where he's playing eruption & very familiar licks that were part of his playing all along not morphing himself starting in 77. If not for you tube I would probably see it more your way but with all these recordings coming out now you don't have to have been there. But aside from just being part of a scene which all of us guitarist are aware of what other local guys are doing around us & maybe letting some good stuff others are doing sink into your own style a little (We've all done that). That's probably the extent of Either guy copying each other at all. No disrespect or anything but I think there's other reasons for some of the things u pointed out.

[@aaronmcbryer3980]

Although I agree with everything else, Eddie's 335 did have a whammy bar. He actually cut the tremolo in half so his 3 lowest strings wouldn't go out of tune when he used it.

[@jonsilence]

Thanks Aaron; I'm aware of the story about Eddie's 'half whammy' but he didn't have it on his 335 when I saw him during '76 - early '77. The live recordings and demos that circulate corroborate this.

[@aaronmcbryer3980]

jonsilence Indeed. I know that he briefly used a standard Fender Strat with the single coils at some point so he could use the tremolo, but he quit using it because he said his band members hated how it sounded. I think he used a Les Paul around that time too, but not with a trem. Wouldn't have been unusual.

[@wickedmountain]

Who else played with them at this gig @jonsilence ?

[@amerocker]

40 years later, George is still rokken, Though I will always miss him, playing guitar in Dokken.

[@6672rock]

George Lynch rocking the Charvel star guitar! The pick tapping licks were especially cool!

[@scootterpootter]

So cool, I've never heard any of this early George stuff before, thanks so much for posting!!! You can tell, even way back then, that George was something special... I was just a clinic last month that he did here in Detroit and he talked about how he was so into the guitar when he was in his teens, that his parents made him stop playing for a year. They sent him off to a military school or something like that, so that he would study in school. When he came back home, his playing style changed drastically, and took him on a different road. He said that at the time that they made him stop, he was "The guy" in his town, that other guitarists wanted to "cut heads" with, and they would come from surrounding towns just to get on stage with him. It was a cool story. George is usually so reserved when talking about about himself and very humble. It was good to hear him talk about being the shit in his town. lol He also spoke very highly about Randy Rhoades and Randy's mom, and how nobody was in the same universe as Randy, and how he didn't last long when he took over Randy's students at his mom's store, because he wanted to teach the girls, but not in a guitar way. lol If he ever comes around your area for one of his clinics, go see him. He plays stuff from all of his projects and is so down to earth to ask questions to, and really funny. :-)

[@YoBroMan]

Even back then, Lynch had amazing vibrato. Chicks dig vibrato, ya know...

[@LizaJane761]

This is very cool! Lynch's early start!!!! Thank you for posting this!!!

[@macdaddy12368]

BaddAss

[@jcburke5150]

Lighting strikes Again!

[@kingofdragontown9680]

I just found what you meant and yeah that's about right.

[@spitpermit]

F# minor (solo)

[@peteelliott3217]

This deserves more views. What year was it? Really cool to see George's earlier playing. His awesome vibrato, face-melting tone and unique attack all seem pretty well developed already here. In terms of pure, wild abandon, and especially in the context of the solo that precedes it, the lick at 5.14 is insane 😊.

[@gregdrmax]

Lynch solo reminds me of Michael J. Fox guitar solo Back To The Future. A lot of gibberish. LMAO. Obviously young here and got better.

[@rockrabbitt]

wow,Lynch was such a cute boy!

[@kingofdragontown9680]

Why does Xciter look like Dysfunctional era Dokken?

[@MichaelDouglasSkewes]

Wow! I have just seen the ugliest bass ever made in the history of the Universe !

[@god6384]

It looks like a claw

[@daveg4236]

Wood shop project gone wrong

[@lfader]

Monte Zuefelt 💥

[@ProJatior]

No offense to Don but I prefer this version of the band.

[@rksguit]

Don with hair extensions? joking,though George's cheetah T is f'in awful, but hey I would have TRULY loved to have been able to see this!, then at 15 years old,I didn't start playing guitar until 18,and at 20 from boring Adelaide Sth. Australia,or Australia in general,where any hint of music like this was BLACKBALLED by the stupid clueless AUSSIE subsidiary Record company's of the US'S Atlantic,MCA etc etc, and the non rock Aussie labels [Regular! what a ?],arrrggg it's all long ago but AC / DC had their older brother George Young and Easybeats Harry Vanda keeping them well away from the NON ROCK labels,and SAY SO hierachy here! [Thank F'k!!!! for Alberts!!!]It was only indies that sold a few hundred copies of ANYTHING[singles mostly,and European markets],and they worked hard,a thousand or so and you were considered huge ha ha but it was STRICTLY PUNK rock that was the ONLY even remotely Rockin allowed and they did,but I was an American Hard Rock Player.. ,I think AC/DC pissed all over them so hard[with Hard Rock Success-to the hilt!!!],that when they heard a guitar through a Marshall,YOU were SWIFTLY shown the door!, No at 20 years old I needed to fly straight to LA and eventually gain citizenship now I'm a tad OLD! wasted bloody life aye...yep!SAY IT AGAIN?,no,it's a waste of server space!

[@vidmachine]

I’m glad he learned to write good lead breaks. This ain’t so great IMO.

[@joepipe1010]

After the Halen's come many bands started to copy it.