Dweezil Zappa IS COMING TO ARIZONA MUSIC PRO
We are so excited that Dweezil Zappa is coming to Arizona Music Pro on Saturday, October 3rd, 2015 to present his Guitar Masterclass workshop. This is a workshop you won't want to miss, make sure you get your tickets now!
A Look at Dweezil Zappa's Early Years
This excerpt was taken from Dweezil Zappa's Website.
Dweezil Zappa was born on September 5, 1969 in Los Angeles - the son of Frank and Gail Zappa. It was inevitable that from the moment of his birth his life would be filled wall-to-wall with music (his father having listed his religion as “Music” on Dweezil’s birth certificate). Dweezil’s early years were spent largely away from the spotlight - something of a rarity for the child of a celebrity, but perfect for cultivating a close relationship with his family.
Having watched his father perform concerts from the side of the stage since he was in diapers it was no surprise that he began to show an interest in music early on. At 6 years old he received his first guitar, a Fender Music Master from his dad.
It wasn’t until he was 12 that he began to show a serious interest in manipulating the instrument to make music.
Having primarily heard the music his father was working on or listening to at home while growing up, Dweezil soon found himself exposed to some new sounds on the radio. Besides his father’s music he began listening to the Beatles, Queen, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, The Who and Jimi Hendrix. Like many aspiring guitarists of his generation, Dweezil’s ear was caught in a stranglehold by the trailblazing guitar styles of Edward Van Halen and Randy Rhoads.
He listened to their records for hours on end trying to figure out a way to translate what he was hearing in his head to his fingers at the other end of the guitar. Along the way, he had opportunities to ask his dad for some help. "I remember asking Frank to help me figure out the song 'Revelation/Mother Earth' from Blizzard Of Oz.
To gain more fundamental knowledge of technique and scales Dweezil was fortunate to have some assistance from one of the musicians in his father's band at that time, Steve Vai. Dweezil became remarkably proficient in a very short amount of time due to his intense practicing sessions.
In 1982, at the age of 12 he made his first onstage appearance with his father’s band at the Hammersmith Odeon in London. "That was a great experience. I was so excited to have been asked to play but I was incredibly nervous. Since I could only really play lead in the key of A, Frank devised a hand signal for the band to modulate the song 'Stevie's Spanking' down to A from it's original key of B. After I finished my solo he gave the cue for the band to modulate back up. It was so cool how he had so much control over the music, it almost seemed like a magic trick to me. It made a big impression on me and has stuck with me my whole life."
Later that year he recorded his first single, “My Mother Is A Space Cadet”, released on Frank Zappa’s Barking Pumpkin label.The amazing story behind that recording is that it was produced by Edward Van Halen. Dweezil was 12 years old and had only been playing guitar 9 months when this track was recorded. Edward Van Halen played the opening slide guitar riff and the outro melody with the double stop bends. Dweezil plays all of the rest of the guitar parts.
"There are no words to describe how inspirational it was for me to be able to work with Edward on that recording. I was 12, a novice player and in complete awe of his super human accomplishments. I had a terrible sense of rhythm and he tried really hard to help me with that. I had only been playing for around 9 months and I had never practiced with a metronome. He was funny in the studio. We were all so young, just 12 and 13 and Edward joked that it was time for us kids to have a milk and cookie break. When I played the solo on "Space Cadet" Edward worked on getting the right guitar sound. That was one of my favorite parts of the session.”